With the variety of dilemmas they cover, it was bound to happen. With Fantasy Island Season 2 Episode 11, the showrunners and writers tap into my Achilles’ Heel for trauma, children of divorce who turn into pleasers out of fear of abandonment.
Yeah, I legit cried when Arthur and Melanie owned their suckiness because only on Fantasy Island do we get to see parents turn their crappy parenting around. But I could be jaded about this sort of thing.
Meanwhile, Ruby’s response to learning about Elena’s interference with Isla is such an authentic reaction I could kiss the writer that wrote those scenes. Talk about respecting the character.
While some might argue that Elena’s actions echo that of an overprotective parent, a stronger parallel can be drawn between our Ms. Roarke and the Island’s newest guest, the jilted and bereft Laura Turner.
It’s not without irony that Jessy Schram, a pillar of the Hallmark Movie Channel, guest stars here as a bride left at the altar.
Elena and Laura have become so used to making decisions for the people around them that they don’t even realize the distance it’s created in their emotional landscape, costing them the ability to communicate honestly with the people they care for most.
Laura’s compulsion to make her parents happy means she’s constantly compromising her needs to suit their whims.
Elena’s fixation on keeping everyone safe results in her taking on the hard decisions without anyone asking.
Javier: I’ve been thinking about what you told me about Ruby.
Elena: Yeah?
Javier: About how you stepped in, tried to protect her even though she didn’t ask you to or want you to.
Elena: Well, it was a unique situation.
Javier: Was it?
In both cases, the people around them don’t even know what they’re doing out of love.
Luckily, both women have people who open their eyes to how problematic their behavior is.
When Laura asks the Island to make her feel completely loved, the Island provides her with the one person who loves her unconditionally, her childhood imaginary friend, Peaches.
Peaches is really a manifestation of Laura’s subconscious love for herself that her parents’ divorce made her doubt.
Peaches is confident and forthright and validates everything Laura feels.
Laura: I told you what they were like. I mean, they’re pretty much the entire reason you exist.
Peaches: But I was just thinking maybe you were exaggerating. You know, we were kids. And sometimes kids are dramatic. But now I see that they’re really, really bad.
Peaches is awesome. As is Kyla Pratt, portraying the teen-turn-thirtysomething emotional-but-IRL bestie.
But Peaches is a childhood bestie, and Laura’s grown-up troubles are much more than she can handle.
Proving again that she’s Laura’s most healthy self, she does what Laura can’t and won’t do. She calls in the parents.
Not only that, but when Laura still resists the route to clarity, she stages an open mic with Laura’s teenage diary entry to blow the doors off of Laura’s repressed and hidden feelings.
Laura: You, just go away. I don’t need to take advice from somebody who still fantasizes about kissing Justin Timberlake.
Peaches: Like you don’t!
Laura’s understandably pissed off about being betrayed by her most trusted confidante, but the thing about imaginary friends is that they never really do anything you don’t secretly want them to do.
When Laura admits to Peaches what the real straw that broke her engagement was, she accepts that coming clean with her parents is what needs to be done in order to stop being that scared twelve-year-old she’s been since their divorce.
Laura: If I ever want to have my own life, and I want to share it with somebody that I love, I need to learn to create boundaries with my parents. What if I can’t?
Peaches: Hey, you were the only girl in the sixth grade who knew all the words to Salt ‘n’ Pepa’s ‘None of Your Business’ without messing up. If you can do that, you can definitely do this.
Once she stops being that scared twelve-year-old, her heart heals (both physically and symbolically), and all of Peaches’s joy and awesomeness is integrated into herself. It’s Island Magic at its best.
Elena, being the host and a resident and a Roarke, doesn’t get any easy answers to her unappreciated, unilateral decision-making.
What it comes down to for both Laura and Elena is they don’t trust their loved ones to do the right/safe/smart thing.
You walk around here in your white suits and your cryptic words of wisdom, but you’re a liar!
Ruby
Laura, in trying to keep the peace and twisting herself into pretzels being everything her parents want of her, couldn’t trust her parents to parent her, didn’t trust her parents to love and support her unconditionally.
Elena, in shouldering the burdens of the “hard” choices solo, didn’t recognize Javier and Ruby’s right to the information they needed to choose for themselves.
Javier: At some point, something happened and you decided that I needed space to get to know Helene. So you took yourself out of the equation.
Elena: It’s much more complicated than that. There was a time loop…
Javier: There’s always a damn time loop. Or quicksand. Or magic mirrors. Or mermaids. That’s part of the deal being with Elena Roarke. Believe me, I get it. And I love it. But I’m not a guest. Neither is Ruby. You don’t get to make decisions for us.
It’s unclear whether there’s a fidelity that binds Elena from disclosing about mermaids or time loops to non-Roarkes, but it seems that residents like Javier and Ruby should probably be read in on the details when it affects them directly.
As for Javier and Elena tripping on their “Friend-zone” agreement and falling into bed, those sorts of mixed signals are troublesome.
Hopefully, they come around quickly to a clear arrangement that either re-establishes their romance or sets clear boundaries.
Elena: Okay, listen, I’ll tell you. It means, ‘When frogs grow hair.’ Really? You’ve never said that?
Javier: No. Crazy sayings on magic islands? No, no, no. That’s Roarke territory.
Part of me kind of blames Segundo for making himself scarce, but I get what he was doing — crazy old Cupid.
Isla’s effect on Ruby is terrifying. And Elena’s decision to let Ruby choose unencumbered by her influence — especially now that Ruby no longer trusts her — hampers her ability to warn her effectively.
The question that niggles at me like a siren’s song earworm is if Isla truly loves Ruby. Or is it that mermaids devour their lovers’ identities and memories as a part of the bonding?
The more profound question is whether Ruby losing her memories of her life before Isla is a loss that can be quantified once Ruby’s lost them.
If you don’t remember something you had, do you mourn its absence?
Ruby: Why does she keep ghosting me?
Elena: I don’t know, Ruby. But my advice? When someone shows you who they are, you believe them.
As you watch Fantasy Island online, ponder why Isla chose Ruby. Was it truly for love of Ruby? Or was it a way of getting to Roarke?
Hit our comments with your thoughts and theories, Fanatics! With only two more outings before the Island closes for the season, how will we resolve these issues?
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond ’til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on Twitter.