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ALICE
Scenes [in square brackets] were not in the televised version I saw. These scenes are always only a couple of sentences long and were obviously cut for running time.
I like the credits – dancing Suits, card and roulette games, mixed with test tubes and bottles of coloured – stuff. It’s all very psychedelic and slightly unsettling.
The credits blend into scenes of young men in karate outfits sparring. Alice stands watching them.
Alice ends the class, holding back one student, Jack Chase. They discuss his continuing classes while sparring. It turns out Jack is her boyfriend and tonight he’s coming to meet her mother for the first time. Dinner is at ten, which seems a little late, but maybe that’s just me...
On her way home Alice gives fruit to a homeless man. At home the first thing she does is log onto her computer – apparently it’s left on and connected to the internet all the time – and checks through pictures of men. She dismisses them all. Her mother comes in to info-drop the fact that Alice’s father is missing somewhere and she’s been looking for him. Also, whenever Alice brings guys home she gets cold feet and ends the relationship. Alice insists Jack is different.
Jack buys roses from a street vendor. While he’s paying, a man across the street catches his eye. Jack winces and hurries on.
Jack presents the flowers to Alice’s mother, Carol, and gives Alice a single red rose.
Dinner seems to be going well until Alice’s father comes up in conversation again – he disappeared ten years ago. Carol excuses herself and leaves them alone. Alice apologises for dumping her baggage on him; Jack brushes it off. He gets a text saying ‘Run’ and invites Alice to come and meet his family. Alice is very unsure; Jack tries to convince her by giving her a family heirloom, a ring in a box with a trick catch. Alice refuses it – “A ring means something. This is too fast.” She turns down Jack’s invitation and suggests they take a couple of days to think. Jack reluctantly leaves.
Outside Jack skulks out of the building and away.
Carol and Alice discuss the possible meanings of the ring. Apparently Alice has commitment issues because of her father.
Alice discovers the ring in her pocket and hurries after Jack in a rage. She finds him being beaten and thrown into a van, which she follows through some warehouses until she’s accosted by a silver-haired man wearing a rabbit pin. He introduces himself as a friend of Jack’s and tells her Jack stole the ring and he wants it back. Alice stalls him while trying to free the ring from its box. Rabbit knocks the box from her hand and makes a run for it. Alice chases him into an obviously abandoned building, thus putting herself on a level with every horror movie heroine ever, and eventually falls through the Looking Glass, landing in what looks like a garden. Inside a building. With water all around. She sees the Rabbit and chases him outside.
She’s on a high floor, kept from falling only by a narrow ledge. She chases the Rabbit along it and to another building, where she sees Jack being dragged inside. She follows them as far as the door, where she pauses for a good look around. While she’s looking around, a large flying vehicle shaped a little like a beetle flies by; when the light from its underbelly hits Alice’s arm, a green, curly tattoo spontaneously appears. Alice slips into the building to avoid the vehicle, but the tattoo won’t budge.
Inside she wanders down a corridor into a room with a delicate white table. On the top is a bottle, labelled with ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’ Despite the warning, Alice opens a small view port in the wall and sees many other people curled up in tiny boxes, including the homeless man she’d fed earlier. All have the tattoo somewhere visible.
The door closes behind her. The ceiling starts lowering and the far wall draws in towards her. Alice is left in a tiny crate-shaped room, just big enough to sit up in. Oddly, the table has completely vanished. Did someone pull it out before locking her in?
The Rabbit peers in the viewing port, informing her that he’s late. The room then starts to shake and judder.
Noticing a tiny stream of light coming in along the base of one wall, Alice pulls a hairpin out of her hair and begins fiddling in the gap. She manages to unbolt her box, but the base she’s sitting on is the door and she’s tipped out as it opens. She manages to catch the bottom of the frame, hanging over a drop into water. Alice’s box is one of many hanging from the flying vehicle as it makes its way along a river.
Alice hangs for a minute, but she really has nowhere to go and eventually she falls into the water. Oddly, she does not hurt herself despite falling from hundreds of feet up, managing to swim back into the city.
At the docks she is seen by a ragged looking man holding a knife. Seeing her tattoo, he calls her an Oyster and tells her he doesn’t want any trouble. They see the flying vehicle return and the man tries to run; Alice attempts to pay him to help her, but the concept of money seems to confuse him. She has better luck when she introduces herself; he connects her with ‘Alice of Legend’ and leads her away.
Alice follows him to a building nearby. He uses a scarf to hide her tattoo and scurries inside, telling her to follow him after a count of ten.
Inside the building looks like a Wall Street trading post, people shouting and yelling, numbers flying around on screens and being written on chalkboards. Alice sees bottles labelled with various emotions [and people trading them around]. The ragged man comes back and takes her to an inner room.
Inside the office Alice is offered tea by someone with his back to her, which is really quite rude. She refuses it and asks who he is. Hatter turns in the chair –
I’m just going to pause here so we can all get the squeeing out of our systems –
- and answers “A friend...I hope.”
God, I love his accent.
Ragged Man shows Hatter Alice’s tattoo. He asks how she escaped the Scarab – the flying vehicle – and gives her an appreciative once-over when she explains. Or maybe that’s just because she’s soaking wet. Alice asks where she is; he tells her Wonderland.
“That’s a story in a kid’s book.”
“Does this look like a kid’s story to you?”
The story was real, he tells her, but it was a hundred and fifty years ago and things have changed. Wonderland stays hidden from Alice’s world by choice. People from Alice’s world are known as Oysters and marked by the tattoos, which don’t come off.
Ragged Man, who is apparently called Ratty, insists that she’s Alice. Hatter is not impressed, reminding him sharply that Oysters don’t live long enough for her to be Alice of Legend, the girl who tumbled the House of Cards when she visited. Ratty insists that he wants a good price anyway; Hatter overrides Alice’s objections and gives Ratty a small bottle of Excitement. Ratty runs off with it.
Alice explains about Jack. Hatter tells her that the White Rabbit are a group who work for the Suits, the ruling class, taking people from Alice’s world to Wonderland. It’s too dangerous for Alice to go to the casino herself, but Hatter “knows some people – who know some, well, other people” who might be willing to help. He offers her a coat, both to cover her tattoo, which he calls a ‘glow’ and to keep her from getting cold. Alice offers him money, but he reminds her it’s pointless. When she asks why he wants to help her, he answers, “Do I need a reason to help a pretty girl in a...very wet dress?”
Alice is unconvinced, and he finally admits that he wants to take her to a group who’ll help her so that they’ll owe him one.
