'Hidden Palms': Oh, now it gets good

OK, maybe I had a touch of Fourth of July sunstroke while watching "Hidden Palms" on Wednesday night, but the final episode of the series actually managed to explain all the feints and double-crosses of the previous two months. Johnny came to terms with his father's suicide, his mom decided to work things out with the insta-husband, and Nikki and Cliff opted to give it another shot, even though his jerk-to-nice-guy ratio is still running about 50-50.

Oh, and the mystery of Dead Eddie? I'll put it after the jump so as to not spoil those who aren't yet slavering to know.   

As it turns out, Greta's dad was a bad, bad man. Eddie's ubiquitous v-logging from his laptop recorded the final confrontation between Skip and Eddie's mom, Maria, in his bedroom. As it turns out, Greta's mother, the one who died of cancer?  Didn't so much die of cancer.  It looks like Maria and Skip got their Munchausen-by-Proxy on and caused the poor women to linger instead of out-and-out offing her so they could continue their affair.  Eddie figured this out and confronted the duo about it, and while the two men wrestled for a gun, Skip shot Eddie and killed him.

Flash forward a few months: In last night's episode, Maria -- just now suddenly overwhelmed by guilt (gotta love soap opera moms) -- kills herself.  Liza stumbles upon the body and the gang then congregates as the coroner takes Maria away. (It was a nice Palm Springs touch that looky-loos gathered in golf carts outside the house to watch the crime scene cleanup.)  But Maria had one final trick up her fashionable sleeve -- she sent Eddie's final video diary to Johnny via e-mail, revealing Skip as the murderer.

So what happens next to our warped clan?  Remember those choose-your-own adventure books from when you were a kid?  Take that route.  "Hidden Palms" was overcooked and overwrought for its brief run, but now it's just over.

(Photo: The CW)