O, Palm Royale. What a slippery soap you are! You are difficult not to like. Your setting is sparkling in 1969 Palm Beach. You offer up Kristen Wiig (SNL) as a naive underdog seeking admission into the high society. Allison Janney (Mom, West Wing) lets loose and snacks scenery at every turn. Laura Dern as a feminist hippie chick? Right on. Singer Ricky Martin, ripped and sometimes shirtless, and proving himself as a talented actor? (Thank you for the former, and bless you for the latter.) And Carol Burnett doing so much by hardly saying a word? Brilliant.
Welcome to Palm Royale. Palm Royale features Wiig, Janey, Dern, Martin, Burnett plus Apple TV+’s playful new all-star ensemble comedy cast Josh Lucas (Yellowstone), Leslie Bibb (About My Father), Amber Chardae Robinson (Loot, 80 for Brady), Mindy Cohn (The Facts of Life), Julia Duffy (Newhart), Kaia Gerber (Bottoms), and special guest star Bruce Dern. This narrative follows former beauty queen Maxine Simmons’ desperate efforts to become part of Palm Beach’s elite class.
Set during the culturally-shifting year of 1969, the series wants to honor those who would be outsiders fighting for their right to truly belong somewhere. That message gets lost along the way though because when something is over-the-top in its ridiculousness too many times this show often ends up losing any chance it had at feeling “real” or believable in some way. People might overlook that here and see Abe Sylvia’s showrunner/executive producer thing for what it truly is: an enjoyable escape from reality itself; something everyone needs sometimes–especially with these players involved.
Palm Royale loosely adapts Juliet McDaniel’s book Mr. and Mrs. American Pie starting with the summer of ’69.It’s all over the world about astronauts, civil rights and feminism; however, it’s about coiffed hairdos, chic pastel clothes and who you are in general at Palm Beach, particularly at its famous country club -the Palm Royale.
The series does a fine job setting up the players from the onset. There is Wiig’s character Maxine of course – the chirpy blonde desperately wants to belong to the fancy club even if it means paying an initiation fee that punches her guts with thirty thousand dollars. Yet there is some hope as Douglas’ pilot husband (Josh Lucas plays dim light bulb) and especially Douglas’ aunt Norma Delacore (Carol Burnett)-the queen of Palm Beach society
Norma is comatose when we first meet her. She also happens to be very wealthy and has many secrets that could ruin palm beach high society. The absence of Norma has resulted in a power vacuum that Evelyn Rollins, a foul-mouthed ball-buster, wants to take advantage of. Accordingly, we’re made to believe that Norma cannot wait for her dying husband Skeet (Bruce Dern,) to finally breathe his last breath or else she herself has a plan for succession already in motion which is why she despises Maxine from day one of meeting him/her.
Otherwise, 2 privileged women named Dinah Donahue (Leslie Bibb) and Mary Jones Davidsoul (Julia Duffy) make up the rest of the top class. Also, nonmembers plays a crucial role in this story. Anyway, Linda Shaw (Laura Dern), owns a bookstore called “Our Bodies, Our Selves”. The moral compass for this sequence is the character alongside Ricky Martin’s astute waiter Robert which brings some of these much-required empathy and humanity over ten overcrowded sometimes dizzying episodes. Hello Mindy Cohn! It’s great to have the actress here as Ann who is a snoopy journalist and will not just go away. Secrets! People!
As a matter of fact many big secrets are exposed. Showrunner Abe Sylva who produced Dead to Me and wrote 2021’s Oscar-winning film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye understands how to spin an intriguing yarn. All the same, it is so bloated that you may have to pause for breath on this one. Several characters are tied together by what happened before now while others have consciously kept themselves from giving away information because they either despise someone or want them to believe in their personal illusions.
And then…some odd happenings float through. A whale breaches on shore at one point and well—Evelyn goes through an epiphany–emotionally? A prince comes in order to attend a ball. Staying close to Maxine’s storyline though is beloved astronaut. The deeper issues remain unattended. Somehow it has hurt her marriage with Maxine. Laura Dern’s Linda has Virginia (Amber Chardae Robinson), another feminist activist but all that is tested including Linda herself having secrets too. Onwards!
The plot shouldn’t be nitpicked because this show simply wants you to have fun instead of think about anything too hard or too deeply.Simply put: will she get everything she wants from her dreams of becoming a star of the upper class? Who knows? But would it all be worth it? So here’s the thing then; what is this really saying, that like TikTok and other social media 55 yrs. later, these relentless quests for popularity and status actually make you feel nothing?
The series goes beyond that to offer some outstanding performances as well as an outstanding cast which is such fun to watch.There could not have been any better casting for Maxine than Kristen Wiig. Allison Janey’s performance is amazing. Laura Dern shines even more in the role. Carol Burnett, a lifelong fan of soap operas—she truly loves All My Children—is at her comedic best in the latter half of the series. Also, Ricky Martin turns in a consistently memorable performance as an unlikely ally to Maxine who has to care for Norma daily and also becomes Linda’s friend.He might just be the true heart of this show but maybe not.
It leaves you breathless with its kick-in-the-pants ending but can leave you wanting something deeper.No doubt there is still more story to tell with these characters though another season that’s a bit more down-to-earth might add some context and nuance all round.We’ll hear word about that soon enough.Therefore let us dive into the fun right now.Palm Royale remains hilarious entertainment still.
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