Oddly, despite the fact that he doesn’t pronounce any other T in any word he says, Hatter pronounces his own name perfectly. Love that accent.
For just a moment while Alice puts on the coat, Hatter grins evilly into the middle distance. Presumably we’re supposed to be unsure which side he’s on.
The Scarab approaches the Hearts Casino. A man we’ll very soon find out is the Ten of Clubs strides through the lobby, picking up Rabbit on his way. They walk through the Casino proper, an area where Oysters are kept watching go go dancers and playing rigged games that they always win. They’re doped up enough not to think this weird, and their happiness and excitement are siphoned out and filtered into stills in rooms down below.
The Carpenter and Walrus walk between the stills. “The time has come, Walrus, old friend, to test our many stills.” I love that line, even if it doesn’t quite scan.
Carpenter tests one of the bottles, labelled Passion, and seems happy with it. He’s interrupted by the Nine of Clubs, played by BSG’s Gaeta, who asks him to come and meet the King.
Hatter climbs down a ladder, glancing around while he waits for Alice to join him. He helps her down the last couple of steps; she thanks him, but then makes the mistake of looking around. They’re on another ledge and Alice’s previously-completely-unmentioned fear of heights has her hugging the ladder, completely unable to move. Hatter gently coaxes her into giving him her hand and leads her away, telling her not to look down. She obediently locks her eyes on his face as they walk. He’s walking backwards, which seems unsafe on a ledge like that, but presumably he knows where he’s going...
I like this scene; it’s the first time Alice shows any trust in Hatter, which is not unexpected, but it’s also the first time Hatter drops his guard a little. Up til now this has been a business transaction, and maybe it still is, but he’s also concerned about Alice as a person. It’s a nice moment.
King of Hearts Colm Meany and his bizarre Mockney accent tell Carpenter that the last shipment of Oysters, twenty in all, have arrived. This will be the last shipment until they ‘retrieve the ring’. Ten and Rabbit come in with the ring box, but the King can’t manage the catch and is forced to send for the Queen.
In the Casino one of the Oysters suddenly starts talking. Her croupier sends for security, who bring her to a ‘Waiting Room’. There, other Oysters who are also waiting tell her she shouldn’t have spoken even if she was awake.
Hatter passwords himself and Alice into what looks like a bus – “How does the little crocodile improve his shining tail?” “(impatiently) He pours water of the Nile on every golden scale!” – which immediately drops like a lift. Alice stumbles into a seat. When the bus/lift draws to a halt they are met with guns.
Owl warns Hatter about keeping his right hand – his sledgehammer – in view. Hatter reminds them firmly that he is their supplier and if they’re not careful, his food runs might just dry up. Relenting, Owl and Duck lead them down a corridor towards an office.
They’re in the Great Library, Hatter tells Alice, where all the knowledge of Wonderland was hidden when the Queen of Hearts seized power. [Alice asks who the Queen is; Owl and Duck react violently, raising their guns against her, as no Wonderlander could possibly be unaware of the Queen. Hatter bribes them with what looks like cheese wheels he pulls out of the back of his belt – and can I just say, yuck. How long have they been in there? – and they continue.]
Looking over a balcony, Alice sees people in amongst the piles of books far below. Hatter tells her those are refugees, kept hidden down here to protect them from the Queen. Hatter is part of the supply chain that keeps them fed “as best we can.”
This is the first scene where I was sure Hatter was on the right side. He genuinely seems to feel for the refugees while he’s describing them to Alice, and once I’d seen this I was convinced.
Back at the Casino the Queen, Kathy Bates, arrives into the throne room.
Rabbit presents her with the ring box, but when she opens it it’s empty. Rabbit realises that Alice must have the ring; when the Queen realises an Oyster not only stole the ring but is running around Wonderland somewhere, she orders Rabbit beheaded and sends Ten to ask about her favourite assassin. “Is Mad March alive yet?”
The Queen is very effective here – first she’s dismissively polite to her Suits – “You’re all so clever, and pretty.” Then, when she discovers Rabbit has lost the ring, she simply waves at him, leaving Ten to interpret her order. She’s so casual and so convinced of her own power, it’s quite chilling.
In the Library Hatter explains Alice’s situation to Dodo, Tim Curry.
Dodo spends a while ragging on Hatter – “You know what rankles me about blood-sucking carpetbaggers like you, Hatter? Your gall.” – until Hatter, clearly uncomfortable with Alice hearing this, reminds him that he, Hatter, plays both sides so as to keep Dodo’s supply chain running. [Dodo has not left the Library in three years, and Owl has forgotten what vegetables taste like, it’s been so long. Clearly the supply chain needs work.] Without Hatter playing up to the Hearts, the Resistance would be in a lot more trouble than they are.
Dodo is dismissive of this Oyster’s plight until Hatter urges Alice to “Show him the rock...the ring, on your finger.” Alice tells him sharply that the ring is not for sale, despite it being the only thing she actually has. Dodo, examining the ring, realises that she’s wearing the Stone of Wonderland.
Hatter is astonished by this, clearly not having realised. Dodo demands the ring and he and his followers pull guns. Hatter does his best to defuse the situation, but Dodo shoots him and he flies across the room, collapsing in a heap. Owl and Duck are startled enough that when Alice flips Dodo over her shoulder and makes a run for it, neither tries to follow her. Before Dodo can get back on his feet, Hatter shoots into the air and holds him back with his own gun. Dodo tries to offer him money for the ring and threatens to set the whole resistance on him, but oddly Hatter is not convinced by the guy who just shot him. Though he’s obviously in pain, he holds Dodo at bay for as long as he can. Finally Dodo gets the drop on him, knocks him to the ground and leaves him there while he goes after Alice.
I’m always bemused by the fact that Dodo just yells “Give me the ring” instead of physically taking it – he’s close enough to Alice, until he backs off to pull his gun. My top two theories; he’s really in awe of Hatter’s punch, OR the ring can’t be physically taken, only willingly given. I like the second, as it ties into theories I also have about the Looking Glass, and Dodo is not at all reluctant to fight Hatter. Opinions, anyone?
Alice, back on the bus/lift, can’t figure out how to make it start. She can see Dodo coming towards her along the passage, but Hatter jumps him before he can get too far, prompting Alice on how to get the bus/lift moving while trying to beat Dodo down. The Resistance leader is too strong for him, though, and Hatter is getting his butt kicked until Alice comes back to rescue him.
I love how the first thing Hatter does when Alice knocks Dodo off him is look for his hat. Hee!
