Palm Royale Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Maxine Saves the Whale

Palm Royale Season 1 Episode 8, “Maxine Saves the Whale,” fully embraces its comedic leanings as Maxine faces what she sees as karmic retribution. It’s wacky and weird in the best way. 

A Beached Media Trope 

On Palm Royale Season 1 Episode 7, Raquel advises Maxine to give the police “a whale” to avoid jail time. Naturally, the literal whale washing up on the beach is the show’s not-so-subtle nod to that line. Maxine believes this is karma for throwing Robert’s con man lover under the bus. 

One might also interpret this as a reference to “jump the shark” — a phrase some use to describe a series that has taken a nosedive in quality. 

Perhaps there’s a third interpretation for this, though. Palm Royale has struggled to commit to a genre, often floundering between drama and comedy. Apple has made the bewildering choice to market the series as a drama, which never felt right. 

“Maxine Saves the Whale” seems to fully plant its feet in the comedy camp. This outing is jam-packed with hilarious one-liners, physical gags, and top-tier comedic performances. It feels like this is the show it was meant to be. 

Cetacean Jubilation 

This series has always boasted a touch of the outlandish. Palm Beach is an over-the-top, larger-than-life sunny paradise filled to the brim with bombastic characters. Despite its seeming abandonment of a more realistic narrative, these actors ground the story with their performances. 

Allison Janney proves time and again that she’s a force of nature. She’s not afraid to make a fool of herself or commit to the most ludicrous storyline known to humankind — a woman becomes smitten with a beached whale. Janney goes full-throttle in her performance, offering some of the funniest moments in “Maxine Saves the Whale.” 

Secret Weapons

Julia Duffy is Palm Royale‘s secret weapon. Her take on Mary devolves further into chaos with each passing episode. In a way, this is us seeing who Mary truly is. Even with all the comedy, “Maxine Saves the Whale” still provides character development aplenty. 

Kristen Wiig gives us a side-splitting scene reminiscent of Bridesmaids when Maxine does her best whale imitation into a microphone. It’s made all the more hilarious when Leslie Bibb’s Dinah slowly pokes her head out behind Maxine, looking the picture of baffled. 

Bibb is an underrated talent on Palm Royale. Like Duffy, she churns out understated, hysterical work, and it seems like she’s having a blast. She also makes Dinah endearing, elevating the comedy tenfold. 

Enjoy the Ride 

“Maxine Saves the Whale” takes risky, creative swings that pay off. It’s not perfect (and neither is the series as a whole), but the show is hopefully heading in a more surefooted, confident tonal direction. The series feels more at home in this wackadoodle style. 

Overall, it’s an outing that’s as entertaining as it is plain fun. Sometimes, you need to switch off your brain and simply enjoy the ride. 

Stray Observations: 

• I’m officially shipping Robert and Tom. Is there a more attractive pairing on this planet? 
• Carol Burnett still manages to be hilarious even when she has less than a page of dialogue. What a legend. What a queen. 
• Douglas is not only a cheater but a bona fide idiot. He tells Evelyn he’ll never fall for any get-rich-quick schemes again, then turns around and decides to invest in Pinky’s club. I’d call it hypocrisy, but I’m pretty sure it’s more like idiocy. 
• “Cetacean Jubilation” is the name of my folk band. 
• Someone, please check on Ann. She’s about to take a sip of that tainted grasshopper (which sounds weirdly dirty—or maybe I’m just weird). 
• Evelyn and Eddie making out on the beach feels like a scene from an ’80s soap opera. I have a feeling that’s the vibe the creatives wanted to capture, and they knocked it out of the park. 
• I’ve come to the conclusion that characters like Virginia and Mitzi will never get true character development. Instead, they exist to move the plot along, which makes me sad.  

What did you think of this episode of Palm Royale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Palm Royale drops new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV+. 

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