"Pretty in Blue"

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.

Production Notes

• The press release mistakenly credits Adelaide Kane as "Drizelle" instead of "Drizella".^[2]
• Despite being promoted to series regular in "Greenbacks," this is the first press release where Mekia Cox is credited as a regular character.^[2]
• 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.
• 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".
• 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 from 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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).
• The song playing in the restaurant where Jacinda is having dinner with Nick is "Once Again" 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^[7] a graphic tee featuring Chrissie Hynde, the founding member of the The Pretenders.^[8]

Props Notes

• 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".^[9]
• 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.^[10]
• The toadstool that Drizella attempts to poison Henry with^[11] and the one that Rapunzel uses to poison Cecelia in "One Little Tear"^[12] is the same prop that was used for the Crimson Crown in "Siege Perilous" and "The Bear and the Bow".^[13][14]

Set Dressing

• The prop used for one of Cyrus' brothers' genie bottles on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland^[15] is lying on the tea party table.^[16]
• A Mickey Mouse telephone (!) is lying in the grass by the tea party.^[17] The same prop was sitting in a case in Mr. Gold's pawnshop in the Season One episodes "The Shepherd",^[18] "Desperate Souls",^[19] "The Return",^[20] "The Stranger"^[21] and "An Apple Red as Blood",^[22] and the Season Two episodes "We Are Both"^[23] and "The Crocodile".^[24]
  • The phone is a vintage Disney Mickey Mouse Phone from AT&T.^[25]
• 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.
• 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.^[26]
• Alice says she slew the Jabberwock that attacked Cecelia. Interestingly, a sword^[27] and a shield^[28] can be seen propped against the trees surrounding the tea party, while a battle gauntlet is lying on the table.^[29]
  • 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.^[30]
• A wooden puppet similar to the one from The Adventures of Pinocchio^[31] can be seen near the dining table at the tea party.^[28]
• A sugar bowl in the shape of a red apple is sitting on the table during Alice's tea party.^[32]

Costume Notes

• 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).
• Jacinda is wearing^[37] a Rails Hunter Button Down in Rosewood/Sky^[38] (no longer available).
• 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] She continues to wear the jacket and dress in "One Little Tear"^[42] and "The Eighth Witch".^[43]
• 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]
• 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]