Casting Director/Pentagram/A Little Ball

Three stories in this episode and just the right mix of sentiment, comedy and charm. Roarke plays both the man in danger and the mystery solver. Highly recommended. In keeping with the series theme, Roarke had a strong moral code, but he was always merciful. He usually tried to teach his guests important life lessons through the medium of their fantasies, frequently in a manner that exposes the errors of their ways, and on occasions when the island hosted terminally ill guests he would allow them to live out one last wish. Roarke's fantasies were not without peril, but the greatest danger usually came from the guests themselves; in some cases people actually got themselves killed due to their own negligence, aggression or arrogance. When necessary, Roarke would directly intervene when the fantasy became dangerous to the guest.

This review will basically cover the story titled "Pentagram", which stars Florence Henderson, and is the better segment as well. For a welcome change, she plays it mostly serious this time as a television reporter who thinks an evil curse was put on her. The other story, "Casting Director", had a better cast which included Don Knotts, Abe Vigoda, Phyllis Davis, who was the best performer, and Cesar Romero. The problem is that there wasn't that much to do with their talents, so to me, it was kind of a throwaway story compared to the other one. If you've read my other Fantasy Island reviews, you may know that I have a preference for the darker segments, like "Pentagram", and while it wasn't as dark as I would've liked, it had that creepy 70's charm. There were some cool shots of a cobra, a car chase in the dark, and a black mass in the woods. The only aspect that was disappointing was the obvious stunt double for Ricardo Montalban, as it looked nothing like him. Allow me to mention a rather sweet moment, when Tattoo mentions to Jane Garwood(Henderson)that Mr. Rourke was the only person who accepted him as he is, and he loves him very much for that, and wants nothing bad to happen to him(Mr. Rourke),as he helps Jane battle who's trying to kill her; Rourke thinks it's wise to go undercover as her lover in order to find out who's stalking her. I have to wonder if Herve Villechaize felt this way in real life towards Montalbon. Anyway, it was interesting watching Henderson play it straight for a change, and that added to this episode.