Susan Granger’s review of “Palm Royale” (Apple TV+)
Loosely inspired by Juliet McDaniels’ 2018 novel “Mr. and Mrs. American Pie,” the comedy series “Palm Royale,” set in the late 1960s, follows the misadventures of former Tennessee beauty queen Maxine Simmons (Kristen Wiig), a desperate social climber determined to join South Florida’s most elegant, exclusive country club.
Currently penniless, ambitious Maxine is married to dim-witted airline pilot Douglas (Jos Lucas), presumed heir to the plastics/mouthwash fortune of his formidable aunt, high-society doyenne Norma Delacorte (Carol Burnett), who recently suffered a life-threatening embolism and is currently lying comatose in a posh nursing home.
In order to accomplish her goal, Maxine – as an unwanted interloper – must not only steal and lie but also charm snobbish socialite competitors like Evelyn (Allison Janney), Dinah (Leslie Bibb) and Mary (Julia Duffy), each hosting a glitzy fundraiser during high season.
Chronicled by reporter Ann Holiday (Mindy Cohn) in the ubiquitous “Shiny Sheet,” their duplicitous social politics and seductive treachery reign supreme.
But Maxine’s most formidable frenemy turns out to be bohemian Linda Shaw (Laura Dern), who runs an earthy feminist collective situated in a West Palm Beach book store: Our Bodies, Our Shelves.
Supplying Maxine with a constant supply of her favorite mint-green grasshopper cocktails is wary, eagle-eyed Robert Diaz (Ricky Martin), a hunky Korean War veteran working as a bartender at the swanky Palm Royale and doubling as Norma’s pool boy/loyal companion.
Created as a darkly comedic melodrama by showrunner Abe Sylvia, this flimsy, farcical, frivolous frolic starts out deceptively shallow but slowly builds in depth and intensity, incorporating a beached whale and an astronaut falling from the sky.
In various interviews, Sylvia has described conniving Maxine as “a bit of an Archie Bunker character, Her ideas are so retrograde, and yet we buy into her character because she believes them so much – she’s so optimistic and likable.”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Palm Royale” is a silly, satiric, sun-soaked 7 – with all 10 episodes now streaming on Apple TV+ …and it’s been renewed for a second season,
