If we’ve learned anything from Palm Royale, it’s that no one is who they say they are. On the season finale, “Maxine Throws a Party,” there are so many unmaskings, it’ll make your head spin.
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Whose secrets will come to light at the Beach Ball? Can Maxine (Kristen Wiig) hold it together while Norma (Carol Burnett) does her best to upend it all? How will Evelyn (Allison Janney) and Dinah (Leslie Bibb) manage when their love interests overlap?
Maxine’s Arc on Palm Royale
There is profound irony in the fact that Maxine came onto the scene at the start of the season as a deliberate fraud and she’s turned out to be the most honest in our sparkling constellation of society mavens.
Somewhere along the way, we’ve forgiven her stealing from a woman in a coma, leveraging casual friendships to gain access to new peer groups, and trading in a friend’s burgeoning love life to secure her marriage.
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We cheer for her persistent optimism, her determinedly sunny disposition, and nearly surreal level of belief that everything will turn out for the best.
A small part of that may be that everyone else — except Robert (Ricky Martin) and maybe Linda (Laura Dern) — are really terrible people. But perhaps everyone starts out as a Maxine and gets beaten and shaped into the Evelyns and Dinahs and Marys of the world? That’s a downer of a thought.
Murderous Mary
Oooh, speaking of Mary (Julia Duffy)! Who thought the tipsy petite widow would turn out to be certifiably insane? Will she carry out her assassination without Linda or her late husband to stop her? Wait. How exactly did Mr. Davidsoul meet his demise?
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Will Ann Holiday (Mindy Cohn) recover quickly enough to make her appearance at the Beach Ball? Will her research shed more light on Norma’s plan? (Personally, seeing The Facts of Life Natalie as the astute and erudite editor of The Shiny Sheet has been a real delight.)
While one might write the machinations and maneuvers of Palm Royale as “rich people’s problems,” Maxine’s very real struggle to secure a place of belonging touches at the heart of a basic human need.
RELATED: Read all our Palm Royale recaps!
Who will take the final bow of the season? Are happy endings possible in a world so invested in pain and secrets? Will Maxine still want to belong here once she sees Palm Beach’s denizens in the cold light of truth?
Palm Royale streams on Wednesdays on Apple TV+.
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