TV Recap: Disney Twisted Wonderland: The Animation Episode 7 — The Queen of Hearts Monster Takes Control

The penultimate Season 1 episode of Disney Twisted Wonderland: The Animation finds Riddle Rosehart’s magestone finally reaching its breaking point. The show’s 7th episode shuffles the deck of the manga’s source material, adapting the rest of Chapter 14 (“A Foolhardy Duel!”) in addition to the next two chapters (Chapter 15: “Magic Unchecked!”, Chapter 16: “Rampaging Prefect! Part 1”). But it also breaks the order somewhat by pulling forward the events from chapters 19 and 20 (“A Sad Little Child!” parts 1 and 2). Here’s how the events unfold in the anime.

Episode 7: “A Duel Ill-Advised” - Written by Yōichi Katō, English Adaptation by Madeleine Morris

In the Heartslabul House garden, Headmage Dire Crowley (Mitsuru Miyamoto/J. Michael Tatum) declares Riddle Rosehearts (Natsuki Hanae/Paul Castro Jr.) the winner of the duel. With magic-binding collars around their necks, Ace Trappola (Seiichirō Yamashita/Max Mittelman) and Deuce Spade (Chiaki Kobayashi/Hunter McCoy) look defeated. “Mother was right about people like you,” Riddle says, questioning if their parents even had magical abilities.

Ace lunges at Riddle, punching him square in the jaw and sending the Housewarden falling to the ground, his crown rolling off his head. Trey Clover (Ryōta Suzuki/Johnny Yong Bosch) and Cater Diamond (Tatsuyuki Kobayashi/Michael Sinterniklaas) rush to his aid as Ace tells Riddle it’s nobody’s fault but his own that he’s become a dictator. “You can’t judge a parent’s worth based on how their kids turned out,” Ace adds, calling Riddle a friendless baby.

In a flashback, we see Young Riddle’s (Miyuki Satō/Liam Karlsson) 8th birthday. It’s just him and his mother (Maya Ishii/Julie Nathanson), who made him a low glycemic cake. When Riddle tells his mom his birthday wish — trying a strawberry tart — she scolds her son, saying a single slice has more sugar than the recommended daily allowance. It’s against the rules.

As Riddle snaps back to reality, he hears other Heartslabyul House students agreeing with Ace and starting to revolt against him. “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK!” Riddle yells at Ace. “YOU DON’T KNOW A THING ABOUT ME!” As Riddle rises to his feet, one of the students throws an egg, hitting him on the side of the face. More students begin to throw things — teacups, saucers, slices of tart. Headmage Crowley ineffectively tries to get the students to calm down. Only Yuken Enma (Yōhei Azakami/Jonathon Ha), drawing his kendo sword, is able to break through the noise and get the other students to quiet down.

Another flashback plays out. Riddle’s mom scolds him in his study after finding out that he abandoned his self-study time to go outside and play. Worse, he went to a bakery and tried the forbidden strawberry tart! 

Yuken asks Riddle if he’s ok, but he doesn’t get a response. The houswarden growls before demanding to know who threw the first egg, pointing his scepter wand at his charges. “If no one will take responsibility, then you must all be punished!” Riddle uses his signature spell, “Off With Your Head,” on all of his students. Headmage Crowley begs him to stop, but Riddle won’t listen. And as Riddle fires off spell after spell with rage, the black blot in his magestone begins to reach its breaking point.

Ace calls Riddle’s behavior a childish temper tantrum. “You take that back,” Riddle demands, black ink leaking down his face. “Blot!” Crowley calls out, warning everyone. When Ace refuses to take his accusation back, the sky behind Riddle darkens. Rose bushes begin to rise out of the ground, roots and all. They rise behind Riddle as he points his scepter at Ace and commands the bushes to tear Ace apart. The thorny bushes hurl through the air towards Ace, who is about to be shredded by them.

“Paint the Roses!” Trey uses his signature spell, turning the rose bushes into a deck of cards just in time to save Ace. Trey also uses his spell on Riddle’s collars, freeing the students. “It’s temporary, but at least I can stall him for a moment,” he warns everyone. He laments that he didn’t do something to try to help Riddle avoid this long ago.

More of Riddle’s childhood plays out from Trey’s point of view. Young Trey (Miho Wataya/Johnny Haemmerle) and Chenya (Yoshino Aoyama/Ryan Young) were walking down the street, bored, when they passed Riddle’s house and saw him studying through the open window. Knocking, they encouraged Riddle to spend his self-study time playing with them. We see the moment Riddle makes his first friend, Trey.

While climbing a tree, Riddle told Trey and Chenya that he’s always wanted to try a strawberry tart. Trey reveals that his parents own the Patisserie & Clover bakery, suggesting they go have some. Riddle was in awe of all of the desserts at the bakery, finally trying a strawberry tart and discovering that it surpassed his expectations. Trey loved seeing his new friend so happy.

“Even you have decided to betray me,” Riddle scoffs at Trey, raising his sceptor. Crowley warns Riddle not to use any more magic, but he doesn’t listen. “I’m right, and I will always be right,” Riddle insists, using magic and turning his magestone into an overflowing stream of blot. As it surrounds him, Riddle screams in terror. 

Riddle is transformed into a twisted version of himself, black ink pooling around his feet as he vows to banish anyone disloyal to him out of this world. A blot monster rises up out of the pool, resembling the Queen of Hearts. The blot monster and Riddle move in tandem, as if one is puppeteering the other. As the monster materializes, we see black crystals form.

Headmage Crowley explains to Yuken and Grim (Noriaki Sugiyama/Ben Diskin) that all magic leaves behind residual energy, known as blot. Magestones help protect the wielder by absorbing it, but if magic is used in excess, the blot overflows, corroding the mage with negative energy and causing them to lose control of their powers and emotions.

“My dears,” twisted Riddle says to all the students, “off with all your heads!”

Bonus Short: Twisted Wonderland Mini Theater

This week’s bonus short takes us to Ignihyde House, inspired by Hades from Hercules. Housewarden Idia Shroud (Kōki Uchiyama/Khoi Dao) has become obsessed with the cuteness of Grim. His brother, Ortho Shroud (Shōta Aoi/Greg Vinciguerra), reminds Idia that Grim isn’t a cat but a monster who ruined the opening ceremony. He suggests that Idia should visit a cat cafe, but Idia doesn’t want to leave the comfort of the dorm. Instead, he sends Ortho on a mission to get him “floof.” With it, India creates a giant cat head with a tail that he can pet, although it’s not as satisfying as he hoped it would be.

To be continued in the season finale, streaming December 17th on Disney+ and Hulu.