Palm Royale Episode 8 recap: Maxine has a whale of a problem before the Beach Ball

Welcome back to Shiny Sheet recaps "Palm Royale," our weekly rundown of the new Apple TV+ series set in Palm Beach.

Each week, we look at five Palm Beach-related or key moments in that week's episode of the series that premiered March 20.

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’re on Episode 8, “Maxine Saves the Whale.”

Apple’s description of this episode says, “A beached whale appears on the Beach Ball site, throwing the event into doubt with days to spare. Linda and Evelyn adjust to their new normals.”

Going into this week, we once again have a laundry list of questions:

What will happen to Robert (Ricky Martin), now that he quit his job at the Palm Royale and didn’t run away with the fake Prince of Luxembourg, who didn't show up after Maxine turned him in?

What happens next with the Beach Ball, with Norma (Carol Burnett) getting her voice back more and more with each episode?

Will Douglas (Josh Lucas) manage to stay out of trouble? And will Evelyn (Allison Janney) continue to scheme to get the Rollins fortune from Linda (Laura Dern)?

What is happening with sweet Mitzi (Kaia Gerber), Maxine’s former manicurist who now works at the Palm Royale and helps to care for Norma? It seems like something is building with her character.

And finally, will Virginia (Amber Chardae Robinson), Linda and the Women’s Circle succeed in getting Sylvia’s (Crosby Fitzgerald) husband to Canada?

Season 1, Episode 8: ‘Maxine Saves the Whale’

1. Maxine's karma arrives, in whale form.

Remember last week when Maxine figuratively traded a whale for a minnow, by turning in the fake Prince of Luxembourg in exchange for Douglas’ freedom?

Now Maxine has a real whale of a problem on her hands: An actual beached whale, right behind the Dellacorte mansion.

I have to say, this was — a bit of a stretch for me. And I enjoy a good whale tale.

The best part of the whale's appearance, to me, was Chester, a wildlife officer portrayed by one of my favorite actors, Michael Hitchcock. You might know him from any of his dozens of hilarious credits, including key roles in director Christopher Guest's mockumentaries — he still makes me cry laughing in "Waiting for Guffman," no matter how many times I watch it — and recurring characters on TV series including "Mad TV," "Grosse Pointe" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend."

This isn't his first role in something based in Palm Beach: He appeared in the 2001 movie "Heartbreakers," which was shot in South Florida, including some scenes at The Breakers and on Worth Avenue.

But enough about him.

Let's talk about this whale.

It comes onshore as Maxine and Robert discuss karma. Maxine says she doesn't believe in it, as Robert says he thinks the prince abandoned him because of karma. He still doesn't know that the prince was a fraud.

Two things to know about this whale: The show never specifies its species, and it's alive through everything that is about to happen.

Maxine immediately panics as soon as she sees the whale. The Beach Ball is just three days away, and now there's a whale baking on her beach.

As Ann (Mindy Cohn) of the Shiny Sheet later tells Maxine, "You can't have 90 tons of blubber just frying in the Florida sun."

I think it's pretty clear what the whale represents here.

Heavy-handed symbolism aside, the whale sets up quite a bit of action, particularly for Evelyn.

Maxine goes to Linda to see if she has any advice on how to deal with the whale and her betrayal of Robert. Right before Maxine gets to the Rollins mansion, we learn three things: Mary (Julia Duffy) has gone full hippie and is helping the Women's Circle; the Women's Circle is trying to mobilize to get more potential Vietnam War draftees to Canada, and Linda is using her newfound inheritance to fund the effort; and Linda took a vow of silence.

As Maxine tries to communicate with Linda through a closed door, Evelyn interrupts, and Maxine spots something in Evelyn's possessions that might help with the whale: a harpoon that was a 17th anniversary gift from Skeet to Evelyn.

Without explaining, Maxine implores Evelyn, "Grab that rusty poon and follow me."

