"Pretty in Blue" is the eighth episode of Season Seven of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Dana Horgan & Leah Fong, and directed by Ralph Hemecker. It is the one hundred and forty-first episode of the series overall, and premiered on November 17, 2017.
This episode is the second one of a two-episode night, and premiered immediately following "Eloise Gardener".
Synopsis
In an attempt to prevent a distressed Alice from running away, Henry and Ella follow her into Wonderland. Once there, Henry realizes that Ella has a surprising connection to this strange world. In Hyperion Heights, Jacinda reconnects with an old friend in a last ditch effort to regain custody of Lucy, but her decision to enlist outside help could put a strain on her burgeoning relationship with Henry.[2]
Recap
In the past, Regina tells Hook about the crumbled tower that she had come across while training Drizella in magic. He is distraught but is then suddenly reunited with his daughter, Alice, who has found him in the New Enchanted Forest. He warns her to not touch him due to their curse, however, Alice claims that she had found a sorceress who cured them. They move to embrace but it only throws Hook backwards as they realize their curse hasn't actually been broken. Alice runs away in fear and Henry and Ella chase her through a portal to New Wonderland.
When Henry and Ella arrive in New Wonderland, Ella reveals that her choice to come to the realm was a personal one and that she intends to find out what happened to her mother, Cecilia, who had left her and her father behind many years ago. Ella points to what happened to her parents as the reason why she doesn't believe in true love. When they come across a single shrinking potion, Ella takes it and leaves Henry to enter the Infinite Maze, the place her mother had run into. When Ella eventually finds Alice, she notices that the other half of her mother's necklace is on a table at Alice's tea party. Alice then reveals that she had met Cecilia before and that the woman had died after a battle in which Alice was the only survivor. She also tells Ella that Cecilia had been inflicted with the same Curse of the Poisoned Heart that forced her to leave her loved ones for their own safety.
Meanwhile, Drizella is also in New Wonderland, scouring it for magical items. It is revealed that she was the one who had tricked Alice into believing her curse was broken. Drizella comes across Henry, who she intends to also give the Curse of the Poisoned Heart to but Ella and Alice are able to save him just in time. Drizella is sent away through a magic mirror. With the knowledge that her mother didn't run away because she stopped loving Ella's father, Ella decides to open herself up to a relationship with Henry and the two share their first kiss.
Henry and Ella make their way back to Hook and Regina without Alice, who has chosen to stay away for the time being. Alice had given Ella the knight chess piece to give to Hook, as she no longer needed a reminder that they'd be together once again. Later, a man wanders into their camp and is revealed to be Jack, a friend of Henry's whom he had met during his early years of traveling the realms. Henry introduces him to Ella.
In the present day, Jacinda is trying to regain custody of Lucy after Victoria was taken to jail for the kidnapping of Eloise Gardener. She contacts Nick, a lawyer whom she has been cursed to believe is Lucy's biological father. He agrees to help her and they end up going out to dinner. Sabine warns Jacinda against exploring feelings for Nick again, which Jacinda isn't sure she does or doesn't have. Henry is disappointed by the turn of events, while Lucy explains that the situation is simply playing out like the David, Mary Margaret, and Kathryn Nolan love triangle from the first curse. She insists that he is her real father and encourages him to fight for Jacinda. Henry tries impressing her by doing some more work on her food truck but when Jacinda brings Nick by, he wonders if he should stop pursuing her.
Meanwhile, Regina is warning Drizella to stay away from Henry but with Victoria in jail, she and Gothel already have other plans. Drizella now wants to revive Anastasia for her own purposes. Gothel is now out and about in Hyperion Heights as Eloise Gardener. Drizella is able to locate Anastasia's coffin at Victoria's lakehouse and brings it back to Gothel, however, when they open up the coffin, they find that her body is missing, suggesting that Victoria had taken extra precautions to hide it.
Now that Roni has regained her memories as Regina, she confronts Weaver to find out if he also has his memories but he refuses to confirm to her that he has woken up from the curse. Realizing that he'll be of no help, she later tells Henry that she's heading down to San Francisco to find someone who had been pushed out of town by Victoria. Henry, who has been heavily drinking to get over Jacinda, agrees to accompany her on the trip. Jacinda drops by the bar later to look for Henry but is informed by Remy, the temporary barkeep, that Regina and Henry had already left town. Despite Jacinda having signed away her rights to Lucy many years ago, Nick is able to come through with the legal help and Jacinda and Lucy are reunited. Lucy is then formally introduced to Nick.