Alice hauls Hatter onto the bus, gets them going and comes back to check Hatter’s injury. Turns out he’s wearing a form of body armour; he must be sore, but the bullet didn’t hit his skin. Alice demands answers and Hatter, sprawled in a rather undignified heap on the floor, provides them.
The Knights of Wonderland mined the Stone to control the Looking Glass. When the Queen rose to power she slaughtered the Knights and stole both Ring and Glass. The Looking Glass is the basis of her power and if the Resistance gets hold of the Ring, they can topple her.
Basically, Alice is now in deep doo-doo.
She’s pretty furious that Hatter even brought her there – “He tried to kill me!” “Yeah, well, he actually shot me, so...” Hatter’s concern is how Jack managed to get the ring.
In Carpenter’s lab, Ten arrives to enquire after Mad March. Carpenter reminds them that he lost his head and hasn’t been revived yet; Ten gives him a hour to get it done. Glancing around, Carpenter’s gaze falls on a ceramic rabbit’s head he’s been using as a cookie jar.
Outside the Resistance hideout Alice and Hatter play ring-around-the-very-big-tree while he tries to convince her that he really is on her side. Alice is understandably gun-shy, but she eventually agrees.
Carpenter present Mad March to the Court. He’s used the jar as March’s head, so he is now a literal White Rabbit. He’s also very Noo Yark and relatively insane. The Queen sends him to hunt down Alice.
Hatter leads Alice along another ledge, still trying to persuade her to give up on Jack. Alice is convinced that she got Jack into this mess, somehow. Hatter is still wondering how Jack got the ring in the first place. He tells Alice she should just leave him behind; Alice protests that she likes him.
“I know a thing or two about ‘liking’ people. And in time, and much chocolate and cream cake, ‘like’ turns into ‘what was his name again?’”
One of the rare glimpses into Hatter’s past. He obviously liked someone at some point.
Alice says she’s not giving up on Jack, but Hatter motions her to silence; they’ve almost reached his store, but March and the Suits have gotten there first. March sees them and gives chase. Hatter leads Alice down to his boat – oddly, they don’t seem to have descended the hundreds of floors they should have to to get to water, but maybe that bit was cut – and they get away across the river. One of March’s Suits calls for a Scarab to pick them up.
Hatter claims not to know March, but he knows enough to get them out of there. That may have been the presence of the Suits, but given a certain deleted scene later on...
Alice asks again about the Casino. Hatter suggests talking to the White Rabbit; it’s a long shot, but they might be willing to do a deal for the ring. Alice picks up on his use of ‘we’ and Hatter admits that he is now being hunted by both the Resistance and the Queen’s men. He can hide, for a while, but even for him there are only so many places to go. The only option he sees is to go to Alice’s world and forget Wonderland.
A Scarab pulls up to hover over them and Hatter heads for the nearest shore. He leads Alice into the woods, preparing to lay a trap for the posse. They hike through the trees until they hear something roaring nearby. Hatter sends Alice to find a tree to climb and prepares to use himself as bait. This works about as well as you’d expect; Alice refuses to go anywhere until he tells her what’s chasing them (a Jabberwock) and then explains the plan. It’s a very cute scene; Alice grabs Hatter’s arm, which he’s very aware of, and then every time he thinks she’s gone she comes back and he rolls his eyes. It’s good.
The Jabberwock finally gets tired of waiting for Alice to actually follow the plan and starts chasing her. She manages to lead it between two close-growing trees and it gets stuck, but she’s tripped and can’t get up without it biting her. Hatter boxes it out of the way and gets her on her feet, running for it. Then they fall into a pit.
“...Ow.”
[The floor of the pit is studded with large spikes. Alice and Hatter have missed them completely, but when the Jabberwock chases them it can’t get near them without impaling itself, so it gives up and wanders away.]
Alice and Hatter are starting to pull themselves together when a Knight appears above the pit, soundly chastising them for scaring the Jabberwock away.
March and the Suits have found Hatter’s boat. March leads them through the forest.
The Knight has freed them from the pit but is still angry at them. He introduces himself as “Sir Charles Eustace Fotheringhay Le Malvoy the Third,” the White Knight. Hatter protests that the Knights were all wiped out; Charlie points out that they obviously weren’t. Alice asks where the others are, and Charlie tells her they were all wiped out. This is pretty typical of Charlie’s dialogue.
Hatter realises, incredulously, that Charlie must have dug the pit on his own. Charlie takes umbrage at Hatter’s insinuation that he’s too old and advances on them, ranting furiously. The pair retreat; Hatter has an arm in front of Alice to protect her, which is really sweet considering he knows at this point she’s just as good in a fight as he is. They actually retreat for fifteen seconds straight, it’s very funny.
Alice introduces herself and Charlie immediately connects her to Alice of Legend. Hatter asks how he’s survived and Charlie pulls out his one-size-fits-all excuse: “I am a Knight.” He adds that he is also an inventor and dabbles in the black arts, and offers to prove it by reading Alice’s palm. Unfortunately, he picks up her hand palm-down and sees the ring, which he of course recognises. Hatter immediately warns him off – “Don’t get too excited, granddad. The ring stays on the lady’s finger, ok?” – but Charlie is too excited by this auspicious event to really take notice.
Hatter suggests running while Charlie is happily praising the stars, but Alice says that as he’s survived for so long perhaps he can help. After some prodding, Charlie agrees to take her and “ – your...vassal...” to his fortress. Hatter takes offense at being called a vessel.
‘Scuse me while I pause the DVD to laugh.
[Charlie strains something in his back and needs Hatter’s help to straighten up. Hatter ‘helps’ fairly abruptly. This scene rocks for Hatter’s expression when he realises Charlie needs help.]
[March and his Suits, who now include Ten, have found the pit. March can track where they got out, but loses the tracks after that. Ten goes on a tangent about who dug the pit.]
Charlie, who apparently had another horse just wandering around, leads Alice and Hatter through the trees. Their horse is dragging a net that wipes out their tracks as they go.
[Hatter suggests Alice lean on him to take some of the weight, since she is not on the saddle and is uncomfortable. Since this would involve putting her arms around him, she refuses.]
They get their first view of Charlie’s kingdom. It’s impressive, even tumbling into ruin as it is, spanning both sides of a chasm.
Charlie leads them into a clearing, explaining that before the War with the Queen, this was the greatest kingdom in the realm. The Queen and her Suits killed the Red King and his Council when she seized power. Charlie has set up camp in the remains of the throne room; the only thing left is the throne, where the Red King still sits.
