'Palm Royale' Season 2 Episode 8 recap: Palm Beach goes to Switzerland
Welcome back to the Shiny Sheet's recap of "Palm Royale," our rundown of the hit Apple TV+ series set in Palm Beach.
Each week, we look at a few Palm Beach-related or key moments in that week's episode of the series, which is now in its second season.
This week is Episode Eight, "Maxine Hits the Slopes." The Apple TV+ description for this episode says, "Palm Beach society arrives in Switzerland with sights set on the Dellacorte generation-skipping trust."
Watch out: There are spoilers ahead, so if you don't want to know, stop reading right now and come back after you've watched.
We keep hoping for another sighting of Dr. Dusty Magic (John Stamos), but with the action in this episode taking place across the Atlantic, there's not much chance of that happening anytime soon. While we may not get Dr. Dusty, we do get the return of Lotte, played by the fantastic Vicki Lawrence. She's reunited here in "Palm Royale" with her "The Carol Burnett Show" costar, the eponymous lady of that series herself.
As this season creeps toward its close — two episodes to go, after this one! — we get closer to a resolution, and a face-to-face moment between Norma (Burnett) and Maxine (Kristen Wiig).
After last week, Maxine heads to Switzerland with Douglas (Josh Lucas) and Mitzi (Kaia Gerber) to sign paperwork to release the money for the generation-skipping trust, or "baby trust" as they call it. Robert (Ricky Martin) decamped to Switzerland ahead of everyone else with Norma after falling out with Maxine. Dinah (Leslie Bibb) also must go to Switzerland to hopefully retrieve a Fabergé egg for Marjorie "Madge" Merriweather Post (Patti LuPone), or else Madge will engineer Dinah's downfall in Palm Beach society. Evelyn (Allison Janney) decides to accompany Maxine to Switzerland as a belated honeymoon with her new husband Eddie (Jason Canela), while also navigating the massive $8 million fine owed by the Palm Royale to the IRS. And let's not forget that Evelyn is fresh off a tryst with alligator wrangled-turned-pool boy Jed (Ryan Dorsey), who Evelyn learned is, ahem, connected to Mitzi. Virginia (Amber Chardae Robinson) and Ann (Mindy Cohn) come along to see if their investigation into Norma's alleged crimes will bear fruit in the Land of Milk and Honey.
Let's go skiing.
1. There's a bump in the baby trust plan
The merry band of Palm Beachers heads to Switzerland on a SwissAir jet, with a pair of hilarious air hostesses on board.
While on the plane, Evelyn confronts Mitzi about her relationship with Jed, and calls out the fact that Douglas is not the father of Mitzi's baby. Evelyn tries to blackmail Mitzi into giving her half of the $82 million trust, but Mitzi breaks the news that Douglas already promised half of the trust to Maxine.
As they talk about their plans, Maxine finally explains to Douglas that Norma isn't Norma, and that everything — the house and money — belongs to him. Maxine learns of the IRS audit from Eddie, and she offers to help Evelyn pay the $8 million in exchange for a full partnership in the club.
The group arrives in Switzerland at a hotel that Ann says was a convent, then an all-girls boarding school, then a wartime hospital before finally becoming a ski resort. They're greeted by Robert, who welcomes the Palm Beachers and hands Maxine a letter that informs her that Robert is now Norma's son.
A delightful crone named Lotte checks the group into their rooms, and we pretty quickly figure out that Lotte is the nun who we saw earlier in the season encouraging Agnes to take Norma's place as a Dellacorte.
Lotte shares that the ladies of Palm Beach are visiting during a celebration called "Frampus Weekend," which purports to honor a maid who fell in love with the horrid yuletide monster Krampus, and who was pushed into a fire by "Mrs. Krampus."
Douglas, Maxine and Mitzi hurry to the bank with Perry and Dinah.
The bank clerk Borg — the twin brother of Palm Beach Mayor Benny Barnhill — asks "the ex-wife" for the marriage certificate to finalize the trust paperwork. But when Maxine hands him her birth certificate, Borg says he needs one for the beneficiary on the trust: Penelope Rollins. Linda. Who is traveling with the Bolshoi Ballet.
And, the clerk says, they only have until midnight the next day to get Linda to the bank in person, or the money from the trust goes to the Swiss government.
Maxine enlists the brave and campy and wonderfully hilarious air hostesses to fly to Poland to retrieve Linda. When the episode ends, we still haven't seen her — but we do know that Linda was born at the hotel when it was a girls' school, and adopted by Skeet Rollins and his wife.
Maxine determines that their other option is to prove that Norma isn't Norma. While Dinah and Perry (Jordan Bridges) don't find their egg in Axel's safety deposit box, they do find a stack of letters from the real Norma to Axel. In the letters, Norma expresses concerns about Agnes' behavior and suspects that her roommate is plotting something.
Instead of these being the smoking gun, Douglas almost immediately loses them when he challenges Robert to a "stag fight" because Robert is wearing the Dellacorte ski jacket. Robert handily knocks down Douglas and Perry, and accidentally picks up Douglas' jacket and the real Norma's letters.
Throughout all of this, Eddie and Evelyn grow further apart until Eddie learns from Dinah that the elaborate watch given to him by Evelyn is a sign of her guilt. Instead of being honest with Eddie, as she promised Maxine that she would, Evelyn skirts the issue until Eddie explodes with fury.
