‘Palm Beach’ exposes exhausting reality of status chasing

NETFLIX’S Members Only: Palm Beach might be one of the most unintentionally bleak reality shows to land on screens in recent years.

- BERNELEE VOLLMER

From the first episode, it feels less like a modern series and more like a time capsule dug up from a dusty country club locker room.The clothes, the hair, the makeup, the attitudes, all of it screams validation hunger wrapped in designer labels. At one point, I genuinely checked the release date because surely this couldn’t be made in a time where women are supposedly evolving.

The cast, Rosalyn Yellin, Hilary Musser, Ro-mina Ustayev, Maria Cozamanis and Taja Abitbol are presented as women “living the dream” in Palm Beach. If this is the dream, someone forgot to wake them up.

The entire show revolves around rigid social rules, old money versus new wealth, and an obsession with status so intense it borders on parody. In Palm Beach, who you know matters more than who you are, and these women are competing for the invisible crown of social supremacy.

For context, Palm Beach has long been a playground for America’s elite. Old families, billionaires, hedge fund royalty, political heavyweights; this is a place where legacy counts and access is currency.

Private clubs, charity galas, invitation-only dinners and carefully curated guest lists are the backbone of social life. It’s less about enjoyment and more about being seen, preferably by the right people, at the right table, wearing the right dress.