TV Review - Fantasy Island (2021)

It's a reboot or sequel to the 1977 series of the same name. As is the case with most reboots or sequels these days, the protagonists are gender-swapped. The leads were male in the 1977 series, so now the leads are female. The format of the show is that people come to a resort, looking for more than just a vacation but also for something special if not magical. The original series ran for seven seasons. I'm sure a lot of history or lore was developed over the course of nearly a decade, but I never saw that history, so there are a lot of questions about this show that I don't know. People seem to know and accept that this place has magical powers. People who don't stay at the resort seem to live on the same island, but it's not clear how large or how developed the island is. In reality, this series is filmed in Puerto Rico, but it's not clear if this place is as developed as Puerto Rico is. The perception is that the writers of this series, Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, want the island to feel isolated and secluded, much like the island in ABC's Lost (2004), in some moments, but feel as open and as accessible as Puerto Rico in other moments.

Roselyn Sánchez (Grand Hotel and Devious Maids) stars as Elena Roarke, a woman who runs the resort on an island. She counsels the guests who come there and help to facilitate their fantasies. Each guest that visits the resort experiences a fantasy where they'll undergo some adventure or journey that has some supernatural or magical element. Elena guides the people, but she doesn't control it. Yet, it's not clear how supernatural or magical she is. In the 1977 series, the protagonist seemed to be immortal or supernatural in some way. Here, that hasn't been established. Elena hints though she might not be totally normal, but she certainly is a believer in the power and magic of the island.

For example, in the first episode, an elderly African-American couple visits. They are Ruby, the wife, and Mel, the husband. Ruby has terminal cancer. She and Mel hope to spend this vacation reliving their youth. Therefore, the island turns Ruby and Mel who are probably in their 70's and 80's back into young people, probably in their mid to late 20's or early 30's. Ruby and Mel go under a waterfall and then get transformed from senior citizens into what look like Millennials.

Kiara Barnes (The Bold and the Beautiful) co-stars as Ruby, the younger version of the elderly woman who comes to the island. She loves her husband, but while she's on the island, she has an encounter with another woman. This causes her husband to question Ruby's sexuality. She never confirms what she is. She could be a closeted lesbian. She could be bisexual. She could be fluid. Either way, it seems as though she's same-gender-loving or SGL, or otherwise she has same-sex attraction. After this other woman gives Ruby a tattoo, Elena suggests that Ruby stay on the island, but without her husband.

If one remembers Star Trek (1966) and the episode titled "The Menagerie: Part II," Ruby is given the same deal as Capt. Pike. However, the implications of what Ruby is offered and what she ultimately decides to do are disturbing and frustrating on various levels. The series tries to justify Ruby ditching her husband or letting go of him because we're supposed to believe that she's repressed her homosexuality in order to marry Mel. She says she made a choice to be with Mel. Yet, she made that choice 50 years ago, in the 1960's and 70's in which it was still difficult to be gay. However, since she never identifies as gay or lesbian, she could be bisexual or fluid. In that case, she might not have been repressing or denying herself anything. She might have feelings for women but she fell in love with a man and that's not a bad thing.

In that case, the fact that she gets to stay forever young or gets to be young again for a second time is unfair. The assumption is that she was denied something by being with her husband when we don't know if that's the case and ostensibly she says it isn't. Even if that is the case, the following episode isn't about Ruby exploring her same-sex attraction. Maybe future episodes will allow Ruby to delve into that part of herself and actually delve into a same-sex relationship, but it seems as though she's going to be relegated to being a side-kick to Elena. Ruby also says that she has children and even grandchildren. Even if having a husband, while you're exploring your attraction to other people, is inconvenient, it's still unlikely that Ruby could just forget about her children and grandchildren. What will happen when she wants to start a new family? Will they never know about her previous family?

The other implication involves Ruby's cancer. If she left the island and went back to her old life, she would eventually die of cancer and it would likely be a painful or tortuous death. Being on this island is basically her cure. If that's the case, again it's unfair. Wouldn't other people suffering from terminal cancer also want the opportunity to be young and healthy again? Why does Ruby get that opportunity and no one else? She just happened to this place by accident, according to her. She's in fact lived a full life. What about children who have terminal cancer? Why don't they get to come to the island?

The second episode is about a white, heterosexual couple that comes to the island and they end up switching bodies. It's akin to Freaky Friday (1976). The story for this episode came from Our Lady J, a transgender person. The body-swap story would then open up the possibilities of a lot of transgender metaphors or exploration of the same issues as transgender people. Strangely, Our Lady J didn't write the script. Jane Espenson who isn't transgender wrote the teleplay. As such, insight into transgender issues get rather lost. Instead, what we get are lame jokes about stereotypical gender roles or hetero-normative characteristics, which makes the whole thing feel like it's something out of the 1950's.

The third episode was a lot better, but only because it was buttressed by the incredible performance and presence of Debbi Morgan (Power and All My Children) who elevates the material of a Black woman of a certain age who becomes invisible and inaudible to people. She's a bold loudmouth who has to find a way to communicate with people, while also being quiet and listening to her estranged daughter. She has a charming romance with an introverted scientist, played by Cliff Chamberlain (Homeland and State of Affairs). Morgan and Chamberlain's chemistry more than anything won me over for this episode. So, this series has potential. The show doesn't seem interested in exploring the mythology of the island. Therefore, it will all be up to whether the writers can keep crafting clever fantasies and if the guest actors can have fun with them. The fourth episode isn't as fun, as it's more about Hispanic representation, but it was very much appreciated.

Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Tuesdays at 9 PM on FOX.