Palm Royale finally gets the narrative engines running in its fourth episode, as we finally get much of the dense plotting, character work, and bourgeois spectacle that was largely missing for the first three episodes. It's still cribbing from better shows, but those better shows are now even better ones: the social-event-of-the-week episode structure that defined much of Succession is used to tremendous effect here, where a Cuban-themed hotel bash serves as a hotbed of deal-making, threat-making, and flirtation that very quickly accomplishes a lot of the side character development this show has thus far lacked. It also serves to introduce the show's first true wild card outside of Maxine herself: Pinky, a suave Cuban mobster who's arrived in Palm Beach straight out of prison. Here as in general throughout this episode, the mere acknowledgment of the existence of other people trying to climb the same social ladder as our main character immediately makes this a better show.
In the episode's other major plotline, it also becomes clear that part of climbing the social ladder in Palm Beach necessarily involves knocking other people off. Ricky Martin's "pool boy" Robert, who is perhaps more sympathetic than most characters in this show but is still nakedly attempting to advance his station, is the unlucky victim in tonight's episode. After he challenges Maxine for conservatorship of the vegetative Norma, she responds by framing him for a theft she committed herself, sending a warning shot by forcing him to endure a night a jail and effectively exiling him to live with the relative plebeians in West Palm Beach. Robert is emerging as one of this show's greatest enigmas; what exactly his relationship is to Norma is in question, especially now that the rather predictable revelation of his homosexuality makes a romantic relationship considerably less likely.
Norma herself is another highlight of this episode, and it's finally becoming apparent why Carol Burnett was cast in the role of an effective living corpse. I don't know how medically sound the justification for her "twilight stupor" is, but it sure does create a lot of funny setpieces. Burnett is acting like she's in a different show than the rest of these malicious backstabbers, and the fact that her character used to be Queen Backstabber makes her extended Walking Dead zombie impressions all the more comic. The dark underside of the gag, of course, is that there's a real possibility that she can perceive everyone in the show saying plainly to her face that they care about her money and status more than her life. Should she somehow make a miraculous recovery, which could easily happen in a ridiculous show like this, the people around her will have hell to pay.
We end on a cliffhanger that in itself isn't nearly as interesting as the rest of the episode, although it will surely pay dividends in the near future. It seems that Linda may be more sinister than she appears, which is certainly...a choice. Hopefully it'll all make sense after the next episode.
8/10 Good TV.
In the episode's other major plotline, it also becomes clear that part of climbing the social ladder in Palm Beach necessarily involves knocking other people off. Ricky Martin's "pool boy" Robert, who is perhaps more sympathetic than most characters in this show but is still nakedly attempting to advance his station, is the unlucky victim in tonight's episode. After he challenges Maxine for conservatorship of the vegetative Norma, she responds by framing him for a theft she committed herself, sending a warning shot by forcing him to endure a night a jail and effectively exiling him to live with the relative plebeians in West Palm Beach. Robert is emerging as one of this show's greatest enigmas; what exactly his relationship is to Norma is in question, especially now that the rather predictable revelation of his homosexuality makes a romantic relationship considerably less likely.
Norma herself is another highlight of this episode, and it's finally becoming apparent why Carol Burnett was cast in the role of an effective living corpse. I don't know how medically sound the justification for her "twilight stupor" is, but it sure does create a lot of funny setpieces. Burnett is acting like she's in a different show than the rest of these malicious backstabbers, and the fact that her character used to be Queen Backstabber makes her extended Walking Dead zombie impressions all the more comic. The dark underside of the gag, of course, is that there's a real possibility that she can perceive everyone in the show saying plainly to her face that they care about her money and status more than her life. Should she somehow make a miraculous recovery, which could easily happen in a ridiculous show like this, the people around her will have hell to pay.
We end on a cliffhanger that in itself isn't nearly as interesting as the rest of the episode, although it will surely pay dividends in the near future. It seems that Linda may be more sinister than she appears, which is certainly...a choice. Hopefully it'll all make sense after the next episode.
8/10 Good TV.
