Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for the Palm Royale season 1 finale.
Palm Royale season 1 has been building up to an explosive ending at the 50th Annual Beach Ball that quickly turned tragic with more accidental gunfire and other shocking reveals. After nine episodes of planning, the Palm Royale characters gathered at the Dellacorte mansion for Norma’s Beach Ball co-hosted by Maxine and Evelyn in her honor. With Norma’s plan for the Palm Royale finale, it was clear the event wouldn’t run smoothly, but numerous plot twists led to her plan failing. The Beach Ball is everything Maxine was working towards in Palm Royale, but it was always destined for disaster.
Maxine moved to Palm Beach, Florida with her husband, Douglas Dellacorte Simmons, when his wealthy aunt Norma fell into a coma at the beginning of Palm Royale. As Norma’s only living relatives, Maxine and Douglas assumed they’d inherit the Dellacorte fortune when she passed. However, not only did Norma survive her embolism and make a strong recovery, but she never intended to give the money to them. In Palm Beach high society, money is everything, and without the Dellacorte fortune, Maxine would never be able to make it into the exclusive group as she’d been so determined to do.
The final few minutes of Palm Royale season 1 were filled with chaos that had been foreshadowed in previous episodes. Douglas and Linda’s past was revealed in Palm Royale episode 5 and marked a turning point in the series, causing it to take a much darker turn for the remaining half of season 1. On Douglas and Linda’s wedding day, consumed with jealousy and paranoia from being gaslit by her fiancé, Linda accidentally shot her father when trying to murder Douglas. Twenty years later, an accidental shooting occurred at the Beach Ball with Mary, Linda, Robert, and President Nixon.
After Maxine managed to get the president to attend the Beach Ball, Mary came up with a plot to assassinate Nixon in the Palm Royale finale. She almost succeeded, having locked up Linda, the only person aware of her plan, and sneaking a gun into the Dellacorte mansion. Fortunately, Linda arrived just in time to save the president. Unfortunately, when she misdirected the gun, the bullet hit Robert instead. The Palm Royale season 1 finale ended before Robert’s fate could be confirmed, but it will be the biggest question going into season 2 if the Apple TV+ series is renewed.
Linda has evaded arrest multiple times in Palm Royale due to her money and connections, but the accidental shooting of Robert could be the thing that finally lands in her prison. When Linda accidentally shot her father on her wedding day, Norma covered for her, getting everyone present to stay silent about her crime. Though it was an open secret in Palm Beach, Linda never faced any punishment for what she’d done and spent her life living with the guilt of injuring her father.
When Linda’s father died, his widow, Evelyn, threatened to expose Linda, as there’s no statute of limitations on murder. While nothing happened there, Linda was then narrowly arrested when police raided her feminist group for conspiracy to assassinate the president. At the end of the Palm Royale finale, Linda was seen holding the gun Mary had used to try and assassinate the president. Though Linda had been trying to save the president, her past with her father and the feminist group could easily be used against her in Palm Royale season 2.
Norma’s past in Palm Royale went unexplored until the season 1 finale. Norma is the heiress of a plastics and mouthwash dynasty, but how she came to be queen of Palm Beach was unknown. Palm Royale episode 7 introduced one of Norma’s ex-lovers, Axel Rosenhips, whom she was once engaged to before their relationship ended under mysterious circumstances. In the Palm Royale finale, Robert had a talk with Axel that revealed their past together as well as a shocking secret about Norma and her true identity.
Norma had inherited her family fortune after her father’s death when she was in college. Around that time, her diabetic roommate Agnes suddenly died. Norma herself is a diabetic, and it was Robert’s error in giving her insulin that led to her embolism. Knowing this, Robert put the pieces together that Norma is actually Agnes in Palm Royale and her murderous ways trace back to college. Agnes/Norma murdered the real Dellacorte heiress and assumed her identity, making her a total fraud. However, if Robert doesn’t survive in Palm Royale, this secret could die with him.
Maxine had a grand plan for the Beach Ball that included Astronaut Herkimer, who saved her after Norma pushed her overboard at the end of Palm Royale episode 8. He was supposed to be the guest of honor alongside President Nixon, and Maxine would end the night with a performance of “Is That All There Is” by Peggy Lee. Maxine’s plan fell apart almost immediately when Astronaut Herkimer skipped the Beach Ball after Maxine rejected his advances. Though Maxine was able to put Robert in his suit and fool everyone, her performance was the party’s undoing.
Just before Maxine went onstage to perform her big number, she realized Norma had been plotting to kill her. Mitzi then confessed to Maxine that she was pregnant. Maxine wrongfully assumed that the father of Mitzi’s baby was Perry and pushed her to tell him. She learned that Mitzi had an affair with Douglas while onstage, and her performance turned into a chance to expose everyone in Palm Beach high society as she finally had nothing left to lose.
Throughout Palm Royale, Maxine has shown that she’s motivated by two things: her desire to belong and her love for her husband, Douglas. When she finally got to have her big moment in Palm Royale, she realized it wasn’t worth it because not only had Douglas cheated on her, but Mitzi was giving him a baby, something she never could. The lyrics to “Is That All There Is” took on a cruel sense of irony, as Maxine finally took center stage only to realize it wasn’t what she thought it would be.
Halfway through Palm Royale season 1, Norma returned to the Dellacorte mansion and was left under Maxine’s conservatorship. This conservatorship meant that as long as Norma wasn’t able to take care of herself, Maxine was in charge of her care and financials. This gave Maxine unlimited access to Norma’s wealth, but as Norma began to secretly recover, she hatched up a plan of her own to regain her fortune and get rid of Maxine once and for all.
After multiple attempts to kill Maxine failed, Norma came up with a different way to be free of her and her conservatorship. Her closest companion in Palm Royale has been Robert, and she proposed to him in hopes that he’d protect her. However, Robert had also gotten closer to Maxine and started to see through Norma’s agenda against her. When he realized that Norma was actually Agnes, he denied Norma’s proposal. With Maxine confessing everything and the shooting at the Beach Ball, Norma could be free of the conservatorship, but she already lost Robert.
The time period of Palm Royale is crucial to the story as it explains the divide in Palm Beach and the country. In 1969, the United States was almost 15 years into the Vietnam War and on the verge of reelecting President Nixon. The Supreme Court was still four years from passing Roe vs. Wade, though the second-wave feminist movement was continuing to grow, as shown by Linda, Virginia, and their friends. They represented a new progressive guard, while Maxine and the members of the Palm Royale represented the old guard.
The characters’ ideologies clashed frequently and came to a head in a major way in the Palm Royale season 1 finale. After meeting Linda’s friends in Palm Royale episode 7, Mary became radicalized and was convinced that the best solution to the world’s problems was to kill the president. This was the obvious catalyst for the tragedy at the Beach Ball, but Nixon and the division his presidency caused had been a constant background presence throughout Palm Royale.
Where To See Palm Royale