Summary
Palm Royale Season 2 delivers a truly brilliant ending, with almost every storyline tied up and only a few loose ends left dangling.
Palm Royale is good, there’s no doubt about that. Season 2 has had its misteps, but for the most part, it has been a consistently entertaining and hilarious ride through the Machiavellian machinations of Palm Beach high society. But even by its own usual standard, its ending is pretty spectacular, a brilliantly funny, surprisingly touching climax that brings almost every storyline to a satisfactory conclusion and leaves only a couple of loose ends dangling in its wake. A third season wouldn’t be a terrible idea, but if Apple TV+ decides to leave it here, Episode 10 is a more than worthy endpoint.
“Maxine Does Something Good” wrongfoots you from the start, too. It might open with a Norma-narrated montage that shows the various Dellacortes dying of the congenital heart defect that we learned about in the penultimate episode, but it isn’t really about Norma. The clarification that she wasn’t stealing trophies from her victims, but keepsakes from her loved ones, all while her stake in the family fortune got larger, kind of softens the angle. Norma might have tried to kill Maxine a few times, but she isn’t the killer she was made out to be, which allows for a few other nice resolutions down the line.
Body Disposal
The first order of business is for Maxine and Evelyn to get rid of Jed’s body before Douglas’s wedding. This involves transporting him down the dumbwaiter, through the bootlegger tunnels, into the back of a Rolls-Royce, and to the alligator pool at the Fang and Tail, which is all easier said than done, since they’re plagued by interruptions at every turn.
First Eddie almost catches them (his conversation with Evelyn tipping Maxine, who’s hiding in the dumbwaiter, off about her fling with Jed), then Mary (whose admission that she hit the bootlegger over the head with the Davidsoul orb lets Maxine and Evelyn put the pieces together about Jed being behind everything) spots them in the tunnels, then they spot Robert and Tom talking as they’re emerging through the floor of the Dellacorte house, then they meet Rafael (Maxine is forced to give Evelyn a capsule summary of this), then they almost get caught by Mitzi (who’s having second thoughts about the wedding), then they run into Douglas outside. Douglas has decided to change his plan and marry Mitzi after all, giving Maxine a fair share of the baby trust but not officially reconciling with her until the kid’s 18, so a furious Maxine tells him that the baby isn’t his.
Phew. To make matters even worse, the alligator pond is closed for maintenance, so they’re forced to hide Jed in the freezer instead.
A Convenient Patsy
In exchange for immunity, Pinky and Raquel broker a meeting between the mole of Palm Beach and Ann at the Shiny Sheet, but it’s really a setup. Perry believes he has been given an award by the International Order of the Stag — he’s even wearing a pair of antlers — and is to show up at the Shiny Sheet for a photo shoot. At the same time, we learn from the conversation between Robert and Tom that J. Edgar Hoover has the FBI offices bugged and caught Tom and Robert in the act, so he’s using that information to blackmail Tom into assassinating the mole (aka Perry).
While they’re preparing the wedding, the ladies figure this out and head to the Shiny Sheet to save Perry. They get there before Virginia, so they’re all in position to chloroform Perry when he arrives. They position Jed’s frozen corpse at the top of the stairs with the antlers on his head, and when Tom arrives, he shoots him. While he’s a little confused by the body being visibly frozen, Virginia, who’s in on the plan, gives him credit for catching the mole.
Maxine’s Good Deed
Once everyone gets back to the wedding, they discover that Douglas has called it off on the grounds of the baby not being his. Maxine tries to talk him round, but he’s adamant. He wants to go back to flying and Maxine waiting for him at home, but that’s not the life she wants anymore, since that’s the life that he destroyed. Maxine finally stands up for herself, but the wedding is still off.
There’s also a late guest — Norma. She has come to appeal to Maxine’s better nature, since nobody now has a legitimate claim on the money. But she also apologises for her resentment clouding her judgement. Robert also arrives to reveal that the courts won’t grant him custody over Rafael as a single man. So, Maxine has an idea.
Maxine and Robert get married so that Robert can secure custody of Rafael. Norma exchanges her ring for Maxine’s, which is, of course, the ring that Douglas was supposed to give Linda back in the day. Norma sings a song — not really, it’s an imagined sequence — over the nuptials, as we see a few little conclusions for supporting characters. Evelyn leaves Eddie since she wants her independence, and he leaves with Mitzi. Dinah reminds Perry that she’s too good for him, having given the final Imperial Faberge egg to Madge Post in exchange for Perry being made mayor.
With the nuptials over, Norma disappears, but she leaves behind a note reading, simply, “I played my part. Gotta run now.”
A Happy Ending?
Maxine has another realization towards the end of Palm Royale Season 2, Episode 10. Now that Robert is officially a Dellacorte, if he had had Rafael during a legitimate marriage, that would have unlocked the baby trust. As it happens, he was married to Rafael’s mother when he was born, a loophole that ends up making Maxine and Robert very, very rich.
So rich, in fact, that they celebrate with a full-blown song and dance number. Maxine gives Mitzi and her new baby (she’s with Eddie now) some of her newfound wealth. The ghost of Jed, through a Ouija board, tells Mary that “Maxine did it.” Tom gets a career boost for bagging the mole, which is good news for Pinky and Raquel, who get their immunity, and Madge Post, who is heavily implied to be the mole. Perry becomes mayor, and the Palm Royale is reopened by Maxine and Evelyn, who are now, arguably, the two most powerful women in the world.
The only loose end is Rafael. We spot him making a call and telling someone on the other end, “They bought it. I’m in.”
Palm Royale Season 2 ends in Paris, with Linda sending Maxine a letter thanking her, since she received some of the baby money too, which has allowed her to finally be free. We see that she’s with Norma, who’s smiling, and Linda signs the letter off with, simply, “Maxine, I found love.”
