Josh Lucas on Maxine’s death and the demise of the marriage

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Maxine plays dead,” the December 24 episode of ‘Palm Royale’, now streaming on Apple TV.

‘Palm Royale’s’ Maxine and Douglas may be separated, but their undeniable connection crossed the point of no return this week when she was a surprise guest at her own funeral and his devastation sent him into an unhinged frenzy.

When a body showed up in the Palm Royale pool, everyone assumed it was Maxine (Kristen Wiig) because it looked like her. But friends Dinah (Leslie Bibb) and Evelyn (Allison Janney) – along with Ann (Mindy Cohn), as a reporter from Palm Beach – soon discovered in the morgue that the deceased not Maxine.

Meanwhile, Perry (Jordan Bridges) delivered “Maxine”’s ashes to a devastated Douglas (Josh Lucas) as the town gathered for the funeral, completely unaware that the very much alive is Maxine. hidden in the chest. Eccentric spiritualist Mary delivered a message from the real dead woman – Maxine’s twin brother, Mirabelle – then lifted the coffin lid and saw that Maxine was there. Chaos broke out: mourners gasped, Mitzi (Kaia Gerber) ran away screaming, and an inconsolable Douglas praised his ex and told the “dead” Maxine how much he loves her.

Later that night, Maxine and Douglas connected, and she asked if he really meant what he said at church, that he loves her… but his answer isn’t exactly what she expected.

“He’s not tied up, he’s lost and he’s terrified,” Josh Lucas said Variety. “He’s in so much pain. He’s just devastated… And then you think, is it because he loves her so much or is it because he’s completely a narcissist?”

Maxine and Douglas’ love affair has changed since they moved to Palm Royale. “When you have a relationship that lasts that long — and even though you can reject it because these two are stupid people — their souls explode,” he says. “So I don’t think Douglas is thinking about putting the pieces back together. I think he’s really let go now. … His world was his oyster, and it’s no longer that.”

It started with his infidelity and “it’s getting worse,” Lucas adds. “He loses Maxine, causes her to have a heart attack, and then finally [completely] loses her, I don’t think he’s the man who will ever put it back together again. He doesn’t go to therapy.”

Lucas believes that until he met Maxine, women were really only “transactional” to him – and marrying Linda/Penelope (Laura Dern) was simply “the next right thing to do for his life, career and money.”

He continues, “I think he really fell in love when he met Maxine. I feel like he did have integrity, especially in his mind that he was loyal and faithful, and he was very proud of that because he flew all over the world. And of course he would flirt with flight attendants, but he wouldn’t do anything.”

There is something childlike about Douglas – or dog-like, as Lucas says.

“He’s a Labrador puppy who’s having a good time destroying the house, but then realizes, ‘Oh, my God, I destroyed the house!’” he says with a grin. “Look, he has incredible privilege. One of the things I love about this show is the candy-coated confection of it all — but in the middle of it is kind of a bitter pill, all the time of reality.”

That dichotomy was part of the character design from the beginning. “Abe Sylvia and the creators, I don’t want to say in any way that they’re making fun of these people, because they’re not. These people exist, especially in this day and age,” he says of the 1970s setting. “But there’s clearly a through line to these, especially white men with incredible wealth and privilege, who just have no real understanding of the world. They’re really in their own bubble. And Douglas has been in that his whole life.”

In a sense, Maxine and Douglas’ marriage takes place in a very realistic 1970s scenario, when men had their roles in the family and careers, and women had theirs. Before Palm Royale, Maxine was a traditional wife, and Douglas was fine with that.

“She talks about it; she is a traditional woman, and she is very proud of that,” he says. “There’s honor in it. I think that’s something very interesting that’s going on even in today’s time — the value or devaluation of that. That’s where the show finds all these great threads — Roe v Wade, women’s rights and the civil rights movement. But Douglas and Maxine are completely devoid of that.”

During a recent question and answer session, Sylvia reminded the audience that during this period in certain parts of this country, a woman could not have a checking account without her husband’s signature.

“Those would be things that Douglas would think would be good. And Maxine, her eyes are obviously opened throughout the show by all these women showing her these layers of what’s possible in how society is changing,” Lucas points out. “But I also think she takes a lot of pride in being a woman who really loves and cares for her husband. … I think we’re really trying to stay away from proclaiming any obvious political or psycho-sociological message and just let the show exist purely as a tidbit.”

Season 2 of “Palm Royale” is currently streaming exclusively on Apple TV+, with new episodes released weekly on Wednesdays.