Cast[2]
Starring
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Guest Starring
Co-Starring
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Trivia
Title
- The title card features New Wonderland's mushrooms.[3]
- The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on September 14, 2017.[4]
- The title of this episode is a reference to the 1986 film Pretty in Pink, a movie about a poor girl who falls in love with a rich boy, bridging the gap between social classes and culminating in a ball; a parallel to the "Cinderella" story. Also, in Disney's Cinderella, the titular character dons a blue gown for the royal ball; in this episode, Jacinda wears a blue dress for her dinner at an upscale restaurant with Nick Branson.
- Pretty in Pink was written by John Hughes. Cinderella's love interest Henry Mills loves John Hughes movies, something that is touched upon in the Season Six episode "I'll Be Your Mirror", and "Wake Up Call" and "Sisterhood".
Production Notes
- PRESS RELEASE: The press release mistakenly credits Adelaide Kane as "Drizelle" instead of "Drizella".[2]
- PRESS RELEASE: Despite being promoted to series regular in "Greenbacks," this is the first press release where Mekia Cox is credited as a regular character.[2]
- OBSERVATIONS: It is not known if the Agrabah Jack mentions is the first Agrabah or a new iteration.
Event Chronology
- The Seattle events take place after "Eloise Gardener" and before "One Little Tear". (For more details, see the Land Without Magic timeline)
- The New Enchanted Forest flashbacks take place after "Wake Up Call" and before "Breadcrumbs".
Episode Connections
- Cinderella mentions that Henry was taught swordplay by a pirate, which was shown in "A Pirate's Life".
- Henry mentions how Alice drugged and imprisoned him, referring to events in "Hyperion Heights". He also introduces Cinderella to her as "Alice from Wonderland... and other places", which references how Alice described herself to him in the same episode.
- Regina visited the ruins of Rapunzel's tower in "Wake Up Call".
- Hook had a baby with Gothel, who grew up to be Alice, in "Eloise Gardener".
- How Alice escaped from the tower is revealed in "The Girl in the Tower".
- Ivy suggests that Henry makes a podcast out of his blog, which he has done by the time of "A Taste of the Heights".
- Victoria was arrested in "Eloise Gardener", and Lucy was taken into the foster care system in the same episode.
- Rogers rescued Eloise Gardener in "Eloise Gardener".
- Roni regained her memories in "Wake Up Call".
- The bad thing that Regina fears will happen if the Dark Curse broken is revealed in "The Eighth Witch".
- The backstory of Drizella's history with Gothel is explored in "Sisterhood".
- Henry and Nick discuss the best songs by the band New Order. Henry's love for the English rock band was established in "Wake Up Call", where it appears on his list of 80s elements that he likes, which he mentions to Jacinda.
- Jacinda started working for Roni in "Eloise Gardener".
- Jacinda previously told Henry about Nick in "Hyperion Heights".
- Although Jacinda believes with certainty, because of her cursed memories, that Nick is Lucy's biological father, a blood test in "Secret Garden" confirms he is not.
- Henry reveals to Cinderella how his grandparents met and says that his grandmother hit his grandfather with a rock before his grandfather trapped his grandmother in a net; a reference to events from "Snow Falls".
- Strangely, Henry specifically refers to the original version of the events (being hit by a rock), from before they were altered by Zelena's time travel spell (where the weapon of choice was changed to a jewelry box, as seen in "Snow Drifts").
- Lucy mentions the "Kathryn Nolan situation", in which David was cursed to believe he was meant to be with his wife Kathryn but only after the curse broke in "A Land Without Magic", he realized his true love prior to the curse had always been Mary Margaret.
- In Henry's book, the story ends with the main protagonist meeting Cinderella, which was an event shown in "Hyperion Heights".
- Henry wonders if he should slay a dragon to win Jacinda's affections. Under different circumstances, both Prince Charming and Emma slayed a dragon, with Charming accomplishing this in "The Shepherd" and Emma doing this in "A Land Without Magic".
- The bottle of shrinking potion which Cinderella finds in New Wonderland, which is labeled "Drink Me" and which she drinks to change size, is the same kind of bottle that Alice wore around her neck she was with Henry in the cave in "Hyperion Heights". It is what clued him in on her identity.
- Jacinda and Sabine bought a food truck in "Greenbacks".
- Rogers became disappointed in Tilly for aiding Weaver in fabricating Eloise's death in "Eloise Gardener".
- Anastasia wakes up in "One Little Tear".
- Victoria unearthed Anastasia's coffin in "The Garden of Forking Paths".
- Ivy and Eloise's joined partnership to obtain Anastasia's magic ends in "The Eighth Witch" when Eloise betrays Ivy. Additionally, Eloise attempts to renew their deal in "Sisterhood", which Ivy rejects in favor of saving Anastasia rather than hurting her.
- How Cinderella's mother Cecelia became cursed is shown in "One Little Tear".
- Alice obtained the cursed mark on her wrist in "Knightfall" when she was in close proximity to Hook after he was poisoned by Gothel.
