The Serpent

"Now it's time for you, like the serpent you so admire, to shed your skin."

- Jafar to Amara

"The Serpent" is the fourth episode of ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It was written by Jan Nash and directed by Ralph Hemecker. It premiered on November 7, 2013.

Synopsis
When the Knave’s life is in danger, Alice has to make the tough decision on whether to use one of her three precious wishes and what that would mean for her and Cyrus. Her new friendship with Lizard reveals some of the Knave’s backstory and Cyrus plots to escape. Meanwhile, Jafar’s plan to kill the Knave puts the Red Queen in a difficult position as she grapples with her feelings for him and her desire to get what she wants. In flashback, we explore Jafar’s origins and find out what he truly wants from Cyrus.

Starring

 * Sophie Lowe as Alice
 * Michael Socha as Knave of Hearts
 * Peter Gadiot as Cyrus
 * Emma Rigby as the Red Queen
 * Naveen Andrews as Jafar
 * John Lithgow

Guest Starring

 * Brian George as Old Prisoner
 * Anthony Keyvan as Young Jafar
 * Lauren McKnight as Lizard
 * Zuleikha Robinson as Amara
 * Danny Wattley as Jafar's Servant

Co-Starring

 * Forbes Angus as Villager
 * Kevin Blatch as Executioner
 * Christian Bower as Drunken Guard
 * Ben Cotton as Tweedle #2
 * Cedric De Souza as Akil
 * Matty Finochio as Tweedle #1
 * Peter Hall as Peasant
 * Haroon Khan as Blacksmith
 * Marco Soriano as Gerard
 * Hugo Steele as Orang
 * Alicia Thorgrimmsson as Citizen

Trivia
Production Notes=

Title

 * The title card features a serpent.

Production Notes

 * Cedric De Souza, who plays Akil, also plays the Sultan in the Once Upon a Time episodes "Street Rats" and "A Wondrous Place".


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Agrabah flashbacks take place after "Bad Blood", and before "Trust Me" and the Once Upon a Time episode "Street Rats".
 * The Wonderland events occur after "Forget Me Not" and before "Heart of Stone".
 * -|Cultural References=

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode is a rendition of the Aladdin story, focusing on the appearance of the sorcerer.
 * Also included is the genie and the Sultan from the same story.
 * Also featured are Alice, the Lizard and the Knave of Hearts from the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland story, as well as Tweedledee, Tweedledum and the Red Queen from the story's sequel.
 * The Red Queen sits in her throne room, playing chess all by herself, a reference to the novel Through the Looking-Glass, where chess is the most important theme of the story.
 * Similarly, the statues in the Wonderland maze are shaped like enormous chess pieces.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * One of the pages in the Genie wisdom book contains an illustration from Heptameron, or Magical Elements (1496), a grimoire by the thirteenth century Italian philosopher Pietro d'Abano. It is "The figure of a Circle for the first hour of the Lords day, in Spring-time".
 * Another page contains a table filled with symbols from a page in Key of Solomon, an old grimoire incorrectly attributed to King Solomon. This particular page is from one of the earliest manuscript of the grimoire, entitled The Clavicle of Solomon, revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian, dated 1572. (The three symbols used in the book can be seen in the lower right hand corner of the grimoire page.)
 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The set used for the interior of the Blacksmith's workshop is a redressed version of Farzeen Shahmed's shop from "Trust Me". The same set doubles as the interior of Ulima's house for the episode "Bad Blood". The easiest way to spot this is the doorway, which has the same unique shape in all three locations.
 * The scene where Alice and Will are running from the Collectors was filmed in Burnaby's Central Park.
 * Some scenes were filmed at the North Shore Studios, due to the Neverland sets at The Bridge Studios, the studio used to film Once Upon a Time, taking up too much space.