[March sees the remains of the city above the trees.]
Late that evening Alice finishes dinner. Charlie wanders off and Alice takes the opportunity to ask Hatter how they’ll deal with the White Rabbit. [Hatter lists a long, tenuous string of people; “I know this girl, who dates a guy who plays cards with a kid who studied law with an electrician who sometimes works with one of the techies.” I’m paraphrasing. Alice is not impressed.] Hatter reminds her that he said it was a long shot but the ring is her ticket. Alice again picks up on the singular; Hatter has changed his mind and will do his best to aid the Resistance. Seeing the ruined city has shown him that the Queen has to be stopped. Alice reminds him that Dodo is out for blood; Hatter absently says he’s planning on bringing the ring to Dodo to placate him. Catching himself, he adds that of course he’ll get Alice home first. Alice asks about Jack; Hatter wearily reminds her that Jack can’t be rescued.
Alice storms off and sits down; watching, Hatter says wistfully, “Jack’s a lucky guy.” Alice didn’t catch the comment and he doesn’t clarify, instead suggesting they should get some rest. He wanders off, knocking his hat off in the first trick move I’ve seen.
A little later Charlie is snoring in his hammock. Alice, on an old and dilapidated bed, gets quietly to her feet. She slips past Hatter, who is sleeping sitting up against a tree, and goes into the woods, leaving her coat behind.
After a while she pauses, sitting at the base of a tree. She sees a cat who looks like her childhood pet; Alice follows her for a really long time until she runs through a door in a tree. Presumably figuring she’s seen weirder things, Alice goes inside.
It’s the house she lived in as a child. When Alice enters, she is once again ten years old. Pacing through the house, she finds her father’s study, empty but for a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on the floor.
Alice wakes up out in the woods.
An alarm goes off at camp and Hatter and Charlie wake up. Hatter notices Alice’s absence and sees the coat she left behind. At first disbelieving, then despairing, he demands a horse from Charlie.
Hatter briskly saddles the horse while Charlie makes noises about the Dark Arts and how he’ll use them to find Alice. His Arts say to go west, but Hatter determinedly heads East, towards the Casino. He tells Charlie he doesn’t need to come along as this isn’t his battle; Charlie loftily tells him that he is Alice’s Knight while Hatter is merely a Harbinger, and thus Charlie has to come. I wonder if Hatter had to hang around while Charlie got all his armour on? He can’t have enjoyed that much.
I love that while Charlie is babbling about how to find her, Hatter is just getting on with things – he saddles the horse, mounts and rides off in one long shot while Charlie’s faffing about in the front. Charlie’s just as capable of making decisions and carrying them out as Hatter is; he just hasn’t got that far along. Hatter knew what he needed to do the instant he saw the coat.
I also love how careful Hatter is to get his second foot in the stirrup before moving the horse. It’s a touch of reality that TV doesn’t often show – people frequently ride off barely on. Poor old Andrew must have been a bit leery...
Alice picks her way through shrubs until she meets March.
Another Oyster enters the Waiting Room.
March leads Alice through the casino floor, where she sees Oysters who were formerly in the Waiting Room.
In the Throne Room the Queen reacts angrily to Alice’s claim that she’s hidden the ring. The King makes some vaguely inappropriate remarks about searching her, and it’s very uncomfortable. Luckily, the Queen calls him off. Alice demands safe passage to her own world for herself and Jack before she’ll give it up.
The Queen has a brilliant speech where she picks apart Alice’s plan, ending with “You’re face to face with the Queen of Hearts, the most powerful woman in the history of literature...you’ve lost your nerve.” Alice, to give her credit, doesn’t back down, simply replying that she hasn’t lost her nerve.
The Queen sends Nine to find “this Jack Chase.” Nine protests but goes; when he opens the door, Jack stalks in, now with shiny blond hair and a rather spiffy red suit.
(pic jack)
“What a coincidence!” the Queen simpers.
Alice throws herself at Jack, who eases her back off. The Queen then calmly informs Alice that Jack is her son. Jack disclaims all relationship with Alice and accuses her of stealing the ring.
Philip Winchester, who played Jack – and come on, who didn’t see that and automatically think “SPN crossover!” – does a fantastic job here. He’s calmly trashing everything Alice believes in and urging her to give up the ring, but his eyes are telling her not to and he almost never looks away from her. He turns his head, but his eyes don’t move from hers.
Whether she’s picking up his hints or not, Alice refuses to give up the ring. Jack suggests simply bringing her home himself to get the ring, but the Queen refuses because she doesn’t trust Jack.
A blonde woman comes in. The Queen addresses her as ‘Duchess’ and chides Jack “Have you nothing to say to your fiancée?”
Duchess, she proceeds to tell Alice, is Jack’s life-long love and their wedding was arranged long before his jaunt through the Looking Glass, which she passes off as a bit of boy’s fun.
Duchess is not impressed with Alice. The feeling is mutual.
Jack hastily backs Alice off a few steps ‘to say goodbye’ and slips her a watch. Leaning in to kiss her cheek, he murmurs “He’s here.” and then takes Duchess out of the room. The Queen orders Alice brought to the Truth Room.
Passing through the Casino again, Alice looks at the watch – it belonged to her father.
Jack and Duchess return to his room, where she confesses to jealousy. Jack asks her to help him escapes, but she refuses unless he tells her his plans. She reminds him that they shouldn’t have secrets and then sashays out, leaving him locked in.
Alice is flung into the Truth Room, a very weird place where the walls twist and bend. Drs Dum and Dee appear and babble at her for a while. The hypnotic walls slide Alice into a trance and the doctors slip into her mind, recreating the day her father disappeared. They force her into the study, which is empty apart from a crib holding a pig. I’m...not sure why this is traumatising, but apparently...
The doors behind Alice slide closed and the floor begins to fall from under her, plank by plank. Only one is left to hold her up. Alice tries to convince herself that it’s all in her mind; unfortunately, it’s so much in her mind that if she falls, she’ll really fall. She reminds the doctors that if that happens, she can’t tell them where the ring is, but they don’t care – they’re enjoying playing with her. Alice is left hanging from one solitary plank....
To be continued
Part 2 is here.
Scenes [in square brackets] were not in the televised version I saw. These scenes are always only a couple of sentences long and were obviously cut for running time.
I like the credits – dancing Suits, card and roulette games, mixed with test tubes and bottles of coloured – stuff. It’s all very psychedelic and slightly unsettling.
The credits blend into scenes of young men in karate outfits sparring. Alice stands watching them.
