Fantasy Island – Season 2 Episode 10 “War Of The Roses (And The Hutchinsons) ” Recap & Review

War Of The Roses (And The Hutchinsons)

Episode 10 of Fantasy Island season 2 starts with Elena and Ruby waiting for their guests. Ruby mentions how amazing Javier is and immediately apologises. Things are still a bit off between the two but they agree to be friends.

The first guests are Seth and Natalie Rose who are on the Island to forget their struggles of trying for a baby. They have been hoping to start a family but it has been a long journey with no success. The whole process is straining their marriage and their fantasy is to forget the stress and relax for a while.  Their fantasy starts immediately and they merrily enjoy themselves.

The second guests are Lou and Vivian Hutchinson, an elderly couple looking to enjoy their time together doing what each one loves the most. Lou’s fantasy is to get a hole in one, he has been golfing his whole life but this has been elusive to him. Vivian has been saving the book,  ‘Gone Girl’ and is hoping to read it under her favourite tree. Unfortunately for her, her neighbours cut down her tree to build their swimming pool. Ruby sends them off to start their fantasy just as they wanted.

At first, things go smoothly but the noise from the next room makes it hard for the Hutchinsons to enjoy their retirement fantasy. It turns out the room belongs to the Roses who are happily enjoying their freedom from stress. Another fun fact is that these two couples know each other, they are neighbours back home. They have the Hatfield- McCoy vibe going on between them.

The confrontation gets so heated and Elena and Ruby are forced to step in. The main reason for the feud is the tree that the Roses accidentally killed.  The Roses have tried to apologize to the Hutchinsons but they couldn’t get past the incident. Elena tells them that the Island wants them to resolve their neighbourly dispute so that they can fulfil their fantasy.

Lou and Seth try to make up but that makes the situation worse as they each claim they have been wronged. Both couples have been doing petty things to each other and no one wants to apologize first. Things continue to get interesting when the women get involved and the feud gets thicker.

In a fit of anger, Vivian reveals that she has been filing injunctions to make sure the Roses don’t get their pool. In retaliation, Natalie gives her a spoiler for the book she has been saving for a decade to read. Later, Natalie talks to Seth and they agree not to keep secrets from each other. They still don’t remember why they came to the Island.

Elena corners the couple to have a meal together so that they can sit down and solve their beef. The dinner starts calmly but things escalate quickly and it ends up in a food fight after Lou reminded the Roses about their fertility issues. With all fantasy ruined, both couples get angrier with each other. Natalie confronts Lou for spoiling her fantasy even though they are secret golf buddies. She gets more annoyed and judges the Hutchinsons’ fantasy. She swears to destroy the Hutchinson’s fantasy and ruin their peace on the island.

On the other hand, Elena and Javier try to be friends but it is not easy. Ruby reports to her that there is trouble in paradise. Elena is forced to step in and calm the raging storm. She and Ruby arrive in time to find Natalie on the verge of losing it completely. They sermon both couples to the Island court and we learn it is more about the tree and swimming pool for each couple.

The Hutchinsons felt sad because the tree was an important part of their family history. It is integrated with memories of how they raised their kids. It was all they had left after the kids left to follow their dreams. Meanwhile, the pool is what Natalie remembers the most about her childhood. She wanted to give her kids the same happy memories and have fun pool parties. They wanted to manifest a future with their kids because they thought having kids should be the next step in their relationship.

During this court hearing, the couple realizes that they have issues within their marriages that they should address, mainly by being honest about their feelings. Vivian and Seth are shocked to hear that Natalie and Lou are golfing buddies. Through this hearing, the couples understand each other and it dawns on them they are more similar than they think. The island allows them to choose who will keep their house and who will move out.

Lou decides to let Natalie win because they understand that they are just a young couple starting their family. Vivian and Lou had a lifetime together and they think it is time to move on and find themselves and enjoy their retirement. After the hearing, the couples talk honestly to each other. Seth and Natalie decide to stop pressuring themselves to have kids and move to the city. Lou and Vivian decide to get an RV. Finally, there is peace between the two couples as they reach a truce.

The next day, Elena and Ruby see off the couple who are now more friendly with each other. Lou gives Ruby his fantasy as hitting a hole-in-one was on her bucket list too. After seeing these couples makeup, Javier and Elena vow to try harder to be friends.

The Episode Review

I loved this episode. It is always good to see Dan Lauria and it was a nice surprise to see Devika Bhise too. Her role as Natalie was certainly different from her other role in Rookie Feds and we appreciate her acting range.

I think this episode was another reminder that we need to solve feuds before they take away our peace and blind us from the bright future lying ahead. It is also a bittersweet reminder that everyone is at different stages of their life journey and we need to understand each other more. We need to meet each other at these various points with open minds so that we can help. Imagine if they had been great neighbours from the start, they would have made great friends!