When Evelyn spots the whale, at first she laughs, telling Maxine, "There is a god," and, "It's perhaps the definition of funny."

Maxine had hoped to use the harpoon to somehow lasso the whale and then drag it to sea behind Dinah's yacht. Evelyn breaks the news to Maxine that Dinah's yacht is booked for a party that night, so it won't be part of whatever plan Maxine has to get the whale off of her beach.

Evelyn, of course, takes the opportunity to belittle Maxine.

But as Evelyn gets closer to the whale and locks eyes with the creature, she falls into a trance, which Chester hilariously calls "cetacean jubilation." (No, this is not a real thing.)

"It happens sometimes when the beauty of the universe just rushes at a person after coming into contact with a whale," Chester tells Maxine, who is flummoxed as to why Evelyn — once the queen of Palm Beach and now rendered nearly penniless — is so spellbound by the whale.

As Chester, frustrated, tries to explain to Maxine what makes whales so special, he tells her that whales started in the water, walked on land and then returned to the ocean — which is true. Their ancestors did that.

There's a sentence from there that is repeated throughout the episode, becoming a bit of a mantra for Maxine as she ruminates on the whale: "They changed their minds."

Chester hands Maxine a recording of whale sounds, which she listens to cross-legged on Norma's bed. She's hypnotized by the sounds.

Her brief knowledge of whale calls will be put to good (?) use later when Maxine drags Norma to a party on Dinah's (Leslie Bibb) yacht.

With her husband Perry (Jordan Bridges) locked up for his role in a bribery scheme, Dinah tries to woo the aging Axel Rosenhips (Paul Sand), so she throws him a 90th birthday soiree. Dinah met Axel at Skeet's funeral, and now hopes that maybe she can secure her future by setting him up to be her next husband.

After Maxine hears that Norma and Axel were once lovers, she decides to crash the party in hopes that she can reunite them after seven decades.

Once on board, Dinah accuses Maxine of trying to sabotage her plans to have Axel as a backup husband: "I cannot tell if you are a country bumpkin or the most ruthless woman in Palm Beach," Dinah says.

Maxine insists that she just wants what's best for everyone. And when Dinah's paramour Eddie (Jason Canela) confronts Dinah before the ship shoves off, giving her an ultimatum to stay with him, Dinah leaves him heartbroken on the dock. And Maxine is horrified.

Maxine's whale problem is solved when she grabs the microphone during speeches for Axel's birthday. Axel — who is moping because Norma wouldn't tell him why her feelings toward him changed all those years ago — doesn't seem to mind much as Maxine begins to do her best impression of a whale. Or, if you've seen "Finding Nemo," her best impression of Dory trying to speak whale.

It's all a little strange, but at this point in the series, who are we to question it? We're in this thing for about eight hours — more, if you're me and watching and rewatching to write these recaps — so we might as well enjoy the ride.

And to Maxine's credit, her whale voice amplified through the yacht's microphone works to lure the whale away from shore, leaving Evelyn heartbroken, begging the whale to return.

That's when Eddie shows up, walking on the beach barefoot, tears streaking his face. He and Evelyn recognize each other, talk for about two minutes and start making out on the beach. It's an interesting development for Evelyn's character. She's made it pretty clear that she's lonely, even before Skeet died. While I've low-key cheered for Evelyn throughout this season — I've loved Allison Janney since I saw her as Loretta in "Drop Dead Gorgeous" — this episode really humbles her.

Even if we did see Dinah and Evelyn earlier in the episode try to sabotage the Beach Ball by calling Maxine's vendors and having them replace Champagne with Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill, prime rib with sloppy joes — "No buns, just the slop," Dinah says — and torches with cottage cheese.

2. Yes, whales have beached themselves in Palm Beach.

If there's a beach, chances are a whale has been beached there.

Did a whale wiggle-waddle its way onshore in Palm Beach in 1969? Unclear, but it doesn't appear to be the case, according to my research.

