Review: This Return to 'Fantasy Island' is Enjoyably Escapist, Armchair Psychology Fare

Fox returns to "Fantasy Island" with a new version that falls somewhere between reboot and a somewhat re-imagined continuation of the 1978 Ricardo Montalbán-starring original that ran on ABC from 1978 – 1984.

Unlike the 1998 version (a Barry Sonnenfeld-produced effort starring Malcolm McDowell that lasted for only a handful of episodes) or the 2020 Blumhouse movie (which styled itself as a prequel, but which was more like a horror flick), this newest iteration acknowledges Montalbán as Roarke and introduces us to his great-niece, Elena (Roselyn Sanchez), revealing that the Roarke family has watched over the island and its guests for generations.

The previous two series suggested that Roarke himself was somehow supernatural; this one, set in the post-"Lost" TV landscape, is quick to explain that the island itself is the source of the magical experiences the guests enjoy (or, sometimes, endure). That's not to say that its human caretakers can't tap into the island's magical properties: Elena has no problem grabbing a guest by the scruff of the neck when need be, and propelling him or her into some other place or time, where a key insight awaits.

Insights are the show's (and the island's) stock in trade. While the other island resort drama on TV right now – Mike White's off-kilter HBO series "White Lotus" – is riddled with anxieties it's in no hurry to dispel, "Fantasy Island" starts with a wish, a regret, or a fear, and then shepherds its guest stars through strange, sometimes labyrinthine, narratives in order to get them to a catharsis.

In other words, the magic here is a sort of psychotherapy, and the contemporary version of the show has a ready-made clientele. After all, times being what they are, who isn't feeling stressed out? The premiere episode, taking its cue from the structure of the original series, introduces two sets of guests with very different needs and desires. (Just as in the original, the guests disembark from a seaplane in tidy little groups, never seeming to interact.) Christine (Bellamy Young) is a news anchor who's spent her entire life struggling to be the thin, chipper personality that viewers will want to see; this means denying herself certain luxuries – like food, for instance. Starved and cranky, she finally reaches a breaking point and heads to the island to indulge a fantasy of eating as much as she wants, all without consequence. But what if her hunger reflects an appetite for something darker and more decisive than calories?

Meantime, an older couple named Ruby (Kiara Barnes) and Mel (Adain Bradley) arrive at the island looking to enjoy one last romantic weekend before saying goodbye. Ruby, we find out, has cancer. But while the island allows them to rekindle their youthful passions by rejuvenating them physically, there's another facet to Ruby's life that soon comes to the fore... a romance she abandoned in her youth with a beautiful woman. (For LGBTQ fans, even such minimal representation is a dream come true.)

Subsequent episodes offer similarly interior journeys: A thrill-seeking married couple (real life husband and wife Dave and Odette Annable) show up looking for "the ultimate adventure," and the island obliges them... twice over. Eileen (Debbi Morgan), a self-centered celebrity, asks for a second chance with her estranged daughter. Brent (François Chau), a guest for decades who is determined to sleep his life away, emerges after a five-year slumber, glances at an iPad, and scoffs that it's been an ideal time to hibernate. (You know what he means.) But could he find a reason to re-enter the larger world? Charles (Cliff Chamberlain), a physicist looking for God (and not just a "god particle"), shows up wanting to experience something truly miraculous. Hello! You've come to the right place! Even the island's staff have a chance to live out the occasional fantasy: Pilot Javier (John Gabriel Rodriquez), who ferries each week's complement of guests to the island, has a cherished daydream that even the island might not be able to conure into reality.

The most complex and poignant of the early episodes devotes itself to a dutiful Indian-American woman who finds herself torn between the man she's in love with and the man her parents have found for an arranged marriage – which is not at all something she objects to; her life is regimented, organized, and time-tabled to within an inch of, well, its life, and she likes it that way. In fact, she'd like to see who she'll end up being in each of the two possible futures she has to choose between. It's a strong installment that doesn't flinch from looking at realistic pros and cons that come with any committed pairing.

The classic "Fantasy Island" sometimes allowed an episodes storylines to cross, and they do so in an unexpected way in one of the four episodes made available for review. The series also sets about unfolding a couple of longer-running arcs, since, in this age of serialized storytelling, even anthology shows can have it both ways and combine the story (or stories) of the week with slow-burning narrative strands.

Enjoyable escapist as it is, the show risks missing a crucial element: The out-and-out, purely fun sort of impossible adventure. The original show offered fantasies that relied less on personal dilemmas than childhood dreams carried into adulthood: The grown son whose father died in wartime wanting to travel back a couple of decades and serve alongside dear ol' dad was one such plot; another was the modern cosmopolitan woman who wanted to live amongst cavemen for a few days. There's plenty of room for philosophy and psychology on the island, but viewers my age will remember it as the ultimate playground. Perhaps as the season progresses that fantasy, too, will come true.

"Fantasy Island" premieres Aug. 10 on Fox.