Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers for the season 2 finale, “Palm Royale” and “Maxine Do Something Good,” now streaming on Apple TV.
At first glance, Apple TV’s “Palm Royale” is a visually gorgeous satire of South Florida social climbers set in 1970. Season 2 continues to press the gas with the same stylish fun, but digs even deeper. The film peels back the glamor of its time and place to reveal a timely story about the power of women to support each other and, as showrunner Abe Sylvia puts it, “the ways in which women come together to make their way in the world.”
The season finale takes us inside the mind of Norma/Agnes (Carol Burnett) and explores her lifelong choices and haunting regrets. Maxine (Kristen Wiig, executive producer) shoots and kills Jed (Ryan Dorsey) who tried to kill Evelyn (Allison Janney). It forces Maxine and Evelyn into a hopeless but comedic “Laverne and Shirley” alliance, bonding over a shared secret and a very big problem to unravel.
The overall theme of female empowerment in the context of what was going on in the real world in the late ’60s and ’70s was a natural fit. “It gives the audience enough distance to not tell an overly moralistic modern story,” says Sylvia. “We can have fun, we can set it in this fairy tale world, but we can still extrapolate based on really modern and timeless themes.”
The evolution of that premise didn’t happen overnight. In the show’s pilot, Maxine helps Dinah (Leslie Bibb) obtain a safe but illegal abortion in order to find her way into the club. “I wrote that thinking it was what would have happened in that era, and that was before Dobbs was overthrown,” Sylvia says. “Then it was like, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And as we got into season two, we really leaned into that.”
As Douglas (Josh Lucas) and Mitzi (Kaia Gerber)’s wedding approaches, a decisive moment arrives. Maxine tells Mitzi that she is not the father of her child. He tells Maxine that he wants his life back with her as it was before, but she is not interested and tells him, “I don’t care what you want.”
“It showed us the real Douglas, because he’s a little scary,” Wiig says. “I think it was really cool for Kristen to be able to say to Douglas, ‘Fuck you!’” Wiig says with a laugh. “It’s heartbreaking, because it’s always been Maxine and Douglas, and I don’t want them to stop. But in that moment, you think, ‘Oh, they don’t need to be together.'”
Maxine wants Douglas and Mitzi to marry because of Mitzi’s pregnancy. That moment when Maxine turns to him and says, “Please do this not just for me, but for all the women of Palm Beach,” is an important step for her. “Maxine never thought she would marry another woman and ask him, ‘Do it for me, do it for Evelyn and Dinah and Mitzi. I owe these women. After all I’ve done for you, will you do this for me?'” Sylvia says. “I don’t want to get too moralistic, but we were writing this and filming this in the middle of the election, and I remember Michelle Obama giving that great speech appealing to men, and that’s what we’re touching on right now.”
“In some ways, the moment when she finally says, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore,’ is really shocking on a level that he doesn’t understand,” Lucas says. “So his only option is — and this applies to this very particular kind of rich white man (mentality) — ‘Then I’m going to destroy you.’ If there’s a season three, there’s going to be drama from that moment on. I think that’s where Douglas finds himself. My guess is that’s when Douglas gets to the worst side of himself.”
After that, Maxine’s life changes dramatically. She and Norma exchange apologies, and in a bold twist rooted in Robert’s (Ricky Martin) custody battle for Rafiel (Ben Palacios), a surprising marriage proposal emerges that hints at Robert and Maxine’s marriage. It ties together multiple issues neatly.
“I think she didn’t want to be alone. I think she was alone with Douglas,” Wiig said. “Now she’s trying to start another family with her friends, and I think she just wants to have people around her who love her, and she just wants to have fun. She just wants to know where she belongs and feel safe there, instead of trying so hard all the time.”
Sylvia says she knew from the beginning that Robert and Maxine would get married in the finale. So the question was, “Other than the fact that this is a non-traditional relationship between two people who probably love each other more than most married people, how can we convey this differently?” That’s what music is all about. Norma reflects on her life and expresses her feelings in song, and various couples give voice to how their lives are unfolding in the shorts.
“Tell it from the perspective of the people watching the wedding and what’s going on in their minds, because that’s the most interesting thing about any wedding,” says Sylvia. “It’s the emotions that the act of marriage brings out in other people. That’s what was interesting to me. So as the lights go down and time passes, Norma looks back on her life. She can’t imagine that despite all the bad things she’s done in her life, this beautiful moment has come.” Evelyn, Mitzi, and Dinah all have similar moments of introspection.
Eventually, Evelyn comes to terms with her true feelings for Eddie (Jason Cannella), Perry (Jordan Bridges) has political ambitions with Dinah on his side, Norma and Linda (Laura Dern) begin life as mother and daughter, and Maxine and Evelyn take over Palm Royale and aim for greater adventures.
Is everything wrapped in cute ribbons? Let’s think again. Sylvia reveals that if Apple TV wants to continue “Palm Royale” with a third season, there are plenty of places for this cast of characters to shine.
“Happiness is fleeting,” Sylvia teases about the possibility of a new story. “You have to live happily, but trouble is just around the corner. We wanted to keep our characters in a moment of temporary bliss. Patti LuPone (Marjorie) has a Russian mole in the perfect place. She has a son, Robert, but he’s not all that he seems. Maxine is trying her best to become a mother. Is it really going to be that way? All she ever wanted was to be a mother. Well, now she’s a year old, her son is probably some kind of plant that came for her money, and now Dinah is a political wife, but it’s not necessarily a happy ending for her.”
“They live in Palm Beach while we leave with a bang. As Maxine and Evelyn look at each other, Maxine says, ‘We’re in the heart of the town that runs the world, so what’s next?’ And Evelyn says, ‘The world,’ we planned it that way.” So I’m like, let’s go out with a big round of applause, but we have so many places we can go. ”
Wiig said: “Honestly, I don’t know what’s in store for Season 3, but I think the more powerful any woman is, the more dangerous she becomes.”