- Drizella learned magic from Regina in "Wake Up Call".
- The food truck is up and running in "A Taste of the Heights".
- The mushroom used to poison a person's heart is utilized again in "One Little Tear".
- While Drizella is unsuccessful in this episode with poisoning Henry's heart, she manages to do it in "The Eighth Witch".
- Roni wastes no time in confronting Weaver about his real name, Rumplestiltskin, unlike when she made him outright confess his name to her in "Skin Deep".
- Weaver eventually admits to Roni in "The Girl in the Tower" that he is awake.
- Weaver's quest to reunite with Belle began in "Beauty" after he regained his memories.
- Alice sees her father again in "Sisterhood", although she observes him from a distance without him knowing. The next time they converse with each other is in "The Eighth Witch".
- Hook remembers giving the white knight chess piece to Alice so she could remember him in his absence. This happened in "Knightfall".
- Jack's actual New Enchanted Forest name and backstory is first hinted at in "Sisterhood", both during Gretel's flashback and towards the end of the episode in present-day when Jack's Hyperion Heights counterpart, Nick, is fixing his car. His identity is also made explicitly clear in "Breadcrumbs".
- Roni finds the person she is looking for in San Fransico during "The Eighth Witch".
- The origin story of the troll statue and why he is holding a yellow bug is revealed in "The Girl in the Tower".
- Tilly's familial-like relationship with Weaver was seen in "Beauty".
- Rogers and Tilly first played chess together in "Beauty".
- Remy's catering business was shown in "A Pirate's Life".
- Jacinda finally gives Henry the mixtape in "A Taste of the Heights".
- The location that Victoria moved Anastasia's body to is shown in "One Little Tear".
Disney
- A Star Wars backpack is hanging on a chair during Alice's teaparty.[5]
- This episode contains a number of other references to Disney works. See the list of Disney references for more.
Fairytales and Folklore
- This episode is a rendition of the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland story, focusing on the journey through Wonderland and the tea party, as well as Alice from the same story.
- This episode also features Cinderella and one of the evil stepsisters from the "Cinderella" fairytale, Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, and Jack from "Jack and the Beanstalk", who is also the titular character from the legend of "Jack the Giant Killer".
- When Henry and Cinderella are trapped in the net, Henry refers to it as a "white rabbit trap", a reference to the White Rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- Similarly, Drizella refers to Alice's portals between New Wonderland and the New Enchanted Forest as Alice's "little bunny holes", a reference to the rabbit hole that the titular character falls into in the book.
- The new restaurant that Nick takes Jacinda to is called Walrus & Company, a reference to the poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" from Lewis Carroll's sequel Through the Looking-Glass. Nick and Jacinda are served oysters at the restaurant; in the poem, the titular characters come upon an offshore bed of oysters and proceed to eat all of them.
- In the cottage with the doorway to the Infinite Maze, Cinderella finds a bottle with a paper label around its neck, with the words "Drink Me"; which allows her to change size. This is what happened to Alice in the hall of doors (one of which leads to the Queen of Hearts' garden, which the Infinite Maze is based on) in the novel.
- Cinderella drinks from the bottle in order to grow smaller and enter the maze, similar to how Alice ate magic mushroom in order to shrink to the right size before she entered the garden.
- HIDDEN DETAILS: During Alice's tea party, a black top hat is sitting on the table,[6] a reference to the Hatter, who was one of the people who attended the tea party in the novel.
- HIDDEN DETAILS: A ball of grey yarn is sitting on the tea party table,[6] a reference to the ball of worsted that Alice is trying to wind up while her kittens are playing with it in the opening scene of Through the Looking-Glass.
- HIDDEN DETAILS: During Alice's tea party, when Alice says, "Oh, you're that Ella", a white rabbit plush toy is sitting on a chair in the lower right hand corner.[7]
- HIDDEN DETAILS: A wooden puppet similar to the one from The Adventures of Pinocchio[8] can be seen near the dining table at the tea party.[9]
- Alice and Cecelia had an encounter with a Jabberwock, a reference to the creature from the novel Through the Looking-Glass.
- When Weaver feigns ignorance about Rumplestiltskin, his true identity, he says, "Didn't he sleep for hundred years?". Roni replies, "That was Rip Van Winkle", a reference to the American short story of the same name.
- Rip van Winkle previously appeared in a deleted scene in the Season Three episode "Nasty Habits", where it was revealed that it was Rumplestiltskin himself who put him to sleep for hundred years.
- Alice sends Drizella away from New Wonderland by throwing a looking-glass on her, a reference to the novel Through the Looking-Glass, where Alice enters the looking-glass world through a looking-glass.
- Henry and Ella return to a recovering Wish Hook and give him Alice's knight chess piece, a reference to the novel Through the Looking-Glass, where chess is one of the main themes. Similarly, Wish Hook's Seattle counterpart Rogers gives Tilly a chessboard and invites her to play a weekly chess game with him.
