Leslie Bibb’s Poison-Tongued ‘Palm Royale’ Role Is a Dream

In Palm Royale’s version of Palm Beach, Florida—where everything is just south of reality—there’s always something new competing for your attention. At one moment, you might be dazzled by the mod muumuus worn by the city’s wealthy elite. The next minute, you’ve got your eyeballs locked on Ricky Martin’s wet chest and tiny swimming trunks. Apple TV+’s latest series is frightfully good at keeping your attention where the show wants it to be. But there’s one element of Palm Royale’s first three episodes, which dropped all at once Wednesday, that steals your gaze every time, no matter how many shirtless hunks or hypnotic dress patterns are filling up the screen: Leslie Bibb.

Even if Bibb’s name sounds unfamiliar to you, her face likely won’t. Since the ’90s, Bibb has been steadily working as one of Hollywood’s busiest character actresses, jumping between gay cult favorite series like Ryan Murphy’s Popular and the quickly canceled GCB, to meatier roles in the first two Iron Man movies, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and hordes of other series guest spots. But in Palm Royale, Bibb finally gets a chance to showcase what she’s capable of on a more stable stage. In this series, she grabs her role—as Dinah Donahue, the charitable ingénue threatening to topple the Palm Beach power ranking—by the teeth and refuses to let go. Bibb won’t rest until she’s shown a new generation of viewers just how talented she is, especially when it comes to playing women who are as ambitious as they are vindictive. Bibb is so consistently great across Palm Royale’s trio of introductory episodes that she repeatedly steals the show from its star, Kristen Wiig, as their two characters compete for the glory of Floridian royalty. It’s a hoot to watch, and it should be the heralding of a new era in Bibb’s long career.

In case you haven’t watched yet, here’s what you’ll need to know: Set in 1969, the series tracks the endless endeavors of one Maxine Simmons (Wiig), who arrives in Palm Beach intent on making her way to the top of the social food chain. That’s much easier said than done, considering that Maxine has to gain entry to the city’s most prestigious private club, the Palm Royale, to even have a shot at infiltrating the ranks of Sunshine State nobility. In her first attempt, Maxine is almost instantly found out by one of the club’s waiters (Martin), but not before overhearing a conversation between three of the Palm Royale’s most frequent guests.

Read more at The Daily Beast.