’Palm Royale’s Ricky Martin and Kaia Gerber Break Down the “Crazier and Messier” Season 2 Finale

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Palm Royale, Season 2, Episode 7.

Summary

In an interview with Collider, the cast — including Ricky Martin, Leslie Bibb, Kaia Gerber, and Josh Lucas — reveals Episode 7 quietly resets the power balance heading into a chaotic finale.
Maxine’s fake death blows up every secret — and proves the chaos is entirely self-inflicted.
Robert’s savior arc collapses as grief pushes him toward messier, riskier choices (and a shocking marriage tease).

After Episode 7 of Palm Royale Season 2, Maxine’s (Kristen Wiig) “death” has already gone spectacularly off the rails. After it’s advised that the wannabe socialite hide at a gay resort with Robert (Ricky Martin) over suspicions that Norma (Carol Burnett) was the one behind her twin sister Mirabelle’s murder, things take a jaw-dropping turn in “Maxine Plays Dead.” But of course, all of it is a disaster of Maxine’s own making, culminating in a fake funeral where she quite literally climbs out of her coffin and kills whatever stability the group had left. Oh, and did we mention Rock Hudson shows up?

It’s obviously funny, but it’s also a moment of truth as all the secrets they’ve tried to keep under wraps are now at risk of exposure. It’s especially true for Robert, who began the season as everyone’s savior but now finds himself heartbroken and slipping into the comfort of Norma’s version of love. As Martin and co-star Leslie Bibb joke in our Collider exclusive interview, the idea that “Norma adopts him” sounds absurd — and yet “Maxine Plays Dead” makes it feel dangerously plausible, especially as he is more vulnerable after losing Tom (Rick Cosnett) and inclined to making some “messier” choices.

But while Bibb’s Dinah is also learning that privilege doesn’t protect you when threats turn real, that sense of exposure extends to Kaia Gerber’s Mitzi the most. With the very pregnant character’s photo turning up in Jed’s (Dorsey Ryan) wallet, the actress frames the moment not as a twist, but a confirmation: Mitzi has always been smart, choosing to be underestimated as a form of control.

In a spoiler-filled interview with Collider, Martin, Bibb, Gerber, and Josh Lucas unpack how Episode 7 quietly reshuffles the board ahead of the finale — especially with Douglas’ impulse to run away with Maxine. As Palm Royale barrels toward its endgame, “Maxine Plays Dead” makes one thing painfully clear: the power dynamics are shifting fast while everyone’s choices — especially the messiest ones — are about to come back around.

Robert’s Next Move Is “Crazier and Messier” — and He Gets Married, According to Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin as Robert Diaz in a tuxedo while standing in partial shadow in Episode 10 of Palm Royale

COLLIDER: Robert begins the season as everyone’s savior, but by Episode 7, he has lost Tom, and then Norma adopts him. In the last three episodes, does he finally reclaim his agency, or does he sink into the role that Palm Beach or even Norma has kind of written for him?

MARTIN: It gets crazier and messier in the last three episodes. I love it because he gets married, but I’m not going to say to whom. It’s just crazy like that. It’s very special.

BIBB: It’s crazy. No, because it’s like…

MARTIN: What?

BIBB: That’s what’s happening. You try to figure out who it is.

I will! It’s going to be a puzzle in my head.

BIBB: Like, how does it work out? Do you find that it does bring you agency? That marriage?

MARTIN: Yes, it does.

Leslie Bibb Teases an “Unexpected Dinah Moment” at the End of Season 2

Palm-Royale-Josh-Lucas-Kaia-Gerber-Ricky-Martin-Leslie-Bibb-interview

Dinah starts the season draped in privilege, and she ends up realizing that money and status can’t buy her safety. As the story barrels towards the finale, does she evolve, or does she double down to save Palm Beach on her own terms and also her own status?

BIBB: I think a little bit of both. I think Dinah is always evolving. I think that woman is like a cat on a hot tin roof. I love her. I think she always lands on her feet. She might stumble, but she always is upright very quickly. I think at the end of the season, she’s really questioning much more than at the end of the first season. With this power and this money, it hasn’t quite brought her what she thought it would, and she’s doubling down with somebody that she feels like she has to stay with, and I think it’s really scary for her. I said to Abe [Sylvia], “It’s a real challenge,” because it’s such a different side of her, the way the show this season ends, because it’s unexpected. I feel like it’s an unexpected Dinah moment when you see her at the very end of Season 2, and what she decides to do. I love playing this character. I just love her. She’s insane, and she’s vulnerable and weird and funny and dark. She’s a cat on a hot tin roof.