Alice ends the class, holding back one student, Jack Chase. They discuss his continuing classes while sparring. It turns out Jack is her boyfriend and tonight he’s coming to meet her mother for the first time. Dinner is at ten, which seems a little late, but maybe that’s just me...
On her way home Alice gives fruit to a homeless man. At home the first thing she does is log onto her computer – apparently it’s left on and connected to the internet all the time – and checks through pictures of men. She dismisses them all. Her mother comes in to info-drop the fact that Alice’s father is missing somewhere and she’s been looking for him. Also, whenever Alice brings guys home she gets cold feet and ends the relationship. Alice insists Jack is different.
Jack buys roses from a street vendor. While he’s paying, a man across the street catches his eye. Jack winces and hurries on.
Jack presents the flowers to Alice’s mother, Carol, and gives Alice a single red rose.
Dinner seems to be going well until Alice’s father comes up in conversation again – he disappeared ten years ago. Carol excuses herself and leaves them alone. Alice apologises for dumping her baggage on him; Jack brushes it off. He gets a text saying ‘Run’ and invites Alice to come and meet his family. Alice is very unsure; Jack tries to convince her by giving her a family heirloom, a ring in a box with a trick catch. Alice refuses it – “A ring means something. This is too fast.” She turns down Jack’s invitation and suggests they take a couple of days to think. Jack reluctantly leaves.
Outside Jack skulks out of the building and away.
Carol and Alice discuss the possible meanings of the ring. Apparently Alice has commitment issues because of her father.
Alice discovers the ring in her pocket and hurries after Jack in a rage. She finds him being beaten and thrown into a van, which she follows through some warehouses until she’s accosted by a silver-haired man wearing a rabbit pin. He introduces himself as a friend of Jack’s and tells her Jack stole the ring and he wants it back. Alice stalls him while trying to free the ring from its box. Rabbit knocks the box from her hand and makes a run for it. Alice chases him into an obviously abandoned building, thus putting herself on a level with every horror movie heroine ever, and eventually falls through the Looking Glass, landing in what looks like a garden. Inside a building. With water all around. She sees the Rabbit and chases him outside.
She’s on a high floor, kept from falling only by a narrow ledge. She chases the Rabbit along it and to another building, where she sees Jack being dragged inside. She follows them as far as the door, where she pauses for a good look around. While she’s looking around, a large flying vehicle shaped a little like a beetle flies by; when the light from its underbelly hits Alice’s arm, a green, curly tattoo spontaneously appears. Alice slips into the building to avoid the vehicle, but the tattoo won’t budge.
Inside she wanders down a corridor into a room with a delicate white table. On the top is a bottle, labelled with ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’ Despite the warning, Alice opens a small view port in the wall and sees many other people curled up in tiny boxes, including the homeless man she’d fed earlier. All have the tattoo somewhere visible.
The door closes behind her. The ceiling starts lowering and the far wall draws in towards her. Alice is left in a tiny crate-shaped room, just big enough to sit up in. Oddly, the table has completely vanished. Did someone pull it out before locking her in?
The Rabbit peers in the viewing port, informing her that he’s late. The room then starts to shake and judder.
Noticing a tiny stream of light coming in along the base of one wall, Alice pulls a hairpin out of her hair and begins fiddling in the gap. She manages to unbolt her box, but the base she’s sitting on is the door and she’s tipped out as it opens. She manages to catch the bottom of the frame, hanging over a drop into water. Alice’s box is one of many hanging from the flying vehicle as it makes its way along a river.
Alice hangs for a minute, but she really has nowhere to go and eventually she falls into the water. Oddly, she does not hurt herself despite falling from hundreds of feet up, managing to swim back into the city.
At the docks she is seen by a ragged looking man holding a knife. Seeing her tattoo, he calls her an Oyster and tells her he doesn’t want any trouble. They see the flying vehicle return and the man tries to run; Alice attempts to pay him to help her, but the concept of money seems to confuse him. She has better luck when she introduces herself; he connects her with ‘Alice of Legend’ and leads her away.
Alice follows him to a building nearby. He uses a scarf to hide her tattoo and scurries inside, telling her to follow him after a count of ten.
Inside the building looks like a Wall Street trading post, people shouting and yelling, numbers flying around on screens and being written on chalkboards. Alice sees bottles labelled with various emotions [and people trading them around]. The ragged man comes back and takes her to an inner room.
Inside the office Alice is offered tea by someone with his back to her, which is really quite rude. She refuses it and asks who he is. Hatter turns in the chair –
I’m just going to pause here so we can all get the squeeing out of our systems –
- and answers “A friend...I hope.”
God, I love his accent.
Ragged Man shows Hatter Alice’s tattoo. He asks how she escaped the Scarab – the flying vehicle – and gives her an appreciative once-over when she explains. Or maybe that’s just because she’s soaking wet. Alice asks where she is; he tells her Wonderland.
“That’s a story in a kid’s book.”
“Does this look like a kid’s story to you?”
The story was real, he tells her, but it was a hundred and fifty years ago and things have changed. Wonderland stays hidden from Alice’s world by choice. People from Alice’s world are known as Oysters and marked by the tattoos, which don’t come off.
Ragged Man, who is apparently called Ratty, insists that she’s Alice. Hatter is not impressed, reminding him sharply that Oysters don’t live long enough for her to be Alice of Legend, the girl who tumbled the House of Cards when she visited. Ratty insists that he wants a good price anyway; Hatter overrides Alice’s objections and gives Ratty a small bottle of Excitement. Ratty runs off with it.
Alice explains about Jack. Hatter tells her that the White Rabbit are a group who work for the Suits, the ruling class, taking people from Alice’s world to Wonderland. It’s too dangerous for Alice to go to the casino herself, but Hatter “knows some people – who know some, well, other people” who might be willing to help. He offers her a coat, both to cover her tattoo, which he calls a ‘glow’ and to keep her from getting cold. Alice offers him money, but he reminds her it’s pointless. When she asks why he wants to help her, he answers, “Do I need a reason to help a pretty girl in a...very wet dress?”
Alice is unconvinced, and he finally admits that he wants to take her to a group who’ll help her so that they’ll owe him one.
Oddly, despite the fact that he doesn’t pronounce any other T in any word he says, Hatter pronounces his own name perfectly. Love that accent.
For just a moment while Alice puts on the coat, Hatter grins evilly into the middle distance. Presumably we’re supposed to be unsure which side he’s on.
