Fantasy Island Review: The Big Five Oh (Season 1 Episode 6)

On Fantasy Island Season 1 Episode 6, “The Big Five Oh,” we’re shown what it means to mature, mentally and physically. 

This episode gives us a reunion of Melrose Place, a show from the ’90s that I never watched, and will probably never watch. Though there were seemingly moments meant for longtime fans, there’s a wide enough script that casual viewers of Fantasy Island do not feel like we’re missing anything. 

“The Big Five Oh,” like too many other episodes of Fantasy Island, tends to make the dilemmas and lessons incredibly obvious, which is disappointing given the range the show has to work with. 

Three middle-aged women come to the island in hopes of finding love, rest, and comfort in their own bodies. How it pans out is… odd. 

This is a categorically okay episode of television. However, when you really look into it, this episode, in particular, causes the show to lose some of its sparkly flair. 

The only woman amongst these three who seems like a genuine person is Cam. The other two women are flighty and irresponsible, and that becomes clear in their disregard for their friends’ feelings.

Netty is written to be a seemingly callous woman who, at the end of the episode, learns that her friends will be around forever and men will not. Sure, a good lesson, for a 21-year-old. 

Margot, on the other hand, jumps between her friends and exhaustion takes over one too many times, causing it to seem like Margot doesn’t care. Her friends, Elena, and the viewers are sure she does, but something is missing to really show it.

Cam, the person who stood out the most, has an incredibly plausible fantasy for a 50-year-old: nice boobs. 

Only, she doesn’t just get nice boobs, she also gets skinnier. Something about hiring a plus-size actress, only to replace her with a skinny version, seems odd to me. 

When discussing this with other people, we didn’t come any closer to having an objective statement. The situation makes me uncomfortable, as when Cam explains that she wants nice boobs because she had breast cancer and her surgery went wrong. She never alludes to her weight as being an issue.

This decision to not only give her boobs but also a small figure is playing into the narrative that ideal standards of beauty can only be achieved as a skinny person.

She says her body betrayed her, which is an incredibly fair and common assessment. However, I still find myself wrestling with the feeling that they could’ve just had Josie Bissett wear a binder at the beginning of the episode.

The episode may end with Camille realizing she doesn’t need beautiful boobs or a beautiful body to feel beautiful, it seems disingenuous coming from the actress they hired to essentially be the fat version of Camille. 

Ruby seeing Margot, Cam, and Netty bonding over some girl time, suggests a girls night for her and Elena. This, unfortunately, becomes one of the worst parts of the episode.

The writers intend to make Elena seem guarded off and clueless, but it comes off as cold and rude. A girls’ night is pretty self-explanatory, and you’re telling me Elena doesn’t know what that is? 

Elena having expensive taste makes sense, but when she asks about face masks and manicures, she almost mocks Gina and Ruby, making her seem patronizing instead of confused. 

There’s also a scene where Elena takes two (two!) shots and is apparently drunk. 

It’s clear that Elena doesn’t drink a lot, and maybe she’s running on an empty stomach, but at the very most she’d be a tad tipsy, not drunk to the point of nearly throwing herself at Javier. 

Even though the writers are still finding their footing with Elena, they make good progress when it comes to her socializing as she joins in on some girl talk with Ruby. It’s refreshing to see that Ruby is bringing Elena out of her shell, I just wish it would happen faster. 

What did you think of this episode of Fantasy Island? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Fantasy Island airs Tuesday at 9/8c on FOX.

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