MARTIN: We all love Dinah.

You know what? I have a funny feeling the two of you are paired together today, and you are basically telling me that Dinah and Robert get married.

MARTIN: I love it. I love how you think.

BIBB: We’ll see!

Mitzi’s Mask Slips as Douglas Plots an Escape in ‘Palm Royale’

Kaia, early in the season, Dinah tells Evelyn that Mitzi’s gotten smart, and then by Episode 7, we kind of piece it all together. Her picture in Jed’s wallet hints at something bigger. How did you want audiences to feel about Mitzi at this point? Should they be impressed by her, or should they be worried about her?

KAIA GERBER: I think it’s very complicated. I think that’s an interesting line, “Mitzi’s gotten smart.” I think Mitzi has always been smart. I think that she just didn’t reveal that because it made maneuvering easier for her, because people underestimated her. So, I think they’re like, “Oh, she’s starting to catch on.” It’s like, no, no. Mitzi intentionally was Ditzy Mitzi in the beginning. I think, though, at the core of Mitzi, really, she is in a very difficult position. She is being forced into these very complicated-to-navigate situations for a young woman, oftentimes controlled by an older man, not being asked by anyone what she wants. So, I had a lot of empathy and, most of all, respect for her bravery and her intellect and her ability to navigate in a way that helped her empower herself and find her strength and do what was best for her and her baby, whoever’s baby it is.

Palm-Royale-Laura-Dern-Jayme-Lemons-Patti-Lupone-interview

‘Palm Royale’s Midseason Twist Completely Tears Laura Dern’s Character Apart

Patti LuPone teases her introduction to Palm Beach means drinking the “blood of her victims.”

I will say that I love your performance this season. I feel like you’re giving Josh’s character Douglas a run for his money. But Josh, by the end of Episode 7, Douglas is really planning to run away with Maxine while still tangled in this web of relationships between the two women. How do you see that moment? Is it romantic desperation at this time, or is it the first time he’s being honest with himself?

JOSH LUCAS: The thing I love so much about Douglas is, besides being a total mess of a human being in every way, he’s really just been a spoiled baby his whole life. But what he has is he has a heart of gold, and that heart truly is in love with Kristen’s character, Maxine. From the very first moment that they met, he saw his whole life being with her and having children with her and everything. So, the idea that he now gets to have a baby with Mitzi kind of just wildly complicates it, but it fulfills a dream of his. Again, kind of spoiled, like, “I can have it all.” But what he does, no matter what, at the end of the day, is love Maxine. He just loves her, and he wants to be with her. He’s got these plans for how he’s going to figure out how to have it all. It’s how he creates so many problems in his life is this spoiled sort of baby element that this grown man has. But at its core, it kind of comes from a sweet place, which is love.

“Heavy Consequences” Are Coming for Douglas and Mitzi, According to Kaia Gerber

josh-lucas-palm-royale-season-2-episode-6

He is a man-child. It’s so endearing to see, though. It’s such a great performance from both of you. I love the dynamic this season. By the end of Episode 7, Douglas and Mitzi are completely on different emotional planets now. They’re kind of in their own thing. What can you tease about how their choices this season will come back to haunt them?

LUCAS: Oh, wow. I think part of it is that Douglas has no idea how to follow his heart because he is just a puppy dog. He’s always following his heart, and his heart is telling him multiple things. He’s lost as a person in that way. But for her and for our relationship and the fact that there’s a child involved, it’s very chaotic and deep, and, without giving anything away, it’s filled with a big, crazy finish, that’s for sure.

GERBER: I think for Mitzi, it’s really stopping and asking herself what she wants and what real love looks like. I relate to being a young woman and not knowing what love looks like, or thinking I know what love looks like and being completely wrong. I think that for Mitzi, it’s realizing that she first has to empower herself. So, I think that it’s just realizing maybe it looks a little bit different than she thought it did, but I think that the consequences aren’t necessarily a bad thing; but there are heavy consequences at the end of the season for every character, good and bad.

Palm Royale streams every Wednesday on Apple TV.