 in Palm Royale proved to be a bit of a head-scratcher for me. She has one very clear motivation){kind=link}
As someone who has watched probably what can be classified as too much TV, I generally get a pretty good read of characters early on in a pilot. That said, I have to admit, that Maxine Simmons (played by Kristen Wiig) in Palm Royale proved to be a bit of a head-scratcher for me. She has one very clear motivation, and it’s stated very clearly, to be accepted, nay, be the pinnacle of Palm Beach high society. However, it was in her initial methods of going about to achieve it that my read on the character became fuzzy. Because she is both a very good liar and horrible at lying at the same time. She is also incredibly honest and very dishonest.
I think some of the stumbles that made her appear to be a bad liar when she was actually telling the truth to Dinah (played by Leslie Bibb) are there specifically for the audience to think she’s lying until we discover she’s being truthful. And, I was fine with going along for the ride because it is more interesting than a clear-cut character.
That said, outside of the overarching secrets people keep in Palm Beach to maintain their lifestyles, one liar stood out to me. Maxine’s husband, Douglas (played by Josh Lucas), seems to really love her but also keeps a lot of secrets from her. A big one early on was the location of Norma’s House, as Maxine did not seem to know about it until it was pointed out to her. If their entire reason for being in Palm Beach was always to wait to try and get his inheritance from Norma (played by Carol Burnett), why would he not mention the house that he thought would one day be theirs?
There are a lot of interconnections and weaving of characters in Palm Beach, it is a very soapy drama, which is one of the delights of tuning in each week to see what new twist will befall the characters of excess. A character initially on the outskirts of Palm Beach society, Linda (played by Laura Dern), is revealed to be very connected to the heart of Palm Beach high society and Maxine’s life. I will leave it at that, though that was one twist I did figure out before it was revealed in the series. A connection/revelation that I am wondering if will come to pass is the origin of Linda’s name (it is not her birth name) and if it has anything to do with nicknames used at the Palm Royale club (we hear Dinah referred to it by her lover that works there).
Apple TV+ does not promote their shows very well, which is a shame because they have a swath of shows making interesting swings. On its surface, Palm Royale might look like another soapy drama/comedy in the vein of many Ryan Murphy-type productions (not knocking them, I enjoy them too), but I think what it’s trying to do with Maxine, if not always 100% successful, sets it apart from other similar comedy-drama period pieces. Maxine is allowed to contain multitudes while staying true to her motivations. However, you just need to look at the credits of the creator, Abe Sylvia, to see how this came to be. It is littered with complicated, multi-dimensional, female characters.
Palm Royale is dropping new episodes weekly on Wednesdays on Apple TV+, with its finale dropping on May 8, 2024. It is currently being released as a miniseries, but many shows that went on to get additional seasons began similarly, so I will have to wait until I see the finale to see if it IS final, and even then, I will still wait at least a couple months to see if there is an announcement of a second season. Because the show is all about twists, I would not be surprised if they wrote it to go past one season.
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