With only one episode of Palm Royale season 2 left, the entertainment levels in the show are completely amped up, thanks to the many complicated arcs we’ve had for all the main characters of the show. Palm Royale has been such a unique show to watch, and I’m going to miss waiting for it every week. The show has so much going on; it’s definitely not your typical OTT thing, because if you miss something, you miss all of it, basically. I love that it keeps me at the edge of my seat, almost like Linda thinking she’s going to die at the beginning of this episode. It’s also so hilarious, with the whole “we’re all funny feminists,” and Maxine just being such a mess. Honestly, it’s one of the best shows we’ve had recently. Anyway, I’m not here to do a review; I’m just trying to recap everything that went down this episode because, my god, was it a lot. What are your predictions for the finale? And do you think there will be a season 3? I, for one, definitely do, because a lot seems to be left unfinished, and it can’t all be wrapped up in one tiny episode. With that said, though, let’s jump straight into episode 9 of season 2.
Spoiler Alert
What Happened to Douglas?
Palm Royale episode 9 begins with Linda’s escapades coming into Switzerland, but there’s bigger fish to fry, because Maxine thought Norma’s mother, Lotte, tried to poison her and Douglas, but in truth, she did no such thing. Turns out, Douglas has a heart condition, and Maxine finds out because the doctor tells her she needs to give him aspirin. But more importantly, this heart condition basically doesn’t allow Douglas to have kids (feels like a bit of a plot hole, though, considering the rest of his family had kids back in the day). Anyway, it’s shocking to the doctor that Doug is still alive, because people with his condition are usually long gone by the age of 50. However, this makes Maxine realize that the baby isn’t Doug’s at all, and Mitzi’s been lying.
What Does Robert Decide To Do?
The biggest mystery I was left with at the end of the last two episodes of Palm Royale was, “Is Robert a bad guy?” I have the answer in episode 9, and it’s positively no. Turns out, the only reason Robert stayed with Norma was that he believed she was keeping him safe as a gay man. Robert had a son, and the letters Max found in the last episode were from this son. Now Robert wants those letters back, but he’s already burned Norma and Axel’s letters, protecting her from being ruined by Maxine. However, much later in the episode, just before Robert is about to get married to Mitzi, something Norma says to him changes his perspective on her forever. Norma tells Robert that men like him were sent to Earth to marry helpless women and help them out. She tells him that he doesn’t need to help raise Mitzi’s kid, even if to the world it would seem like it’s his biological kid. Norma thinks Robert is just a keepsake who doesn’t really need to do anything except act pretty and do her bidding. She was never nice to him; she was simply protecting herself this whole time. So finally, near the end of the episode, Robert decides to go back home and see his son and his family. Finally, Rafael, Robert’s son, shows up at his home, and we’ll have to wait to see how that pans out. However, I’m sure it’ll go well. At least Maxine was a real friend; maybe he’ll show up for her again, the soldier that he is.
What Does Evelyn Do?
In the episode, Evelyn ends up interacting with Norma, learning she’s alive and well in Switzerland. It looks like she’s two-timing her when she goes back to Maxine and tells her that Norma’s around and is going to get Robert and Mitzi married at 2 pm in the Dellacorte Hall. But that’s not what she’s doing, because she wants her share of the money from Norma, and she’s only going to get it if she can distract Maxine until the wedding is complete. Evelyn wants nothing more than to own the Palm by herself, so she’ll do anything, even hurt a true friend. But, of course, Evelyn’s never thought of Maxine as a friend. However, Evelyn’s plan doesn’t work, because Maxine watches Robert destroy his own portrait at the Dellacorte Hall after the Norma fiasco. Evelyn will get nothing, but more importantly, after Maxine learns the truth of Evelyn’s plan, she tells her she’s dead to her, and Evelyn’s truly lost a friend forever now. She’s also lost Eddie. Anyway, with Robert and Mitzi not having been married, I’m not sure if Evelyn’s going to get the money. However, Linda does show up at the church, so I’m not entirely sure about that. Also, what’s with this place being obsessed with Linda, eh? Is she their new version of Krampus?
What Does Mary Do to Jed?
The whole time, Mary’s been referring to Jed as Bootlegger because she thought she was having a bit of fun, but it turns out he was playing her because he just wanted her inheritance/trust fund. I mean, the dude’s just a money-hungry guy who will do anything to get what he wants. I don’t think he actually cares about the baby. Anyway, Mary doesn’t plan on signing away her hard-earned (or kept) cash to Jed, so she decides to use the family orb to knock Jed out, thinking she’s killed him. But the dude’s still alive and well, so he runs away with a gun, ready to kill Evelyn. Mary follows him into the underground bunkers, but to no avail. To be fair, she’s got a gun too and wants to see him dead. Also, Mitzi did call up to say she’s not on his side anymore, I think, but Mary picked up. I don’t know if Eddie and Mitzi will actually end up together later. But, one thing is for sure: Mitzi might prefer Maxine over Jed, and that’s the right choice after what happens at the end of this episode.
Do Ann and Virginia Find the Mole?
