In a late episode Dinah (Leslie Bibb), one of Maxine’s many frenemies, wheels on her and says: “I can’t tell if you’re a country bumpkin or the most ruthless woman in Palm Beach!” The show doesn’t seem to know, either.
Maxine falls somewhere betweenVanity Fair’s conniving Becky Sharp and Scout, the innocent little narrator ofTo Kill a Mockingbird. It’s not impossible to be both wily and guileless—but does anyone fromSuccessionfill the bill? Wiig can tease out laughs from the sillier moments, some involving a beached whale, but she hasn’t been provided with enough rope and a big enough harpoon to land the character.
This is true ofPalmoverall. The production design is terrific, as if Pedro Almodóvar decided to share his palette of popping colors, and the cast is impeccable, but nothing here ever feels sufficiently sharp, sophisticated or simply funny. Oh, for the shallow satiric sprightliness of ABC’sDesperate Housewives!
The story tries to connect Maxine’s misadventures to the era’s larger themes—Vietnam, Nixon—but the attempt is flimsy. (You can see this sort of thing done right in the 1975 filmShampoo.)Laura Dern, at least, is powerfully fervid as Linda, who wants the town to be brought in line with her progressive politics.
Palmremains mystifyingly inert. It’s like watching inflatable rafts drifting across the surface of a pool, waiting for a tidal surge to deliver a forward shove. But that doesn’t happen in pools.
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source: people.com