The Scarab approaches the Hearts Casino. A man we’ll very soon find out is the Ten of Clubs strides through the lobby, picking up Rabbit on his way. They walk through the Casino proper, an area where Oysters are kept watching go go dancers and playing rigged games that they always win. They’re doped up enough not to think this weird, and their happiness and excitement are siphoned out and filtered into stills in rooms down below.
The Carpenter and Walrus walk between the stills. “The time has come, Walrus, old friend, to test our many stills.” I love that line, even if it doesn’t quite scan.
Carpenter tests one of the bottles, labelled Passion, and seems happy with it. He’s interrupted by the Nine of Clubs, played by BSG’s Gaeta, who asks him to come and meet the King.
Hatter climbs down a ladder, glancing around while he waits for Alice to join him. He helps her down the last couple of steps; she thanks him, but then makes the mistake of looking around. They’re on another ledge and Alice’s previously-completely-unmentioned fear of heights has her hugging the ladder, completely unable to move. Hatter gently coaxes her into giving him her hand and leads her away, telling her not to look down. She obediently locks her eyes on his face as they walk. He’s walking backwards, which seems unsafe on a ledge like that, but presumably he knows where he’s going...
I like this scene; it’s the first time Alice shows any trust in Hatter, which is not unexpected, but it’s also the first time Hatter drops his guard a little. Up til now this has been a business transaction, and maybe it still is, but he’s also concerned about Alice as a person. It’s a nice moment.
King of Hearts Colm Meany and his bizarre Mockney accent tell Carpenter that the last shipment of Oysters, twenty in all, have arrived. This will be the last shipment until they ‘retrieve the ring’. Ten and Rabbit come in with the ring box, but the King can’t manage the catch and is forced to send for the Queen.
In the Casino one of the Oysters suddenly starts talking. Her croupier sends for security, who bring her to a ‘Waiting Room’. There, other Oysters who are also waiting tell her she shouldn’t have spoken even if she was awake.
Hatter passwords himself and Alice into what looks like a bus – “How does the little crocodile improve his shining tail?” “(impatiently) He pours water of the Nile on every golden scale!” – which immediately drops like a lift. Alice stumbles into a seat. When the bus/lift draws to a halt they are met with guns.
Owl warns Hatter about keeping his right hand – his sledgehammer – in view. Hatter reminds them firmly that he is their supplier and if they’re not careful, his food runs might just dry up. Relenting, Owl and Duck lead them down a corridor towards an office.
They’re in the Great Library, Hatter tells Alice, where all the knowledge of Wonderland was hidden when the Queen of Hearts seized power. [Alice asks who the Queen is; Owl and Duck react violently, raising their guns against her, as no Wonderlander could possibly be unaware of the Queen. Hatter bribes them with what looks like cheese wheels he pulls out of the back of his belt – and can I just say, yuck. How long have they been in there? – and they continue.]
Looking over a balcony, Alice sees people in amongst the piles of books far below. Hatter tells her those are refugees, kept hidden down here to protect them from the Queen. Hatter is part of the supply chain that keeps them fed “as best we can.”
This is the first scene where I was sure Hatter was on the right side. He genuinely seems to feel for the refugees while he’s describing them to Alice, and once I’d seen this I was convinced.
Back at the Casino the Queen, Kathy Bates, arrives into the throne room.
Rabbit presents her with the ring box, but when she opens it it’s empty. Rabbit realises that Alice must have the ring; when the Queen realises an Oyster not only stole the ring but is running around Wonderland somewhere, she orders Rabbit beheaded and sends Ten to ask about her favourite assassin. “Is Mad March alive yet?”
The Queen is very effective here – first she’s dismissively polite to her Suits – “You’re all so clever, and pretty.” Then, when she discovers Rabbit has lost the ring, she simply waves at him, leaving Ten to interpret her order. She’s so casual and so convinced of her own power, it’s quite chilling.
In the Library Hatter explains Alice’s situation to Dodo, Tim Curry.
Dodo spends a while ragging on Hatter – “You know what rankles me about blood-sucking carpetbaggers like you, Hatter? Your gall.” – until Hatter, clearly uncomfortable with Alice hearing this, reminds him that he, Hatter, plays both sides so as to keep Dodo’s supply chain running. [Dodo has not left the Library in three years, and Owl has forgotten what vegetables taste like, it’s been so long. Clearly the supply chain needs work.] Without Hatter playing up to the Hearts, the Resistance would be in a lot more trouble than they are.
Dodo is dismissive of this Oyster’s plight until Hatter urges Alice to “Show him the rock...the ring, on your finger.” Alice tells him sharply that the ring is not for sale, despite it being the only thing she actually has. Dodo, examining the ring, realises that she’s wearing the Stone of Wonderland.
Hatter is astonished by this, clearly not having realised. Dodo demands the ring and he and his followers pull guns. Hatter does his best to defuse the situation, but Dodo shoots him and he flies across the room, collapsing in a heap. Owl and Duck are startled enough that when Alice flips Dodo over her shoulder and makes a run for it, neither tries to follow her. Before Dodo can get back on his feet, Hatter shoots into the air and holds him back with his own gun. Dodo tries to offer him money for the ring and threatens to set the whole resistance on him, but oddly Hatter is not convinced by the guy who just shot him. Though he’s obviously in pain, he holds Dodo at bay for as long as he can. Finally Dodo gets the drop on him, knocks him to the ground and leaves him there while he goes after Alice.
I’m always bemused by the fact that Dodo just yells “Give me the ring” instead of physically taking it – he’s close enough to Alice, until he backs off to pull his gun. My top two theories; he’s really in awe of Hatter’s punch, OR the ring can’t be physically taken, only willingly given. I like the second, as it ties into theories I also have about the Looking Glass, and Dodo is not at all reluctant to fight Hatter. Opinions, anyone?
Alice, back on the bus/lift, can’t figure out how to make it start. She can see Dodo coming towards her along the passage, but Hatter jumps him before he can get too far, prompting Alice on how to get the bus/lift moving while trying to beat Dodo down. The Resistance leader is too strong for him, though, and Hatter is getting his butt kicked until Alice comes back to rescue him.
I love how the first thing Hatter does when Alice knocks Dodo off him is look for his hat. Hee!
Alice hauls Hatter onto the bus, gets them going and comes back to check Hatter’s injury. Turns out he’s wearing a form of body armour; he must be sore, but the bullet didn’t hit his skin. Alice demands answers and Hatter, sprawled in a rather undignified heap on the floor, provides them.
The Knights of Wonderland mined the Stone to control the Looking Glass. When the Queen rose to power she slaughtered the Knights and stole both Ring and Glass. The Looking Glass is the basis of her power and if the Resistance gets hold of the Ring, they can topple her.
