'Hidden Palms': Friends don't let friends date psychopaths

Nikki, Greta, Maria, Liza...y'all need to get thee to a nunnery.

"Hidden Palms' " resident dog-kicking psychopath Cliff was in fine form Wednesday, bedding Nikki - whose renewed dedication to AA apparently prevents her from throwing a drink in his face - as well as Maria, Dead Eddie's mom. In the room where Dead Eddie (allegedly) offed himself. Yeah, that's gross. Imagine what David Cronenberg or David Lynch could do with that setup.

Alongside his current paramours, Cliff still is warping Greta's pretty blond mind, holding over her the fact that he kept her bloody dress from the night Eddie was killed instead of destroying it like he promised. And Greta's lothario dad - apparently in cahoots with Maria, who has video evidence that appears to show Skip at the scene of the crime - is showing a renewed interest in the circumstances of the death, going so far as to look over the case file again. And don't discount lil' Liza, who was revealed as being more than "best friends" with Eddie - guess he had a thing for blonds.

But did Cliff actually do it? Hard to say. It seems rather redundant to have the most obviously evil character on the show be the murderer, but we're not exactly talking about a show that's displayed a P.D. James-level of intricate plotting so far. (Although Cliff almost being attacked by drag queens in the evening's second episode was, frankly, impossible to predict.) And as we know from his mom's antics last week - Cliff has access to a gun, and the ol' gun displayed in the first act must somehow go off in the third.

Speaking of, the final episode of "Hidden Palms" is going to be the evening of the 4th of July. Fireworks are overrated, right?

-- Ann Donahue

(Photo courtesy The CW)