Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 6 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Feed Your Head
By Cindy McLennan | Season 1 | Episode 17 | Aired on 03.25.2012
Jefferson realizes he's been set up. Regina didn't tell him about retrieving her father, because since only two of them entered, only two of them can leave. When Jefferson lunges for Regina, she has the walkway swallow his feet. He pleads with Regina for his daughter's sake. He promised he'd be home for tea. Regina tells him if he truly loved his daughter, he never would have left her. "You were right, Jefferson. You don't abandon family." Jefferson screams as Regina and Henry make their way through the looking glass. It's not long before the King of Hearts (I guess, because his robe is ermine trimmed) and the Queen's men capture him and drag him off. Commercial.
Wonderland, Queen of Hearts' Palace. Jefferson is brought before the Queen's court. We never see her face. She's completely draped in red. My friend decides she's Lady Gaga (which I love), but Jennifer Koenig is credited with the role. Rather than screaming, "Off with their heads," at every opportunity, this Queen of Hearts whispers through a speaking horn, and the King then reports her words to the assembly. He says the Queen of Hearts knows he's responsible for the theft. When Jefferson starts to explain that "the Queen" tricked him, the Queen of Hearts reels back on her throne. The King snaps, "That woman's name is Regina. There is only one Queen, the Queen of Hearts. Jefferson bows and apologizes. The Queen wants to know how Jefferson got to Wonderland. Jefferson asks if he tells them, will they let him go home to his daughter. The King laughs. The Queen whispers into her horn, "Off with his head."
A masked executioner approaches. He decapitates Jefferson in one fell swoop. The guard standing behind grabs Jefferson's head, as his body slumps to the floor. Jefferson's head is still alive. The King tells him if he wants his body back, he'd better answer the question. Jefferson says they used his hat to get to Wonderland, but Regina took it. The King tells Jefferson if all he needs to go back to his homeland is a magic hat, then he should just make another. Jefferson says a hat without magic is just a hat and won't work. The King tells him that's his task -- get it to work.
Storybrooke, Jefferson's Mansion. Emma has made a hat but she cannot get it to work. She tells him it's impossible. He bangs his head on his hatbox and mutters about how it must work, so he's not cursed to live here forever. Emma points out he lives in a beautiful mansion and she really can't see what's so cursed about his life. Jefferson says like everyone else in Storybrooke, what he most loves has been ripped from him. He tells her about Grace, whose Storybrooke name is Paige and shows her Grace through the telescope. His curse is to remember -- to live with the knowledge of these two conflicting realities. Emma suggests Jefferson reach out to Grace, but he doesn't want to destroy her reality. It's hard enough to live in a world where you don't belong. Knowing it can drive you mad. Emma finally understands that he wants the hat work so he can take Grace home to their world, where she'll remember who he is.