Longer than a lifetime and more than all the world.

We come full circle in this final instalment as Ruby and her husband Mel are reunited. “But how?” I hear you cry. Spoiler alert… (not really, it’s covered in the opening scenes) I didn’t read the episode’s title before I watched it and in the first few moments I thought: he’s dead. On Fantasy Island, it seems, The Day of the Dead becomes The Day of the Living, as our dearly departed get to take back their physical form for 24 hours. Yes, that tracks, and is adequately explained – no more rule breaking here.

As tragic as it is for Ruby to learn that Mel has died, it does give their storyline a neat closure, even if there is some rather contrived-seeming conflict beforehand. The guest this time, in keeping with the temporary resurrection theme, is dead and getting his last chance to make restitution to a person that he wronged. That takes a back seat to the visitation that Javi encounters and Elena’s attempt to make contact with her cousin. A small continuity error is a little jarring as we seem to switch from day to night and back again at one point, which takes you out of the narrative, but perhaps it was just spookier to have Elena calling out to a troubled spirit in the darkness? Ultimately Javi’s ghost of Halloween past leads to a pay-off (of sorts) of an arc that has been bubbling away since the beginning too.

Despite the sentimentality that may be laid down a little too thickly for a British audience, I found myself shedding a couple of tears at Ruby and Mel’s storyline. A lifelong love like theirs, with all its challenges, flaws and joys, is a beautiful thing.

Verdict: A sentimental but touching finale for the sugar-encrusted isle of dreams. 8/10

Claire Smith