- Jack talks about how he escaped some giants, a reference to the fairytale of "Jack and the Beanstalk", and the legend of "Jack the Giant Killer".
Popular Culture
- Henry and Nick discuss the best songs by the band New Order: "Bizarre Love Triangle" (1986), which Henry is listening to, "Temptation" (1982) and "Blue Monday" (1983).
- ♫ MUSIC: The song playing in the restaurant where Jacinda is having dinner with Nick is "Once Again" (Sound Cloud link) by Harriet Goldberg.
- The same song was playing on the jukebox in Granny's Diner when Emma was leaving a letter to her family in the Season Five episode "Swan Song".
- According to Nick, he used to think of his former band as "the next Nirvana", a reference to the famous rock band that made its mark on music history during the late eighties and early nineties.
- While at her bar and the police station, Roni is wearing[10] a graphic tee featuring Chrissie Hynde, the founding member of the The Pretenders.[11]
Props Notes
- PAUSE AND READ: According to the open tab on Henry's browser, he is writing a new page for his blog H-Town. The new page is about "the best view of Seattle".[12]
- HIDDEN DETAILS: The "Drink Me" bottle which Cinderella drinks, and the label attached to it, have the same design as the first Alice's Drink Me bottle from the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland premiere "Down the Rabbit Hole" and the second Alice's Drink Me bottle from "Hyperion Heights". Also, the handwriting on all three labels is the same.[13]
- REUSED PROPS: The toadstool that Drizella attempts to poison Henry with[14] and the one that Rapunzel uses to poison Cecelia in "One Little Tear"[15] is the same prop that was used for the Crimson Crown in "Siege Perilous" and "The Bear and the Bow".[16][17]
Set Dressing
- REUSED PROPS: The prop used for one of Cyrus' brothers' genie bottles on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland[18] is lying on the tea party table.[19]
- REUSED PROPS: A Mickey Mouse telephone is lying in the grass by the tea party.[20] The same prop was sitting in a case in Mr. Gold's pawnshop in the Season One episodes "The Shepherd",[21] "Desperate Souls",[22] "The Return",[23] "The Stranger"[24] and "An Apple Red as Blood",[25] and the Season Two episodes "We Are Both"[26] and "The Crocodile".[27]
- HIDDEN DETAILS: Alice says she slew the Jabberwock that attacked Cecelia. Interestingly, a sword[29] and a shield[9] can be seen propped against the trees surrounding the tea party, while a battle gauntlet is lying on the table.[30]
- HERALDRY: The design of the shield is almost identical to the coat of arms used by King Bors de Ganis and his son Sir Bors in Arthurian legend.[31]
- HIDDEN DETAILS: A sugar bowl in the shape of a red apple is sitting on the table during Alice's tea party.[32]
Costume Notes
- BRAND INFO: Ivy is wearing[33] a Maje Vreni Crepe Kimono Jacket[34] over a MSGM Ribbed Ruffle Sweater[35] (no longer available). The outfit is paired[33] with a Kooples Short Sequinned Tweed Skirt[36] (also no longer available).
- BRAND INFO: Jacinda is wearing[37] a Rails Hunter Button Down in Rosewood/Sky[38] (no longer available).
- BRAND INFO: Eloise is wearing[39] a A.P.C. Madame Paris Wine Colored Corduroy Jacket[40] and a Maje Ruffle Floral Print Faux Wrap Dress.[41]
- USE IT AGAIN: She continues to wear the jacket and dress in "One Little Tear"[42] and "The Eighth Witch".[43]
- SECONDHAND CLOTHING: The vest Jack is wearing[44] was also worn by Robin Hood in the Season Four episode "Heart of Gold".[45] Jack wears the vest again in "The Eighth Witch".[46]
- BRAND INFO: By the end of the episode, Roni is wearing[47] a Topshop Check Cold Shoulder Shirt[48] (no longer available).
Filming Locations
- The scenes at Lucy's group home were filmed at a house attached to the St. Francis of Assisi Church[49] on 2025 Napier Street[50] in East Vancouver.[51] The scene with Sabine and Jacinda walking down the street, away from the house, was filmed along Napier Street and Semlin Street.[50]
- The restaurant scene with Nick and Jacinda was filmed at the Cuchillo restaurant on 261 Powell Street in Vancouver.[52]
International Titles
International Titles | ||
---|---|---|
Language | Title | Translation |
French | "Au Pays des Merveilles" | "At Wonderland" |
German | "Cinderella in Wonderland" | "Cinderella in Wonderland" |
Italian | "Bella in blu" | "Pretty in Blue" |
Portuguese | "A Garota de Azul" | "The Girl in Blue" |