Still, there have been some notorious beachings in town.

Notably, a 25-foot whale of unspecified species washed ashore in 1923, according to a 1964 article written about the incident by the Palm Beach Post-Times — sister paper of The Shiny Sheet and precursor of The Palm Beach Post.

The whale died in the shallow water off the public beach near the Palm Beach Pier, the article said. The Palm Beach Pier no longer exists, but at the time it extended out more than 900 feet from the end of Worth Avenue into the Atlantic Ocean.

A businessman named Gus Jordan, who had a company called Gus Jordan's Baths, hauled the whale's body onshore, surrounded it with palmetto fronds as a makeshift fence and charged a dime for curious onlookers to get a closer view.

Business boomed for three days — until the whale began to decompose. "The smell permeated Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, and even the Glades," journalist Tom Penick recalled in the article. "It was the most atrocious smell ever."

Tugboats tried to haul the whale's body back to sea, to no avail. It was simply too big.

Instead, Jordan hired a crew to cut up the whale chunk by chunk and ship it to deeper waters.

No surprise: The waters off Palm Beach were shark-infested for days.

More recently, Palm Beach has seen beached whales in 2020, when a newborn whale beached itself just north of the Mar-a-Lago Club, and 2021, when another baby whale beached itself at Phipps Ocean Park.

3. Douglas just can't keep himself out of trouble.

I like Douglas less and less each week.

He's just not good enough for Maxine.

First, he declines Evelyn's invitation to blackmail Linda — but only so that he can blackmail her himself.

He tells Linda that if she doesn't give him $3 million, he will go to the police and tell her that she's the one who shot her father.

That's after Pinky (Roberto Sanchez) tells Douglas that he would need $2 million to invest in a new project: A club in Palm Beach that would accept anyone with the money to pay the entry fee.

Land was already at a premium in Palm Beach at that time, so it's unclear where Douglas and Pinky would build this new club.

Last but certainly not least: We find out that Douglas had an affair with Mitzi, and he got her a job with his old airline, TWA, to get her out of town.

Through tears at the Palm Royale, Mitzi confesses the news to Robert.

Even though Robert just came from telling off Maxine for not being honest with him about her role in the fake prince's departure, he still sympathizes with her, and calls out Douglas for his crappy behavior.

He meets Douglas at a bar where earlier in the day, Tom Sanka (Rick Cosnett) with the Palm Beach Police Department spilled the beans to Robert that Maxine turned in the fake prince. (It also seems like maybe Robert and Tom hit it off?)

Tom warned Robert that he shouldn't be at the bar after 6 — something Robert conveniently forgot when booking a time and place to confront Douglas about his relationship with Mitzi.

Douglas begs Robert not to say anything to Maxine. In what seems like a practiced speech, or something Douglas has asked of people before — leading me to think that maybe this isn't the first time he's cheated on Maxine — Douglas tells Robert that keeping Maxine in the dark about the affair is the best thing for their marriage.

Before Robert can reply, police burst into the bar. It's a raid, and police handcuff both Robert and Douglas.

"You brought us to a homo bar?" Douglas yells, making me hate him just a little bit more.

Robert and Douglas are hauled away, giving us something to look forward to in the next episode: Douglas' face behind bars yet again.

4. Ann might be onto something with her Norma research.

Our intrepid Shiny Sheet society editor is "a dog with a bone" this week, according to Maxine.

At the beginning of the episode, Ann and a Shiny Sheet photographer are interviewing Norma, Douglas and Maxine about the Beach Ball, which is coming up in three days.

Calling them "the first family of Palm Beach," Ann says, "I have to admit Maxine, I didn't think you could pull it off."

Of course, that comment is pre-whale. But let's continue.

We learn that Norma has a big, musical entrance planned for the Beach Ball. (As Ann interviews Maxine and Norma, Douglas just stands there and poses the entire time like there isn't a whole conversation happening around him. Ugh.)

