Science doesn’t have all the answers.

Almost from the moment our first guest sweeps onto Fantasy Island like a hurricane, our sympathies are with her estranged daughter – my word, she’s a handful. Her request seems to easy, and it is: to see her daughter and grandson again; but the island taps into her greatest insecurity in order to help her to see what it will truly take for her to be reconciled with her family.

As lovely as that is, it’s possible to guess how her story might intersect with the other guest and cause the entanglement of the episode’s title to occur. We have a sceptical and lonely scientist who, after a lifetime governed by the pursuit of logic and reason, wonders whether there is more to life than science alone can explain. There are so many ways this idea could be explored, but it feels as if this is limited as the narrative only takes us in one rather obvious direction without unpacking that beautiful, complex and age-old question of the human condition.

That being said, Ruby and Elena’s gentle coaching, that both challenges and encourages the island’s guests, is careful and kind. It is comforting, watching Fantasy Island, to see the lightbulb behind the eyes of the guests as they grow personally and achieve a resolution to their issues in less than an hour – isn’t that the definition of ‘comfort TV’?  Perhaps I’m judging too harshly. A happy ending is, after all, happy.

It seems a mysterious ‘the Island knows’ is the only answer we’re getting to anything deeper but seeing the way it works its magic on Ruby and the guests over time might be more interesting as the series unfolds.

Verdict: Science may not have all the answers, but neither does this episode. 6/10

Claire Smith