If you’re not here for the camp, you’re doing it wrong. That’s the best advice for enjoying Palm Royale, a thoroughly unserious show in the best sense of the word. Is the plot pure nonsense? Absolutely. Do all the characters make terrible decisions? Constantly. Is the whole thing soapier than a bath bomb? Utterly. But if you’re down for some high-fashion silliness with a maraschino on top, strap on your paisley bikini and come on in. The water’s fine.
The first season of Abe Sylvia’s gaudy period dramedy, based on Juliet McDaniel’s 2018 beach read Mr. & Mrs. American Pie, was divisive: Some loved it, others hated it, but most could agree that the cast was pretty wonderful. The first outing was ridiculously over-the-top, and season two somehow ups the ante on the shenanigans, plot twists, and dishy melodrama. Palm Royale is escapism for those desperate for a break from prestige drama. And thanks to the versatility of its all-star ensemble, the show occasionally straddles the line between pure silliness and pathos.
Set at the tail end of the ’60s, our story centers on Maxine Dellacorte-Simons (Kristen Wiig), an all-American striver trying to worm her way into the upper echelons of Palm Beach society. Soon, she finds herself on the outskirts of a mean-girl clique at the titular country club: ice queen Evelyn Rollins (Allison Janney); ambassador’s wife Dina Donahue (Leslie Bibb), who’s perpetually embroiled in scandal; and eccentric socialite Mary Jones Davidsoul (Julia Duffy).
The group’s grand-dame, Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett), is in a coma, which works out great for her niece-in-law Maxine. There’s also Linda Shaw (Laura Dern), a radical feminist leader who’s secretly Evelyn’s stepdaughter; Robert Diaz (Ricky Martin), Norma’s caretaker who’s secretly gay; Maxine’s husband, Douglas (Josh Lucas), who’s not-so-secretly a pampered idiot; Mitzi (Kaia Gerber), Maxine’s manicurist who’s also secretly Douglas’ mistress; and Ann Holiday (Mindy Cohn), a society reporter eager to uncover the next piece of hot goss.
By the end of the first season, Maxine has a very public meltdown, Mitzi reveals she’s pregnant with Douglas’ baby, Evelyn starts shacking up with Dina’s ex-lover (played by Jason Canela), and Mary tries to assassinate Nixon but accidentally shoots Robert instead. Also, it turns out Norma is an impostor named Agnes who stole the real Norma’s identity decades ago. Got all that? Don’t worry if the answer is no. In the world of Palm Royale, things turn on a dime. If one character tells another that they’ll never forgive them for their terrible betrayal, you can bet those two will be best frenemies again come the next episode.
Season two leans even further into chaos. There’s a torrid affair with the ghost of a bootlegger, an epic pratfall off an Alpine summit, an FBI sting at a phony funeral, and an alligator sommelier. (This is Florida, after all.) And that’s not even to mention the multiple musical numbers, one performed by Patti LuPone at, yes, Mar-A-Lago. It all feels like a fever dream designed by Emilio Pucci, with a dash of withering Mad Men cattiness and a pinch of Hitchcockian psychodrama.
The first episode takes place in the aftermath of the Beach Ball. Maxine is involuntarily committed to a ritzy mental institution, Robert’s in a coma, and Linda has been wrongly imprisoned for Mary’s crime. Meanwhile, Norma is cooking up a plan to unlock the fabled Dellacorte baby trust and ice Maxine out of the family, Evelyn is trying to win back her fortune, and Mary is hiding in a honeycomb of abandoned bootlegger tunnels that run underneath Palm Beach.
As for the vibes, besides the delectable period costumes and opulent interiors, the main appeal of Palm Royale is that it’s very funny, full of witty one-liners and sight gags worthy of, well, The Carol Burnett Show. This is particularly true whenever Wiig and Janney share the screen. These two are a great odd couple—Maxine bubbly and open-hearted, Evelyn jaded and all-knowing. As the season progresses, Maxine brings out the humanness under Evelyn’s hardened exterior, while Evelyn teaches Maxine how to play Palm Beach’s game of thrones.
Wiig has already showed off her screwball prowess in comedies like Bridesmaids and Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Marand dramatic chops in indies The Skeleton Twins and Welcome To Me. Both skill sets come together in Maxine.One second, the SNL alum is executing an old-school pratfall into a hedge, and the next, she’s pouring her heart out to the man she can’t stop loving. No matter how many times Maxine screws up, Wiig’s innate charm makes it believable that the people she’s pissed off will always forgive her in the end.
Janney plays Evelyn with equal parts cold gravitas and disarming vulnerability. And after spending most of the first season insensate or unable to form words, Burnett finally gets to flex her muscles as Norma reassumes her place as Palm Beach’s master manipulator. Even at 92, she’s still proving why she’s a comedy legend. Although they’re mostly relegated to the sidelines, the season’s biggest laughs come courtesy of Bibb and Duffy. The writers have finally found Dina’s sweet spot as a gossipy one-liner machine, and Bibb rises to the occasion with a flair for deadpan ditziness.
Mary’s arc is the silliest, and Duffy, a seasoned sitcom vet, is clearly having a blast wandering the dusty bootlegger tunnels like Miss Havisham. Her vividly detailed description of ghost sex (she describes resting her head against his incorporeal chest hair “as if upon a bowl of glass noodles”) may be the show’s funniest moment to date. Meanwhile, guest spots from John Stamos as a lawyer-gynecologist-cowboy and LuPone as real-life socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post add to the fun.
But even messy bitches who love drama will find some aspects of the season hard to swallow. Douglas makes a heel turn from charming fool to deeply unlikable jerkwad who’s all too happy to imprison his wife in the looney bin and let Norma convince him to oust her from the family in favor of Mitzi. It makes Maxine’s continuing devotion straight-up embarrassing. Even if she’s still learning to know her own worth, it’s tough to watch her moon over this misogynist cad. And then there’s Mitzi. She’s easily the show’s most two-dimensional character, and it’s hard to understand why she would so readily betray Maxine when she’s been nothing but kind. In a show that’s all about female complexity, Mitzi is a cardboard cutout of a backstabbing cheater.
Still, these shortcomings aren’t dire enough to dim Palm Royale’s frothy appeal, which is all the more delightful this time because the writers know that the show’s sheer ridiculousness is exactly what makes it sing. The seventh episode pays tribute to the series’ most ardent fanbase when Maxine wins the adoration of a gaggle of gay men at a clandestine hookup motel. “I love you! You’re the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met,” one guy (played by Las Culturistas’ Matt Rogers) gushes after Maxine unloads her whole sordid tale. He’s clearly a stand-in for Palm Royale devotees everywhere, who will eagerly gulp down the show’s glamorous nonsense like a grasshopper served poolside.
Palm Royale season 2 premieres November 12 on Apple TV