After Maxine rushes out to talk with Robert and then gets distracted by the whale, Ann begins to gleefully go through Norma's lifetime of memories, which take the form of photographs, newspaper clippings, locks of hair — "F. Scott Fitzgerald ... Harry Houdini ... Frank Sinatra!" Ann exclaims, confirming with Norma that these were her love interests — and other keepsakes.

It's Ann who uncovers the past relationship between Norma and Axel. When Maxine whisks Norma away to the party, Ann asks for permission to stick around.

"You are a dog with a bone," Maxine says.

"Well I didn't get into journalism to write 'Suicidal Cetacean Spoils Soiree,'" Ann jokes. "I wanted to write 'In Cold Blood.'"

Maxine suggests that Ann can use what she learns to honor Norma at the Beach Ball, to which Ann retorts, "It's almost the same thing."

Later, as Ann continues to explore Norma's keepsakes, she seems to be onto something: "Now, why save these, Norma?" she says as she holds up newspaper clippings.

It will be interesting to see what she digs up.

5. Did we mention that Norma truly hates Maxine?

And that she wants to kill her? And that in the last episode, Norma was going to shoot Maxine during Skeet's will-reading?

After she was unsuccessful last week, Norma makes two solid murder attempts in this episode.

Before that, though, Norma straight up tells Ann during their interview that she's going to "kill Maxine, so that things can get back to normal."

Everyone kind of shrugs this off as Norma mumbling, and Maxine "interprets" it as something completely different.

Everyone is way too casual about this.

Norma's first attempt to kill Maxine comes as Robert confronts Maxine and Douglas about Maxine telling the cops about the prince's true identity after seeing it on a wanted poster at the bank.

As the three of them argue in the other room, Norma pours a vial of something into the grasshopper that Douglas just mixed for Maxine.

Fortunately for Maxine and unfortunately for Norma, Ann comes in just as Maxine is about to take a sip. Instead of imbibing, Maxine rushes Norma to get ready for Axel's birthday party — and Ann takes the poisoned drink instead. We don't see what happens, but we see her contentedly sip the spiked grasshopper later as she leafs through Norma's keepsakes.

Norma's second attempt may be much more effective.

Once on the boat, Maxine is leaning over the yacht's railing, looking out to sea. Norma strategically releases the brake on her wheelchair and uses the ship's rocking on the waves to build up momentum, slam into Maxine from behind and knock her into the Atlantic.

This calls back to the beginning of the series, where we see Maxine, her dress spread around her, floating in water.

As the episode ends, Maxine bids farewell to the whale, which is returning to sea, as she bobs helplessly in the ocean.

Bonus: Port Salerno callout.

Evelyn tells Maxine that Linda gave her "an allowance of $500 a week, as well as Skeet's Airstream in Port Salerno."

"Where's Port Salerno?" Maxine asks.

"Exactly," Evelyn says.

Port Salerno is an unincorporated part of Martin County south of Stuart and north of Hobe Sound, about a 45-minute drive up Interstate 95 from Palm Beach.

It's home to the beautiful Sandsprit Park, and some great restaurants, including District Table Restaurant and Bar and the Port Salerno location of Two Georges, the popular waterside restaurant founded in Boynton Beach. The area around Manatee Pocket is bustling with places to dock your boat for the day while you explore local restaurants and shops.

However, Port Salerno in the 1960s was a much slower pace. It's understandable that after the lifestyle she enjoyed in Palm Beach, Evelyn wouldn't be thrilled about living in a silver trailer in a quiet coastal town without even a Ceil Chapman to visit.

Maxine and Evelyn could be forgiven for not knowing that some scenes of "Gentle Giant," a 1967 movie starring Clint Howard and Dennis Weaver, were filmed in Port Salerno. That film was a prequel to the popular "Gentle Ben" TV series.

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 Episode 8 recap: Maxine has a whale of a problem