The Serpent (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland)

"**The Serpent**"
"The Serpent"
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland episode
Episode no.	Season 1; Episode 4
Directed by	Ralph Hemecker
Written by	Jan Nash
Original air date	November 7, 2013
Guest appearances
	Brian George as Old prisoner; Anthony Keyvan as Young Jafar; Lauren McKnight as Lizard; Zuleikha Robinson as Amara; Forbes Angus as Villager; Kevin Blatch as Executioner; Christian Bower as Drunken Guard; Ben Cotton as Tweedledum; Cedric De Souza as Akil; Matty Finochio as Tweedledee; Peter Hall as Peasant; Haroon Khan as Blacksmith; Marco Soriano as Gerard; Hugo Steele as Orang; Alicia Thorgrimmsson as Citizen;
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Forget Me Not"	Next →; "Heart of Stone"
	List of episodes

"The Serpent" is the fourth episode of the Once Upon a Time spin-off series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

Plot

The Knave of Hearts is kidnapped by the Red Queen (on behalf of Jafar) after saving him from Caterpillar's Collectors. Jafar wants him publicly beheaded to serve as an example of what happens to anyone who helps Alice. Alice befriends a collector named "Lizard" who helps Alice in her mission to rescue the Knave of Hearts. Meanwhile, the Red Queen is hesitant to kill the Knave since she's still in love with him and flashbacks reveal Jafar's real reasons for wanting Cyrus' power.

Production

Jan Nash was the writer for the episode, while Ralph Hemecker was its director.^[1]

Reception

Ratings

The episode was watched by 3.55 million American viewers, and received an 18-49 rating/share of 0.9/3, down from the previous episode. The show placed fifth in its timeslot and fifteenth for the night.^[2]

Critical reception

Amy Ratcliffe of IGN gave the episode an 8.3 out of 10, giving it a positive review. She said "Tonight’s episode delivered some interesting backstory for Jafar and was expertly executed by Naveen Andrews, who showed he can still do nuance. The Knave/Queen story was deepened, too, and it’s nice to see things are still in a bit of play there. Alice got to be daring and fantastic. Her use of her first wish (and the shopkeeper’s last, too) shows a level of cleverness and forward thinking that is heartening to see, and engaging to me. How smart could you make your wish?"^[3]

Christine Orlando of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.2 out of 5, signaling positive reviews.^[4]

Lily Sparks of TV.com gave the episode a mixed to negative review, saying "What to do with Wonderland? It’s great hate-watching if you have that kind of time to kill and love raggin’ on sloppy green screen edge-feathering, but otherwise it is not exactly pushing me to the edge of my seat. The writers probably envisioned that audiences would respond to their characters the same way we've gotten attached to OUAT Original Seasoning. But OUAT Original spent a good year laying groundwork, letting us get to know the characters before making them pull laughable stunts in 100 percent CGI environments."^[5]

References

^ "Listings - ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND on ABC". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ Kondolojy, Amanda (November 8, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory' & 'The Vampire Diaries' Adjusted Up; 'The Millers' and 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ Ratcliffe, Amy (7 November 2013). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: "The Serpent" Review". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
^ Orlando, Christine (8 November 2013). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Review: Worse Than Death". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
^ Sparks, Lily (8 November 2013). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland "The Serpent" Review: Hiss or Miss". TV.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

External links

"The Serpent" at IMDb

[Futoncritic-1] "Listings - ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND on ABC". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 15, 2017.

[2] Kondolojy, Amanda (November 8, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory' & 'The Vampire Diaries' Adjusted Up; 'The Millers' and 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2017.

[IGN-3] Ratcliffe, Amy (7 November 2013). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: "The Serpent" Review". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

[4] Orlando, Christine (8 November 2013). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Review: Worse Than Death". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

[5] Sparks, Lily (8 November 2013). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland "The Serpent" Review: Hiss or Miss". TV.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

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v t e Once Upon a Time episodes
Season 1	"Pilot" "The Thing You Love Most" "Snow Falls" "The Price of Gold" "That Still Small Voice" "The Shepherd" "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" "Desperate Souls" "True North" "7:15 A.M." "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" "Skin Deep" "What Happened to Frederick" "Dreamy" "Red-Handed" "Heart of Darkness" "Hat Trick" "The Stable Boy" "The Return" "The Stranger" "An Apple Red as Blood" "A Land Without Magic"
Season 2	"Broken" "We Are Both" "Lady of the Lake" "The Crocodile" "The Doctor" "Tallahassee" "Child of the Moon" "Into the Deep" "Queen of Hearts" "The Cricket Game" "The Outsider" "In the Name of the Brother" "Tiny" "Manhattan" "The Queen Is Dead" "The Miller's Daughter" "Welcome to Storybrooke" "Selfless, Brave and True" "Lacey" "The Evil Queen" "Second Star to the Right" "And Straight On 'til Morning"
Season 3	"The Heart of the Truest Believer" "Lost Girl" "Quite a Common Fairy" "Nasty Habits" "Good Form" "Ariel" "Dark Hollow" "Think Lovely Thoughts" "Save Henry" "The New Neverland" "Going Home" "New York City Serenade" "Witch Hunt" "The Tower" "Quiet Minds" "It's Not Easy Being Green" "The Jolly Roger" "Bleeding Through" "A Curious Thing" "Kansas" "Snow Drifts" "There's No Place Like Home"
Season 4	"A Tale of Two Sisters" "White Out" "Rocky Road" "The Apprentice" "Breaking Glass" "Family Business" "The Snow Queen" "Smash the Mirror" "Fall" "Shattered Sight" "Heroes and Villains" "Darkness on the Edge of Town" "Unforgiven" "Enter the Dragon" "Poor Unfortunate Soul" "Best Laid Plans" "Heart of Gold" "Sympathy for the De Vil" "Lily" "Mother" "Operation Mongoose"
Season 5	"The Dark Swan" "The Price" "Siege Perilous" "The Broken Kingdom" "Dreamcatcher" "The Bear and the Bow" "Nimue" "Birth" "The Bear King" "Broken Heart" "Swan Song" "Souls of the Departed" "Labor of Love" "Devil's Due" "The Brothers Jones" "Our Decay" "Her Handsome Hero" "Ruby Slippers" "Sisters" "Firebird" "Last Rites" "Only You" "An Untold Story"
Season 6	"The Savior" "A Bitter Draught" "The Other Shoe" "Strange Case" "Street Rats" "Dark Waters" "Heartless" "I'll Be Your Mirror" "Changelings" "Wish You Were Here" "Tougher Than the Rest" "Murder Most Foul" "Ill-Boding Patterns" "Page 23" "A Wondrous Place" "Mother's Little Helper" "Awake" "Where Bluebirds Fly" "The Black Fairy" "The Song in Your Heart" "The Final Battle"
Season 7	"Hyperion Heights" "A Pirate's Life" "The Garden of Forking Paths" "Beauty" "Greenbacks" "Wake Up Call" "Eloise Gardener" "Pretty in Blue" "One Little Tear" "The Eighth Witch" "Secret Garden" "A Taste of the Heights" "Knightfall" "The Girl in the Tower" "Sisterhood" "Breadcrumbs" "Chosen" "The Guardian" "Flower Child" "Is This Henry Mills?" "Homecoming" "Leaving Storybrooke"
Wonderland	"Down the Rabbit Hole" "Trust Me" "Forget Me Not" "The Serpent" "Heart of Stone" "Who's Alice" "Bad Blood" "Home" "Nothing to Fear" "Dirty Little Secrets" "Heart of the Matter" "To Catch a Thief" "And They Lived..."