Basically, Alice is now in deep doo-doo.
She’s pretty furious that Hatter even brought her there – “He tried to kill me!” “Yeah, well, he actually shot me, so...” Hatter’s concern is how Jack managed to get the ring.
In Carpenter’s lab, Ten arrives to enquire after Mad March. Carpenter reminds them that he lost his head and hasn’t been revived yet; Ten gives him a hour to get it done. Glancing around, Carpenter’s gaze falls on a ceramic rabbit’s head he’s been using as a cookie jar.
Outside the Resistance hideout Alice and Hatter play ring-around-the-very-big-tree while he tries to convince her that he really is on her side. Alice is understandably gun-shy, but she eventually agrees.
Carpenter present Mad March to the Court. He’s used the jar as March’s head, so he is now a literal White Rabbit. He’s also very Noo Yark and relatively insane. The Queen sends him to hunt down Alice.
Hatter leads Alice along another ledge, still trying to persuade her to give up on Jack. Alice is convinced that she got Jack into this mess, somehow. Hatter is still wondering how Jack got the ring in the first place. He tells Alice she should just leave him behind; Alice protests that she likes him.
“I know a thing or two about ‘liking’ people. And in time, and much chocolate and cream cake, ‘like’ turns into ‘what was his name again?’”
One of the rare glimpses into Hatter’s past. He obviously liked someone at some point.
Alice says she’s not giving up on Jack, but Hatter motions her to silence; they’ve almost reached his store, but March and the Suits have gotten there first. March sees them and gives chase. Hatter leads Alice down to his boat – oddly, they don’t seem to have descended the hundreds of floors they should have to to get to water, but maybe that bit was cut – and they get away across the river. One of March’s Suits calls for a Scarab to pick them up.
Hatter claims not to know March, but he knows enough to get them out of there. That may have been the presence of the Suits, but given a certain deleted scene later on...
Alice asks again about the Casino. Hatter suggests talking to the White Rabbit; it’s a long shot, but they might be willing to do a deal for the ring. Alice picks up on his use of ‘we’ and Hatter admits that he is now being hunted by both the Resistance and the Queen’s men. He can hide, for a while, but even for him there are only so many places to go. The only option he sees is to go to Alice’s world and forget Wonderland.
A Scarab pulls up to hover over them and Hatter heads for the nearest shore. He leads Alice into the woods, preparing to lay a trap for the posse. They hike through the trees until they hear something roaring nearby. Hatter sends Alice to find a tree to climb and prepares to use himself as bait. This works about as well as you’d expect; Alice refuses to go anywhere until he tells her what’s chasing them (a Jabberwock) and then explains the plan. It’s a very cute scene; Alice grabs Hatter’s arm, which he’s very aware of, and then every time he thinks she’s gone she comes back and he rolls his eyes. It’s good.
The Jabberwock finally gets tired of waiting for Alice to actually follow the plan and starts chasing her. She manages to lead it between two close-growing trees and it gets stuck, but she’s tripped and can’t get up without it biting her. Hatter boxes it out of the way and gets her on her feet, running for it. Then they fall into a pit.
“...Ow.”
[The floor of the pit is studded with large spikes. Alice and Hatter have missed them completely, but when the Jabberwock chases them it can’t get near them without impaling itself, so it gives up and wanders away.]
Alice and Hatter are starting to pull themselves together when a Knight appears above the pit, soundly chastising them for scaring the Jabberwock away.
March and the Suits have found Hatter’s boat. March leads them through the forest.
The Knight has freed them from the pit but is still angry at them. He introduces himself as “Sir Charles Eustace Fotheringhay Le Malvoy the Third,” the White Knight. Hatter protests that the Knights were all wiped out; Charlie points out that they obviously weren’t. Alice asks where the others are, and Charlie tells her they were all wiped out. This is pretty typical of Charlie’s dialogue.
Hatter realises, incredulously, that Charlie must have dug the pit on his own. Charlie takes umbrage at Hatter’s insinuation that he’s too old and advances on them, ranting furiously. The pair retreat; Hatter has an arm in front of Alice to protect her, which is really sweet considering he knows at this point she’s just as good in a fight as he is. They actually retreat for fifteen seconds straight, it’s very funny.
Alice introduces herself and Charlie immediately connects her to Alice of Legend. Hatter asks how he’s survived and Charlie pulls out his one-size-fits-all excuse: “I am a Knight.” He adds that he is also an inventor and dabbles in the black arts, and offers to prove it by reading Alice’s palm. Unfortunately, he picks up her hand palm-down and sees the ring, which he of course recognises. Hatter immediately warns him off – “Don’t get too excited, granddad. The ring stays on the lady’s finger, ok?” – but Charlie is too excited by this auspicious event to really take notice.
Hatter suggests running while Charlie is happily praising the stars, but Alice says that as he’s survived for so long perhaps he can help. After some prodding, Charlie agrees to take her and “ – your...vassal...” to his fortress. Hatter takes offense at being called a vessel.
‘Scuse me while I pause the DVD to laugh.
[Charlie strains something in his back and needs Hatter’s help to straighten up. Hatter ‘helps’ fairly abruptly. This scene rocks for Hatter’s expression when he realises Charlie needs help.]
[March and his Suits, who now include Ten, have found the pit. March can track where they got out, but loses the tracks after that. Ten goes on a tangent about who dug the pit.]
Charlie, who apparently had another horse just wandering around, leads Alice and Hatter through the trees. Their horse is dragging a net that wipes out their tracks as they go.
[Hatter suggests Alice lean on him to take some of the weight, since she is not on the saddle and is uncomfortable. Since this would involve putting her arms around him, she refuses.]
They get their first view of Charlie’s kingdom. It’s impressive, even tumbling into ruin as it is, spanning both sides of a chasm.
Charlie leads them into a clearing, explaining that before the War with the Queen, this was the greatest kingdom in the realm. The Queen and her Suits killed the Red King and his Council when she seized power. Charlie has set up camp in the remains of the throne room; the only thing left is the throne, where the Red King still sits.
[March sees the remains of the city above the trees.]
