Palm Royale: Keeping Up Appearances (Review)
"Palm Royale" revs up the comedy slowly but ultimately hits cruising speed as a gleefully campy spin on nighttime soaps.
Palm Royale, the catty new comedy-drama from AppleTV+, gets off to a slow start. Not as a sunny, soapy melodrama about wealthy, backstabbing Palm Beach socialites, but as an actual comedy. Starring Kristen Wiig and Ricky Martin in a season of ten hour-long episodes, the series takes its time getting to the real laughs.
As a bold and beautiful serial tinged with sex and intrigue, however, it establishes itself right out of the gate, or, rather, as soon as Wiig’s former pageant queen, Maxine Simmons, hops the fence at the ultra-exclusive Palm Beach Country Club.
Maxine’s one small act of trespassing is a giant leap forward in her lofty ambitions to install herself and jovial airline pilot husband Douglas (Josh Lucas) in the luxurious Palm Beach lifestyle. Little does she realize she’s throwing herself to the wolves, a pack dressed in designer clothing, who just barely conceal their fangs and claws.
Everyone’s also concealing a past, or they’ve embellished the details, and, because it’s 1969, they all drink some complicated cocktail. Maxine prefers Grasshoppers, served up with plenty of snark by club bartender Robert, played by Martin.
The show, created by George & Tammy showrunner Abe Sylvia, and inspired by Juliet McDaniel’s 2018 novel Mr. and Mrs. American Pie, posits Maxine and Robert as two outsiders working very different angles to gain or maintain status and comfort in this rarefied world.
Robert, a Korean War vet from Puerto Rico, also works as pool boy and all-purpose companion for the grande dame of this snooty set, Norma Dellacorte, who happens to be on her literal deathbed but is still portrayed by Carol Burnett, who is electric.
Not at all surprisingly, Burnett, who spends the bulk of the series immobile and unable to speak, supplies some of the biggest laughs with just a wild-eyed look or pained groan. Eventually, the whole cast catches up, as do, most importantly, the scripts, which start landing jokes more consistently once the setup is out of the way.
Carrying the series through its changing tones and moods, and fabulous wardrobes and hairdos, Wiig creates a likable heroine in Chattanooga princess Maxine. Despite the desperate housewife’s willingness to go extremely low to infiltrate a crowd that clearly doesn’t want her, she remains sympathetic.
The heartfelt rapport that develops between her and Martin’s gentle Robert does a lot to soften crass climber Maxine. Also, despite the character constantly trying too hard, Wiig shows restraint, fleshing out Maxine as the type of dreamer who sometimes fails hard because she goes big every time.
For her pageant talent, she informs us in voiceover narration, she used to perform as an escape artist, a useful skill then and in her present life. The very funny flashback to her shimmying out of a straitjacket is one of Wiig’s broader comic moments, reminiscent of one of her preening SNL sketch characters, but it’s firmly grounded in this bright, larger-than-life milieu.
Allison Janney brings a bouquet of brilliant color and bitchiness to Palm Beach doyenne Evelyn, and Leslie Bibb is delicious as the show’s cutting pot-stirrer Dinah.
Laura Dern plays hippie feminist Linda, who becomes Maxine’s first friend in town and may be hiding the most secrets. However, per Dern’s portrayal, Linda registers as a character out of a more straitlaced drama. Martin better captures the show’s quirky vibe while still conveying Robert’s serious struggles as a closeted gay man. Kaia Gerber, playing Maxine’s manicurist Mitzi, just struggles.
The real surprise of the series, though — outside of a few juicy reveals — might be Mindy Cohn, the erstwhile Facts of Life star of whom we’ve not seen that much since the days of Natalie, Tootie, Jo, and Blair. As Ann Holiday, the editor of Palm Beach’s daily gossip bible The Shiny Sheet, Cohn exudes shrewd, careful suspicion of Maxine, and sly shade, even as Ann cozies up to the interloper with helpful hints and advice.
Ann might be the person best positioned to expose all in this buzzing hive of secrets and lies, though I wouldn’t count on her getting to the bottom of every mystery in just one season.
Palm Royale (★★★☆☆) new episodes are available for streaming every Wednesday on Apple TV+. Visit www.apple.com/apple-tv-plus.
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