Kristen Wiig stars as social climber Maxine in this soapy melodrama about a woman’s attempt at being a social climber in the jet set age of the 1960s.
In the opening pre-credits scene, Maxine scales the wall of the prestigious Palm Royale country club and falls over the other side like a clumsy burglar. It’s an apt metaphor for a social climber who is willing to surrender any level of dignity for her prize.
In the first scene after the credits (which, sidenote, are award-worthy in their own right) Maxine slyly makes her way to the jet setters equivalent of a mean girls club to try to ingratiate herself into their conversation. Her genteel southern charm and agreement with everything they say marks her off as suspicious.
After queen bee Evelyn (Allison Janney) spurns her encroachment, Maxine gets desperate enough to risk life and limb by crashing her car in front of mean girl Dinah (Leslie Bibb) just to get into a conversation with her. And this is the first episode alone.
She’s clearly a desperate woman for social status. When Dinah asks her why she would want to be accepted into this club so badly, Maxine technically gives an answer but it’s never particularly satisfactory. This is a running motif: In-universe, the other characters are aware of how strange it is for Maxine to so desperately want to be part of a club that likely doesn’t want her so badly.
It’s eventually revealed that Maxine has some big financial stakes: She’s in debt, and her rich in-law hasn’t yet left her estate. But still, her obsession with high society is still left somewhat enigmatic to the viewer. It’s likely that the intention is to make Maxine’s motivations to be the series’ proverbial rosebud (to borrow a Citizen Kane reference).
What’s clear is that Maxine is not particularly sympathetic. Evelyn’s step-daughter Linda Shaw, who can see through high society’s flaws (although she might be a little too liberal for some audience tastes) might be more in line with reality and heroism. Maxine, on the other hand, is an anti-hero. Even if she never reaches the depths of the villains of Killing Eve, Breaking Bad, The Americans, or Boardwalk Empire, she is pretty singularly focused for grift among morals.
The negative might be that the stakes will never reach that high in this arena of country club intrigue. The whole saga is framed by a gunshot (so maybe a total body count of one?) and Maxine’s goal is merely to be the head of the charity ball. Sure, there might be intrigue in the detours en route and how low the character will sink to, but the main route of conflict is only appealing to people who want the soap.
Maxine’s tunnel vision is also cringey in the manner of Laura Dern’s protagonist, Amy Jellicoe, in the wonderfully cringey show Enlightened. But again, Jellicoe, has bigger goals (corporate corruption) and pressures that wasn’t of her own making. Maxine’s crusade is basically against some gossipy housewives who won’t let her be part of their club.
Still, it’s hard to predict where this show will go to an extent and that makes it watchable. It’s also got an excellent period feel (the late 60s), and is careful not to overemphasize “hey this is a period show!” Ricky Martin and Laura Dern are also excellent in their supporting roles.
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