2. Norma's plan continues to take shape
As Maxine tries to figure out a way to get the trust, Norma continues to set in motion her plan to get her hands on the money.
Robert arrives at the Hall of Dellacortes just up the slopes from the hotel to find his portrait being installed, and Norma tells him that she has adopted him and he officially is a member of the family.
Robert seems content to settle into a life in Switzerland, but Norma's scheming doesn't seem to end.
Mitzi calls Jed, who tells her to kill Evelyn, though Mitzi says she won't be able to do it. When Evelyn goes to Lotte to ask for her help finding information about Linda, Mitzi lurks in the shadows holding a knife. Lotte gives Linda's birth certificate to Evelyn, who leaves. Then Lotte calls to Mitzi, and says that she doesn't want to do what she's thinking of doing.
Lotte offers to take Mitzi to get some food, then leads her through a hidden passage to Norma. Mitzi confesses that she's misled a lot of people, and Norma tells her that she understands. "A mother does what she does for her child," Norma says.
Then — Norma convinces Mitzi to annul her marriage to Douglas.
And she then convinces Robert to marry Mitzi, to officially make Mitzi a Dellacorte, again.
Oh, and we learn that Lotte is Norma's mother.
With plans in place for Robert and Mitzi to get hitched, Norma is just some paperwork away from unlocking that $82 million trust.
3. Robert has a child!
We don't know the details yet, but one of the big reveals of this episode is that Robert has a child.
Maxine learns about Robert's child after she and Douglas sneak into Robert's room to take back the letters that had been in Douglas' ski jacket. They mistakenly grab the wrong packet of letters and have to high-tail it out of Robert's room when Lotte comes in. After a hilariously long slide down the mountain, they land at the Frampus whore broom burning ceremony. (More on that in a moment.)
The pair find the gravestone of Agnes Moriarty, where they realize the real Norma is interred. They run to find Ann and Virginia, who are enjoying (?) the celebration after Virginia finally told Ann about the investigation into the Russian mole in Palm Beach.
Ann and Virginia join Maxine and Douglas to visit Agnes' gravestone and notice there is another name on the stone: Charlotte Moriarty, born in 1865. Yes, this is Lotte, who apparently is 105 years old and still hobbling around and scheming alongside her daughter.
4. Oh, Frampus
I think we may be witness to the creation of something here that is akin to Galentine's Day, from "Parks and Recreation," or Festivus, from "Seinfeld."
"Palm Royale" has crafted a weekend celebration of Frampus that includes a "whore broom burning," where guests decorate their brooms to look like real people. (Eddie's broom is Mamie Eisenhower.)
The ceremony includes people dressed as Krampus, waving smoldering brooms in the air and dancing around a fire.
Then, Lotte has the hotel's guests gather around as she tells the story of Frampus.
Let's be clear: This is not real. This is a creation of the "Palm Royale" writers room. And yes, we love it. It's wonderfully weird and very, very funny.
But things get especially serious when Douglas grabs a couple shots of hot schnapps from Lotte and takes them to Maxine to celebrate retrieving what they believe to be Axel's letters from Robert's room.
Douglas takes his shot, and Maxine reads the letter aloud to find that it is not from the real Norma, but from Robert's child.
Douglas looks stricken, then grabs his chest and collapses on the floor. As he falls, he tells Maxine that Norma's mother must have poisoned the schnapps.
The episode ends with Douglas on the ground, Maxine calling for help — and Robert burning Norma's letters to Axel.
5. Palm Beach fashion gets a nod
When Evelyn goes to Lotte for help finding records of Penelope/Linda's birth, Lotte notes that Evelyn changed her clothes for dinner.
"In Palm Beach, we change for breakfast, lunch, martinis and dinner," Evelyn quips.
While the award-winning costume design of "Palm Royale" often takes center stage in the series, it has its roots in the very real fashion-passionate island.
More: Historic photos provide look at 1969 Palm Beach of 'Palm Royale'
Palm Beach has been the birthplace of and inspiration for many a fashion label and line. It's the cradle where Lilly Pulitzer created her iconic shift dresses. Noted designer Philip Hulitar lived in Palm Beach for decades. The town remains a home for fashion designers, including Tommy and Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, and Mark Badgley and James Mischka.
Fashion has played such a massive role in Palm Beach history that the Historical Society of Palm Beach County's 2023-24 exhibit was "Endless Summer: Palm Beach Resort Wear." The Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum featured a range of clothing from ball gowns to pajamas, from designers such as Emilio Pucci, Oscar de la Renta and Chez Ninon.
Bonus: The drink order
When the ladies board their SwissAir flight, Evelyn orders a General Harrison's eggnog, Maxine takes a grasshopper, Virginia orders a bourbon and Ann sips on whole milk.
We know from the first season that Evelyn likes her General Harrison's eggnog "firm foam but not too much, plus a little extra nutmeg and not too icy." While we don't see Dinah order, in season one she asked for a Mississippi punch "with rye instead of bourbon, extra ice."
More: Sip like you're in 'Palm Royale' with these cocktails from the '50s and '60s in Palm Beach
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com . Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: 'Palm Royale' Season 2 Episode 8 recap: Palm Beach goes to Switzerland
