One Perfect Couple

The island’s villas gain particular prominence early in the narrative as Lyla immediately notices the larger villa standing in the water, with a wooden boardwalk connecting it to the main island. This is the villa featured in the show’s promotional materials, illustrating Baz’s use of manipulated images to persuade the contestants to participate. However, Lyla soon senses that all may not be as it appears, telling Nico, “It’s not finished. Doesn’t that bother you?” (92). His dismissal of any infrastructure issues illustrates the gulf of communication that separates them. Lyla soon sours on the “Ever After Villa” when she learns that she must spend the night there with Joel after Nico is eliminated from the competition. As the wind intensifies, she thinks uneasily, “Maybe it had never weathered a storm” (136), and her thoughts foreshadow the disastrous failure of the island’s infrastructure to withstand the ravages of the elements.

Later, Conor forcibly moves Zana into the villa, building an unstable set of platforms to ensure that he remains isolated and can watch the others approach him. The villa thus comes to epitomize Conor’s drive for control, and the remote location of the villa allows him to drown