Palm Royale hurt my feelings and made me laugh and cry.
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
No. of Emmy Nominations: 11
No. of Beavers: 2.5 out of 5
Weaver Beaver Recommendation: Its a painfully slow start, which hurts because it gets there eventually and I think is worth the watch.
MW Review
Okay. I’m not going to lie. I struggled with this show. Before it even came out, I was super excited because Hi – Hello – the national treasure LAURA DERN EP’d and was a lead character in this weirdly inspiring and heartfelt series. But watching it was hard. I would like to state that Desperate Housewives crawled so shows like Palm Royale could run. I mean honestly shows like Dynasty crawled so DH could walk and then Palm Royale could run but that is not what we’re here to talk about.
Overall, I think this show took way too long to get to a place that I felt like continuing to watch. If you don’t know my general rule of thumb for television is that I believe you need to have watched three episodes of any given show before you can make a comment on if the show is good or not. Some people may disagree but even in our world of INSTANT everything I think television still deserves the respect of getting to know a show for a bit. But even by episode three of this series I was not super into it. Which is crazy because this is CHALK full of superstars. I mean Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney, Carol MOTHER FUCKING BURNETT and so many more. It was like a wet dream I had turned into a TV show I was SO excited.
The only reason I finished this show was because I HAD to finish it for this Emmy review. Ultimately, I am happy because I did end up truly liking this series but not until like episode 5 – which is half way through! I think eventually it found the right rhythm of quirky antics, drama and suspense that worked for it. I’m interested to see what they do for a season 2!
SPOILERS AHEAD
Although it wasn’t my favorite watch thus far, the fact that I was tearing up at the end with Robert being shot is telling. And I think my favorite parts of the season were Linda’s journey, Roberts story (although Ricky’s acting…baby…what are we doing?), and Carol Burnett being a villain (I both loved and hated this).
Linda’s story was interesting. I always love a rich kid who throws it all away and is on the side of billionaires shouldn’t exist. Also, I loved that because it was the 60s/70s she was this ultra feminist, anti-Vietnam protester. But it was super relatable that Virginia clocked her privilege and ignorance a lot which I loved. And that rather than getting upset she was like oh damn…didn’t even realize. Linda was great. I’m super biased because I have been a Laura Dern fan since I was 4? Jurassic Park BABY!!!! But she did so well in this role!
Robert’s story was lovely. I’m still tired of this we need to hide storyline cause its exhausting. But its real so what the fuck do I know. I low key hope he makes it back season 2 though. If I had to make a guess, he’ll be in a coma for most of next season and towards the end wake up to expose that Carol’s character is not a Dellacorte. But that’s just a guess. I think he and Maxine were my favorite dynamic. Everyone loves a gay bestie, and I love being the gay bestie. Super relatable. What was rough a little was Ricky’s acting. Listen I don’t think he’s necessarily a bad actor and also, I’m no actor so what the fuck do I know but I just had a hard time believing him in this role.
Carol mother fucking Burnett. That bitch acted the fuck out of the coma. Ate every mother fucker up. They had lines, she didn’t and you were still watching her. I LOVED her being a villain – for the most part. Made sense. She was fucking rich and the queen bee of secrets. What I hated was that she was so against Maxine. I was really waiting for this moment of “aha she’s great we should team up and fuck Dougie over” moment but it never came. And objectively I understand why – her being Agnes is going to be the biggest plotline next season and Maxine is gonna find it out. So, I get it. I just don’t like it. LOL
Also, honorable mention to Maxine fucking LOSING it on stage. I mean I would too because what the fuck my husband got my MANICURIST PREGNANT!!!! What is this – Jersey Shore? IDK if that’s a funny reference I’ve barely seen that show. But you know what I mean. Like what the fuck are we doing here. This is messy Douglas. Keep it in your fucking pants or at the VERY least wrap it the fuck up. Anyway, her losing it and spilling ALL the tea was absolutely perfection. I’ll watch season 2. They got me. But hopefully we pick up the pace a bit and give me a little more in the beginning of the season to keep me.