Fantasy Island – Season 1 Episode 7 Recap & Review

The Romance & The Bromance

Episode 7 of Fantasy Island begins with us back on the island with Elena preparing to greet Javier. Following their fun romp together, Elena is understandably awkward although Javier is still his usual charming self.

There’s a new guest on the island too, a bookworm by the name of Miss Marshall. She loves reading but doesn’t feel like she belongs and needs to find the courage to say “yes” and embrace real life.

One of her favourite authors happens to be R.S. Goldwater, who writes romance novels. And her fantasy? Well, Elena whisks her back in time to meet the lady herself. Although this is initially hidden behind the façade of her brother, Reginald Goldwater, anyone watching this show will have seen the twist coming a mile off.

Anyway, Marshall adopts the alias of Isabel, introduced as Goldwater’s cousin from New York. It works well enough, with Isabel gushing over the manuscript and praising Rachel for her solid writing. Although all is well, the arrival of stuffy Edmund Walsh staying at the estate causes tensions to arise between them.

Everyone is on-edge, with Isabel even heading off and gaining the manuscript to convince Edmund to drop his suspicions. Or so they thought. As Rachel and Isabel discuss the former’s writing and how good she is, Edmund happens to be listening from the door. He bursts in, making a big scene and promising Rachel she won’t be published in the future. Isabel however, manages to blackmail Walsh and keep Rachel’s novels published as they are without change.

Meanwhile, extreme survivalist Brian Cole arrives on the island. He wants a big challenge and to be tested like he’s never been before. He’s greeted by Elena, who gives him his task. This happens to be guiding a very inexperienced young Brian Cole through the wilderness. This task inevitably helps both versions of Brian to come to terms with their future – and past.

With Brian divorced and failing to acknowledge the reason for his break-up, it falls to young Brian to try and get through to him. Unfortunately older Brian falls from a cliff-edge down to the ground, with a boulder trapping his leg.

As young Brian scrambles down to check on his older counterpart, it seems like Brian has a compound fracture. The result, however, means he’s got 6 hours to live before he goes into septic shock.

Despite all this, young Brian struggles to get his older-self out of this predicament. Despairing, he asks Brian why he’s doing all of this survivalist stuff.

Brian’s motivation stems all the way back in ninth grade where a bully humiliated Brian, taking all of his clothes and leaving him stranded in the middle of nowhere. Brian almost died of hypothermia too but he was saved by a hiker out on the road.

Since then, Brian has been determined to prove himself and to make sure he’s never compromised in a weak situation ever again. Only, the irony is he’s the weak one in all this, neglecting what really matters and losing sight of the beauties of life. As the pair hug and Brian lets the tears flow, his ordeal comes to an end and he magically finds himself alone at the top of the ravine once more.

Meanwhile, Ruby shows up to see Isabel and bring her back to the present. All of this was obviously an exercise to help Miss Marshall learn how to say yes but she’s not happy. Elena senses this and gives her an opportunity to head back and live with Rachel, given they’re in love. Isabel happily says yes and heads back to spend her life with the girl.

As the pair kiss, Elena and Ruby high-five as they satisfyingly help someone else fulfill their true potential.

The Episode Review

Fantasy Island delivers another good episode here, one that sees both Brian and Miss Marshall learn more about their own lives and provide valuable lessons along the way. The survivalist aspect is a nice inclusion, with Brian learning how to live his life fully through the projection of his own younger self.

Likewise, our bookworm is transported back through time to see more about how the poorer lives and although it’s a little contrived with the whole Edmund part, it does the job to signify the divide between women and men during this oppressive time.

With one more episode to go, it remains to be seen exactly what will happen next but one thing’s for sure -we’re bound to get lots more drama along the way!