The Disappointment Of Time – As the first episode of The Resort begins, Emma (Cristin Milioti) and Noah Reed (William Jackson Harper) are welcomed at the resort. Luna (Gabriela Cartol) greets them outside with drinks. After they get their picture taken, Luna asks what brings them to Akumal. Emma explains it is their ten-year anniversary, but they have no kids since that ship has sailed. Luna discusses the puberty of marriage and when you become who you will be. She encourages them to relax now since they’re in paradise before they reach their room. They discuss sleeping together tonight and having access to unlimited alcohol. They agree to head to the lazy river. While floating around, Noah admits he is at a point in his life where he doesn’t know whether the alcohol or jet lag is more damaging to his brain.

Emma believes he should feel more awake so his problem is that he is always tired. They contemplate what they want for dinner and whether they should leave the resort. She worries he’ll be asleep by them. Noah bets her twenty bucks that he’ll stay awake only to fall asleep. Emma sits down next to him, takes the twenty bucks, and touches him to see if he’ll wake up. In the bathroom, Emma looks at her cavity in the mirror before turning her attention to her breasts and belly. While hanging out alone, Emma checks an article asking how to know when she should leave her relationship. On a bus the following day, Noah asks Ted (Parvesh Cheena) and Ted (Michael Hitchcock) if it is weird that they have the same name. One is called Gray Ted while the other one used to be called Young Ted. They explain that they pick a new vacation spot every seven years.

They go through their vacation destinations. They have a good time and spend the week reevaluating their marriage to see if they want to stay married. They argue that marriage is a contract and things change over time. They plan for these things by asking whether they really make each other happy. If they make it through this trip, they’ll be at 21 years or they’ll separate and life goes on. They give Emma water because she is starting to get ill from drinking too much last night. After she throws up on the side of the road, they ride four-wheelers. Emma ends up crashing and rolling over a small embankment. Once she removes her helmet, she finds a cellphone on the ground next to her. It doesn’t work. She sticks the cellphone in her pocket when she hears people yelling for her. Later that evening, they go to a bar where they drink and listen to live music.

Noah makes sure she doesn’t drink alcohol since she is on pain medications and has a head injury. Emma believes she can handle one drink and that he should stop treating her like a baby because she’ll get a face tattoo otherwise. When Ted and Ted join them, Emma excuses herself so she can enjoy a cigarette by the pool. She looks at the cellphone once again. Next, she goes to a shop to see if they have a cellphone like the one she found. She eventually buys the phone for twenty bucks. She switches out the SIM card and gets the phone charged so she can turn it on. Emma looks through the pictures many of which feature a young boy. Then, she checks the guy’s messages and finds that his dad texted because they hadn’t heard from him. A message from Hanna apologizes and asks if they can meet in the lobby to talk about it. Emma says the Oceana Vista.

She goes outside where she asks someone where to find the Oceana Vista Resort. Once she goes to the location, she finds a fence around it and a sign with a yellow snake on it. She wants to climb over the fence until the driver blows the horn and tells her people died in there. When she gets back, she researches online and finds that the Oceana Vista was destroyed by a hurricane. She also discovers an article about a man’s body being found by the staff at the resort. Detective Silverio Narro is quoted as saying nothing makes any sense to him although he suspects foul play. The hurricane wiped out evidence of the missing tourists leaving the mystery unsolved. The victims were Violet Thompson and Sam.

On December 24, 2007 at the Los Angeles International Airport, Sam (Skyler Gisondo) draws while riding on the airplane. Sam shows his drawing to the girl next to him before she says it is really good. He doesn’t think it has to mean anything since it is just a drawing, but she believes there is a lot in it. Hannah suggests it might be the correlation between American tourism and gluttony. She tells him not to worry about it because it is good. They say they love each other. Carl (Dylan Baker) and Jan talk about whether he might be gay. She doesn’t think so. Carl tells Sam that they’re just admiring his cool. Before long, they learn that they missed the storm and should be in Cancun in two hours. While Hannah sleeps, Sam checks her phone and finds a message from Professor Bryan asking her to text when she lands.

Another message from Hannah says they’re about to take off and she misses him already. There are messages about them having fun and picture of them together. They talk about falling in love with one another. They discuss sexual things and share adult pictures. Noah goes for a swim while Emma showers and thinks about Sam and everything she found on the phone. When Noah returns, he scares her. They talk about getting something to eat before getting to their bus to Tulum by 10. Noah yells he is thinking about buying himself one of those hats today before the phone nearby beeps. He contemplates checking it but changes his mind. When he puts the phone in her bag, he finds the other one. He confronts her about the phone during breakfast. She asks if he went snooping through her purse and whether he thinks she is cheating on him.

She gets mad and storms off before coming back to say she found it in the jungle yesterday. He finds out how she took out the SIM and put it in the other phone. Emma sits down and says the phone belonged to a kid who went missing down here 15 years ago. It belonged to Sam Lawford who was a 22-year-old college kid from San Diego. On December 24, 2007, Sam traveled with his mom, dad, and girlfriend to the Oceana Vista Resort. On Christmas night, Sam went to bed and everything was normal. On the morning of December 26, he was gone. Later that day, another guest named Violet Thompson was also reported missing even though they didn’t know each other. There wasn’t a single piece of evidence connecting them. Before police can investigate, a once-in-a-century hurricane comes and wipes out all the evidence.

After the hurricane, a named man’s mutilated body washed up on shore. The corpse is unidentified and they can’t even tell what killed him. Emma explains it has been countless dead ends until they found the phone. She wants to figure out what happened and bring closure, but Noah suggests there might not be any answers. Emma is starting to miss things including who she is and who they are before saying she is just tired. Noah thinks they should turn the phone in to the police, but they could wait until the end of the week. She encourages him not to get his hopes up since there isn’t anything substantial yet. He says there isn’t anything substantial yet. They look through the phone together as Noah admits he doesn’t think Sam and Hannah were a happy couple. Emma thinks she was cheating on him because of the Juicy tracksuit.

Once Noah checks the trash folder, he finds tons of deleted messages. Those messages prove that Sam and Violet knew each other after all. Their bus is ready so they have to sit down. In a flashback, Sam arrives at the resort with his family. As Sam skates away, Violet (Nina Bloomgarden) shows up behind him. She puts a hat on her father’s head and calls it a Christmas present. He got her something in the room. Murray (Nick Offerman) tells her that he is going to swim with the dolphins today. She tells him to swim with the depressed dolphins while she meets with a friend in Cancun. Luna raises her glasses to a man outside as he makes a motion across his neck.

When he sees Sam on his skateboard, he calls for help on the radio. Sam nearly runs into Violet but ends up crashing into a tree instead. Once she checks on him, he seems infatuated with her.

 

The Resort Review

Although the first episode of The Resort wasn’t gripping, it did a good job of slowly developing the mystery surrounding two disappearances and an unidentified body. The soundtrack was well selected although the volume was a bit too loud to the point that it was sometimes annoying. The jokes really didn’t home for me personally, but other viewers may find them funny.

Some of the jokes are just cringey more than anything else. It is just too early to say whether this will transform into a perplexing mystery with gorgeous scenery or if it is just mediocre. The first episode was just okay. I just hope it takes itself seriously and doesn’t get too outlandish or silly. The first episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Resort are available on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support us at this link.