"Hat Trick" is the 17th episode of the American fairy tale/drama television series Once Upon a Time, which aired in the United States on ABC on March 25, 2012.
This episode centers on Jefferson (Sebastian Stan) and his fairytale counterpart, the Mad Hatter.
It was co-written by David H. Goodman and Vladimir Cvetko, while Ralph Hemecker directed the episode.
In the Enchanted Forest, Jefferson (Sebastian Stan) is frantically running through the woods and ducks behind a tree.
But when they return home, they see that the carriage of the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) is waiting outside.
He refuses, stating that his job cost Grace her mother and he will not allow her to lose her father as well.
At the market the next day, Grace sets her heart on a stuffed white rabbit as it will be perfect for her tea parties.
Jefferson is unable to afford the price of one silver, but tries to convince the elderly merchant to accept his eight coppers.
The merchant goes to the back of her cart, where the Magic Mirror (Giancarlo Esposito) states that she is truly cruel.
Jefferson brings his box to the Queen and has her promise that his daughter will want for nothing after he retrieves what she has lost.
He cautions that the hedges eat whatever comes too close, but she burns a straight path to the building with magic.
She and Jefferson hurry back to the mirror, but the Evil Queen stops to take a piece of the mushroom.
She knows that he helped the Evil Queen and has her aide the Knave of Hearts (Paul McGillion) ask how they got into Wonderland.
The Queen of Hearts orders him beheaded, and he is decapitated, though to his horrified surprise he remains alive.
The Queen of Hearts tells him that if he only requires the magical hat to return home, he only has to make another.
Emma states that if it is discovered that Mary Margaret escaped, proving her innocence would be impossible and sets out to find her.
While sneaking around the mansion, she sees Jefferson sharpening scissors, then accidentally steps on a loose floorboard.
He tells her that he lived trapped in the mansion for twenty-eight years, stuck doing the same things every day.
He explains that he is cursed to remember life in the Enchanted Forest and know that he does not belong in this world.
Emma asks why he does not simply reach out to her, but he says that he is not cruel enough to destroy Grace's reality and inflict on her the same awareness he has.
He explains that it is hard enough to live in a land where you do not belong, but knowing it, holding conflicting realities in your head will drive anybody mad.
Hours later, Mayor Regina Mills (Parrilla) finds that Emma's car is not parked outside the sheriff's office.
Regina tells him that she only planted the key upon his suggestion and that she made a deal with him because she wanted results for herself.
"Hat Trick" was co-written by Vladimir Cvetko and co-executive producer David H. Goodman, while Silk Stalkings veteran, Ralph Hemecker, served as director for the episode.
The Who's Roger Daltrey made an uncredited cameo appearance as the voice of the hookah-smoking caterpillar (that only says "Who...Are...You?").
Producers stated that there was a possibility for him to return in season two, but that was before Stan became a series regular on the upcoming limited run USA drama Political Animals.
[1] The episode was included in Reawakened: A Once Upon a Time Tale – a novelization of the first season – which was published by Hyperion Books in 2013.