I wonder if the mole that Ann and Virginia are looking for is actually Mary. She seems to be the only person strange enough to get up to something like that, but I guess that’s a question left for the final episode. In this episode, Ann comes up with the theory that Norma’s the Russian spy, but by the end, they realize she’s not, and neither is she a serial killer. Agnes died likely because of the hereditary heart condition that Douglas has too. Also, Maxine discovers that this is the only proof they need to prove that Norma isn’t a Dellacorte. This leaves Ann with no spy story, but she’s definitely got something for the Shiny Sheet. On the other hand, Virginia won’t lose her job with these reveals, so I think it’s all good.
What Does Linda Discover About Herself?
Linda’s spent this season having a wild adventure ever since she was falsely accused of attempting to assassinate the president. From escaping to Cuba to getting together with Che Guevara’s hot half-brother and embarking on a worldwide mission of charity, she’s done it all. Episode 9 sees her finally reuniting with Maxine in Switzerland, being brought there by Swedish sisters Ulla and Beullah, just in time to see the whole mess around the trust being sorted out. While they’re catching up, though, Evelyn slips her a note, which we later find out is asking her to go to church. But as Linda’s headed there on a ski lift, Perry, probably frostbitten and delirious from the cold after having spent the whole night out on the mountain (he even sees a mythical glowing white stag after he does the call), ends up contacting the FBI and receiving orders to apprehend Linda.
At the church, Linda feels a real sense of peace, and maybe she even starts to think the whole thing was just a kind gesture on Evelyn’s part to bring her someplace to wind down from the adventure. She starts talking to her parents about how much she misses them and how important they were to her, but then she’s interrupted by a visitor. It’s Norma, and the first words out of her mouth are “I thought I’d lost you forever,” leaving her (and us) confused. As they sit down on a pew together and get to talking, the truth starts unraveling. First things first, she wants Linda to call her Agnes; she finally wants to live as herself—it’s been too long. But then, she reveals that she’s Linda’s real mother. Skeet and she had had an affair back in the day, and Linda had been conceived as a result. Since the scandal of a child born out of wedlock would have ruined both families, Linda ended up being adopted by Skeet and his wife.
Agnes asks her if she never suspected something was off about her life, but Linda replies she never suspected anything about her parentage, seeming really shaken about the whole thing. But before they can have any amount of mother-daughter bonding, Perry bursts in with his stag call. He makes it clear that he means to arrest Linda on the authority of the good ol’ United States (never mind that they’re in Switzerland, a famously neutral country), but then he wastes all his time posturing. This is when we hear a clang, and he goes down. It turns out that not only is Lotte a good storyteller, she can be a master of stealth when she wants to be, and she’s not too bad with a shovel either. The last we see of this daughter, mother, and grandmother combo, they’re sledding off into the distance, seemingly having the time of their lives. Perry’s eventually discovered by Maxine and Evelyn, and they’re devastated to learn that Linda’s gone again. Near the end of the episode, we hear Dinah talking to him about the nature of partnership and how she should feel safe around him, but he’s basically a bumbling idiot who doesn’t think; all he does is make her feel unsafe. He was so obsessed with sending Linda to jail that he didn’t stop to consider it would send his own wife to jail, or his beloved stag brother and a whole bunch of his nearest and dearest.
Who Killed Jedebediah?
Evelyn’s back home in the Rollins Mansion at the end of the episode, but she’s all on her lonesome, reduced to drinking alone and talking to a portrait on the wall. After Maxine tipped Eddie off to what the “apology jewelry” meant, he left her, and Evelyn’s not been quite the same since; it’s turned her somehow even more bitter. So when she hears a knock on the door, she rushes to answer, hoping that Eddie’s returned, even apologizing in advance as she walks down the hall. No such luck though; it’s Jed, and he’s not happy. He chases after Evelyn the moment she opens the door, firing off six shots in succession, then pausing to give a monologue about how women are worse than gators (classic incel before the word existed) before he pulls the trigger and realizes his revolver’s empty.
While he’s struggling to reload, Evelyn grabs a candelabra and chucks it at him, knocking the gun out of his hand, but that just infuriates him even more. He throws her onto her bed and starts strangling her. Meanwhile, Mary, who’s still looking for Jed in the bunkers, hears the struggle and seems to approach the trapdoor that leads to the same room, revolver in hand. Before Jed manages to finish the job and murder Evelyn, we hear a gunshot, and he collapses on top of her with a gaping hole in his back. As the camera pans around, we expect it’ll be Mary we’re confronted with, but it’s Maxine, looking horrified at what she’d done. In a way, she’s not just saved Evelyn’s life despite her betrayal of her, she’s avenged the death of her sister, Mirabelle, too. Jed was the one who murdered her, not Norma, all for a piece of that trust money, and now he’s gone. It was definitely a killing in self-defense, but will Maxine and Evelyn go to the cops, or will they try to hide the body somehow? It’d be a fitting end if they try to feed Jed to the gators; we’ll have to wait till episode 10 to find out how that pans out. The ending of the show is definitely going to be quite the blast, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how Maxine deals with what she’s done.