Late that evening Alice finishes dinner. Charlie wanders off and Alice takes the opportunity to ask Hatter how they’ll deal with the White Rabbit. [Hatter lists a long, tenuous string of people; “I know this girl, who dates a guy who plays cards with a kid who studied law with an electrician who sometimes works with one of the techies.” I’m paraphrasing. Alice is not impressed.] Hatter reminds her that he said it was a long shot but the ring is her ticket. Alice again picks up on the singular; Hatter has changed his mind and will do his best to aid the Resistance. Seeing the ruined city has shown him that the Queen has to be stopped. Alice reminds him that Dodo is out for blood; Hatter absently says he’s planning on bringing the ring to Dodo to placate him. Catching himself, he adds that of course he’ll get Alice home first. Alice asks about Jack; Hatter wearily reminds her that Jack can’t be rescued.
Alice storms off and sits down; watching, Hatter says wistfully, “Jack’s a lucky guy.” Alice didn’t catch the comment and he doesn’t clarify, instead suggesting they should get some rest. He wanders off, knocking his hat off in the first trick move I’ve seen.
A little later Charlie is snoring in his hammock. Alice, on an old and dilapidated bed, gets quietly to her feet. She slips past Hatter, who is sleeping sitting up against a tree, and goes into the woods, leaving her coat behind.
After a while she pauses, sitting at the base of a tree. She sees a cat who looks like her childhood pet; Alice follows her for a really long time until she runs through a door in a tree. Presumably figuring she’s seen weirder things, Alice goes inside.
It’s the house she lived in as a child. When Alice enters, she is once again ten years old. Pacing through the house, she finds her father’s study, empty but for a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on the floor.
Alice wakes up out in the woods.
An alarm goes off at camp and Hatter and Charlie wake up. Hatter notices Alice’s absence and sees the coat she left behind. At first disbelieving, then despairing, he demands a horse from Charlie.
Hatter briskly saddles the horse while Charlie makes noises about the Dark Arts and how he’ll use them to find Alice. His Arts say to go west, but Hatter determinedly heads East, towards the Casino. He tells Charlie he doesn’t need to come along as this isn’t his battle; Charlie loftily tells him that he is Alice’s Knight while Hatter is merely a Harbinger, and thus Charlie has to come. I wonder if Hatter had to hang around while Charlie got all his armour on? He can’t have enjoyed that much.
I love that while Charlie is babbling about how to find her, Hatter is just getting on with things – he saddles the horse, mounts and rides off in one long shot while Charlie’s faffing about in the front. Charlie’s just as capable of making decisions and carrying them out as Hatter is; he just hasn’t got that far along. Hatter knew what he needed to do the instant he saw the coat.
I also love how careful Hatter is to get his second foot in the stirrup before moving the horse. It’s a touch of reality that TV doesn’t often show – people frequently ride off barely on. Poor old Andrew must have been a bit leery...
Alice picks her way through shrubs until she meets March.
Another Oyster enters the Waiting Room.
March leads Alice through the casino floor, where she sees Oysters who were formerly in the Waiting Room.
In the Throne Room the Queen reacts angrily to Alice’s claim that she’s hidden the ring. The King makes some vaguely inappropriate remarks about searching her, and it’s very uncomfortable. Luckily, the Queen calls him off. Alice demands safe passage to her own world for herself and Jack before she’ll give it up.
The Queen has a brilliant speech where she picks apart Alice’s plan, ending with “You’re face to face with the Queen of Hearts, the most powerful woman in the history of literature...you’ve lost your nerve.” Alice, to give her credit, doesn’t back down, simply replying that she hasn’t lost her nerve.
The Queen sends Nine to find “this Jack Chase.” Nine protests but goes; when he opens the door, Jack stalks in, now with shiny blond hair and a rather spiffy red suit.
(pic jack)
“What a coincidence!” the Queen simpers.
Alice throws herself at Jack, who eases her back off. The Queen then calmly informs Alice that Jack is her son. Jack disclaims all relationship with Alice and accuses her of stealing the ring.
Philip Winchester, who played Jack – and come on, who didn’t see that and automatically think “SPN crossover!” – does a fantastic job here. He’s calmly trashing everything Alice believes in and urging her to give up the ring, but his eyes are telling her not to and he almost never looks away from her. He turns his head, but his eyes don’t move from hers.
Whether she’s picking up his hints or not, Alice refuses to give up the ring. Jack suggests simply bringing her home himself to get the ring, but the Queen refuses because she doesn’t trust Jack.
A blonde woman comes in. The Queen addresses her as ‘Duchess’ and chides Jack “Have you nothing to say to your fiancée?”
Duchess, she proceeds to tell Alice, is Jack’s life-long love and their wedding was arranged long before his jaunt through the Looking Glass, which she passes off as a bit of boy’s fun.
Duchess is not impressed with Alice. The feeling is mutual.
Jack hastily backs Alice off a few steps ‘to say goodbye’ and slips her a watch. Leaning in to kiss her cheek, he murmurs “He’s here.” and then takes Duchess out of the room. The Queen orders Alice brought to the Truth Room.
Passing through the Casino again, Alice looks at the watch – it belonged to her father.
Jack and Duchess return to his room, where she confesses to jealousy. Jack asks her to help him escapes, but she refuses unless he tells her his plans. She reminds him that they shouldn’t have secrets and then sashays out, leaving him locked in.
Alice is flung into the Truth Room, a very weird place where the walls twist and bend. Drs Dum and Dee appear and babble at her for a while. The hypnotic walls slide Alice into a trance and the doctors slip into her mind, recreating the day her father disappeared. They force her into the study, which is empty apart from a crib holding a pig. I’m...not sure why this is traumatising, but apparently...
The doors behind Alice slide closed and the floor begins to fall from under her, plank by plank. Only one is left to hold her up. Alice tries to convince herself that it’s all in her mind; unfortunately, it’s so much in her mind that if she falls, she’ll really fall. She reminds the doctors that if that happens, she can’t tell them where the ring is, but they don’t care – they’re enjoying playing with her. Alice is left hanging from one solitary plank....
To be continued
Part 2 is here.
Tags:
From:
Alice!!
I really did love Kathy Bates as the Red queen, she did such an awesome job of it.
I kind of though Alice's reactions to being up high in the city hinted at her fear of heights.
And wow, I didn't notice that bit with Jack's eyes. I'm going to have to rewatch that.
Also, I love Charlie a lot. <3
From:
Re: Alice!!
Maybe it's not so bad if you don't live surrounded by his real accent every day? It really grates on me, though.
She did. Very psychotic.
She was only up high once before that scene, and she almost overbalanced but kept going. Nothing like the deer-in-headlights reaction she had after coming down that ladder.
I notice people's eyes a lot. It's weird.
Yeah, he did rock an awful lot. :D
From: (Anonymous)
Встроенная и отдельностоящая бытовая техника