Palm Royale 1×07 Review: Maxine Bags A Prince

Sometimes one has to sit on a television show, because they aren’t sure of what to say. Not because the episode was bad, but it just was. Now, I have thought highly of Palm Royale at some points and at others, I have been like WTF. This episode left me with a weird taste in my mouth. Why? Because all these people are certifiable. Yes, I said that.

They are all out of their minds.

Maybe I just don’t understand why it is that everyone wants to be a big dog in Palm Beach society. Maybe I don’t understand why are these women are sacrificing their souls for men who do not care about them. I am not sure.

At this point, I am still hanging in there with the show because I have been hanging on for this long. I love the costuming and the cinematography, but that is really honestly about it. I feel like the writing has gotten so out of left field, I am wondering what the actual hell the point is.

And again, bothered by the fact that all of these women are making the worst choices known to man kind.

Linda’s Dad has passed and the only thing that Evelyn cares about is if she’s going to get all of the money that Skeet leaves behind. I am not going to say that Evelyn didn’t love Skeet, but I do believe that she loves money more.

The way that Palm Beach does funerals – at least this one – is weird AF. A haggis bar? Hell no. Everyone wearing the families tartan? How does everyone have this in their closet? The way that these people are is baffling to me. Can you imagine going to a funeral and you have to hang out for the reading of the will, to see who will be the new head of the family? Who cares.

I don’t.

Everyone is on edge because of the arrest of Dinah’s hubby. She’s now determined to take Maxine and Douglas down. She told her man to sing like a canary, but Maxine is like Douglas didn’t do anything.

Yet, he did.

He greased wheels in a way. He had Maxine send a bunch of cashiers checks to “expedite” the situation. The only thing is, she didn’t know that is what she was doing. I think that Douglas thought he was doing what he needed to do and he didn’t know the truth about the ambassador would come out.

If I was Maxine, I would have run. There is no part of me that doesn’t understand that she wasn’t a family and loves Douglas. But, girl… Douglas only loves himself. He may thing that he loves others, but he doesn’t. He loves himself and being a part of the elite. That being part of what makes him, him. He’s manipulative and self serving.

The funeral is just a moment for everyones secrets to start to come to light. It’s a moment for everyone to start talking about the way that Palm Beach needs to change. But maybe the most shocking thing? Well that would be that Maxine had lost the baby before her and Douglas even got married.

And in that moment – I really didn’t like her. I didn’t like the fact that she was what all these women said she was – a liar who trapped Douglas.

What they had bonded over and stayed together over – the trauma that they had been through – was all based on a lie. How horrible is that? Maxine was able to justify it to herself because she thought that she would just get pregnant quickly and it would all work out.

It doesn’t.

It’s definitely isn’t working out for quite a few people in this equation.

Robert. When the show started, I didn’t like him. I have made no secret about that. But, now, he’s as much a Delacorte as anyone. He’s dedicated to Norma and I can appreciate that. I feel so badly for him that he has to live his life in secret, because being gay wasn’t accepted. I feel so badly for him that he’s fallen for a prince that isn’t a prince. He’s being scammed.

Robert deserves to be loved and love freely. I hate that this man is taking advantage of him and is going to break his heart. For Robert, he’s opened himself up and he’s made his heart accessible to this man and he’s made sure that Robert will close it off, when he finds out.

I think for me that was the hardest part. It wasn’t seeing Norma and Maxine walk in on Robert and the Prince. I knew that Norma would have a fit, but I knew Maxine wouldn’t care. Her and Robert may not have started as the best of friends, but they are comfortable with each other and just want the other to be happy.

So much so that Maxine tells Robert that he should go off with his prince. She tells him to spend all the money, because the prince has $250K of Norma’s money.

The thing about small towns and close knit communities is that secrets and lies have a way of always coming out.

When Douglas is arrested, Maxine has to come up with a way to save her husband. She thought that she would cash all of the beach gala checks and get him out, but then, she sees a most wanted poster and on it she sees the prince.

Say what you want about Maxine (I know I will) she’s smart enough to see the way to get her husband out of jail at this point. She makes a deal to get Douglas out of jail, and immunity. There’s a part of me that doesn’t know what she saved him. The fake prince deserves to be thrown in jail.

I think that Maxine thought that she was saving Douglas and Robert at the same time. She loves them both – in different ways. But I think more than anything, Maxine was looking for a way to save herself.

OTHER THOUGHTS Evelyn trying to get Douglas to turn on Linda and help her… comical Linda having everyone rob the house, even as she’s inherited everything felt weird. Maxine needs to hand over that $75K cashiers check for Fibrosis or take that lady down. The whole baby birth. never ever – nope. no water birth. nope. How the hell does Norma have the energy and strength to plot taking someone out. If she would have murdered Maxine, she’d regret it.

New episodes of Palm Royale air every Wednesday through May 8th.