The last story in Out
of the Past most strongly resembles a typical episode of Once in that it
provides crucial backstory on a beloved character, yet it’s by far the most
horrifying and would probably not be allowed to air on ABC. All right, it’s not
that graphic on the whole. I rather
wish this piece of Jefferson’s life could be adapted to the small screen, if
only to see Sebastian Stan bring back the character once more and see part of
his transformation into the Mad Hatter.
The story begins in Camelot—and doesn’t look all that
Camelot-ish. There’s no sign of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere or any of the
Knights of the Round Table. So, really, this could be set anywhere with a
vaguely period style. In fact, the clothing is closer to late 18th-century
England. Why couldn’t this have been Alice’s world instead? Wouldn’t that
have fit the story better thematically? I guess we simple readers were never meant to know these answers.
All right, enough negativity. That’s honestly the only glaring error in this otherwise well-crafted story. We meet Jefferson during a ball as he’s sneaking around the castle trying to locate the royal vault. His efforts are met with success, and he starts loading up his pockets with glittering treasures when—oops! A member of the royal guard catches him in the act. The female guard calls herself Priscilla the Brave and is dressed like any other lady attending the ball. Jefferson quickly figures out that she’s not a guardswoman but a thief like him. What could result in a bout of double-crossing instead leads to the thieves escaping out the grate by which Priscilla entered. Jefferson can’t bring her with him in his hat because of magic rules, but he suggests that he can show her how it works some other time.
Courtesy of a splash page, we see he does, again and again. Jefferson and Priscilla build a partnership, and in time a romance, over the course of many heists and adventures. Eventually they marry and settle down in a nice house in the Enchanted Forest with their daughter, Grace. They make a promise to give up the criminal life for the sake of a stable home environment for their girl.
Unfortunately, as show viewers might guess, financial
problems push Jefferson to take on one last job in Wonderland—yup, you know
where this is going. Although Priscilla is against it, she recognizes that
desperation has pushed them into a corner. Even so, she holds on to hope that
they can make money some other way. Jefferson, in classy misguided-husband
fashion, takes the job anyway, leaving home while his loved ones sleep in
blissful ignorance.
Jefferson’s task is to retrieve a pocket watch that will
fetch a pretty penny. Its value lies in its power to reverse time. Okay,
writers, just be careful, or J. K. Rowling is going to start throwing lawsuits.
The show writers already ripped off her Dementors with the wraith. But the
watch’s range of time seems limited; it can’t go back more than a few hours.
Still, it’s a useful trinket that can save Jefferson’s family from money
problems, so he’s off to find it. Turns out the watch is in the possession of
the March Hare. Not an actual hare,
mind you. Oh, no. The March Hare is a man who wears a headband of bloody hare ears. And unlike our
protagonist (for a while, at least), this guy is truly off his rocker. He
captures Jefferson and “invites” him to a tea party. The worst part isn’t the
copious consumption of tea (that I don’t think Jefferson actually gets to
partake in); it’s the March Hare’s exploitation of the pocket watch. Every time
“tea time” comes to an end, the Hare turns back the clock so that it’s ALWAYS
tea time. Hey, that’s a legit reference to the original Alice in Wonderland
novel, where the Hatter and the Hare are forever having tea. Jefferson finds
the whole thing rather, well, maddening.
His hair starts growing out, a nice transition from Captain-America Seb Stan to
the Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) mop he sports in “Hat Trick”. And he actually
appears close to cracking like a nut as time cycles back over and over, until
someone comes to his rescue. Who?
Priscilla! The thief-turned-housewife has dusted off
her swashbuckling chops to hop over to Wonderland (literally) to fetch her
husband. She gets him free while the March Hare, momentarily bored with
torturing Jefferson, leaves to fetch more tea. The couple’s luck quickly runs
out upon the Hare’s sudden return. After a frantic chase, Priscilla makes the
expected sacrifice so that Jefferson can return home to Grace. The tragic loss
compels him to put away his portal-jumping hat for good.
It’s a shame that a likable character like Priscilla had to
be killed off, but it makes sense for Jefferson’s story. The setup in the show
when he’s first introduced is hard to work around in a way that would allow her
to come back, unless they had her abandon Jefferson and Grace or simply become
trapped in another realm. Frankly, I’m too glad that the story makes sense and
has good character moments to complain about another female character getting
“fridged,” as the term goes. The important element, to me, was seeing the
camaraderie between her and Jefferson. That the writers made her another rogue
to match Jefferson’s wits was a smart and entertaining choice. Additionally, it
explains why Jefferson associates his old profession so strongly with losing
her, and why only his daughter’s well-being prompts him to take it up again for
another “one last job”. But it makes you wish he’d learned his lesson from last
time.
Rating: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment