As the credits played for the final episode of Palm Royale, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. What seemed to be a glorious romp through ’60s high society turned out to be a letdown, leaving me wondering if the creators lost an opportunity to create something genuinely unforgettable.
Let’s start with the positives: the web series has an amazing cast. Kristen Wiig, now free of her comedic roots, shines as Maxine, a former beauty queen hoping to join the exclusive Palm Beach high society. Allison Janney’s portrayal of the aggressively charitable Evelyn Rollins is menacingly lovely, while Laura Dern’s second-wave feminist Linda Shaw injects some freshness into the period drama.
However, despite its star-studded cast, Palm Royale falls short in execution. The writing appears shallow, lacking depth and substance. The characters, while intriguing on paper, fail to connect. Maxine’s clumsy entrance into the elite social club should have been a biting critique on social climbing, but it falls short. Her legitimate claim to social standing as the estranged heir to the Delacore fortune is similarly mismanaged, leaving viewers perplexed.
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The show’s attempt to combine Mad Men’s period precision, Big Little Lies’ mystery, and Desperate Housewives’ camp escapism ends in a mash-up that never quite finds its footing. There are plenty of dropped balls, like Nixon’s appearance on Maxine’s television, Shaw’s archaic feminist terminology, and the contradiction between plastics and mouthwash as a reflection on wealth creation.
Palm Royale had all the right ingredients, but it failed to rise above mediocrity. Perhaps it’s time for Maxine and company to exit the exclusive club and find a more compelling narrative elsewhere.