![]() The show’s soundtrack is mostly a mash of TikTok’s top 100 shuffled alongside anonymous pop music.īut Survival of the Thickest is delightful, easy going, and real to the struggles of beginning again. For example, Peppermint, a New York drag queen who plays Mavis’s peer, gets little screen time or story despite her commanding and entertaining presence.Īt times, the show also succumbs to the Netflix sheen (how many Netflix shows sound and look alike). More time could be spent with Mavis’s growing group of queer friends and clients the show instead gives undue attention to the romantic exploits of her fuckboy bestie, Khalil (Tone Bell). From a black beret dotted with hearts to an all-red power suit, Mavis’s outfits match her teeming energy and compliment the Technicolor of the world. Costuming by stylist Keia Bounds puts Mavis into a rainbow of looks, free of plus-size fashion cliches. With Buteau at the helm, Mavis remains hearty and full-fledged.īeyond the impressive central performance, the show provides a glossy peek into the fashion world. She is ready to handle grief during early run-ins with her ex. “You don’t have to look like a virgin from Bridgerton,” Buteau waxes to a styling client struggling with body image.īut she is equally equipped in the show’s more dramatic moments, embodying the anxiety Mavis carries given her wobbly future. She’s an impressive comedian, delivering roundhouse zingers with ease. Like Mavis and so many before, all one has is the ability to rally and start anew.īuteau as Mavis is plucky and endearing, a natural lead, bringing a charm that has been fully displayed in previous supporting roles and in her comedy specials. Interpersonal mayhem and turmoil can upend all expectations of security and assurance. Survival of the Thickest joins a category of shows that explore how age does not guarantee a safety net from life’s shitstorm (Insecure, Grace and Frankie). Her lingering feelings demonstrate another layer of her humanity: a complicated inability to turn away from the one who hurt you. She is torn between the intensity of Jacque’s betrayal and the security he provides. They feel like the realistic, albeit bizarre, missteps of a person trying to reclaim their power.ĭespite being cheated on, Mavis still harbors love for Jacque. But they aren’t done to humiliate Mavis or diminish her to comic relief. Mavis gives a blowjob to a hot Italian she just met (Marouane Zotti), accidentally getting wads of gum in Luca’s nether regions. ![]() Mavis randomly moves in with Jade (Liza Treyger), her white roommate with porous boundaries, an affinity towards olive oil and a (disturbingly) impressive array of appropriated Black hair styles. Mavis is an older, plus-size, Black woman, written with full permission to implode, explode and start again. Mavis isn’t a white, twentysomething experiencing a timely arrival of young adult heartache. The Netflix series goes beyond the typical limitations seen in shows about women’s growing pains. The show, co-created by Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, is unapologetically fun and chaotic, allowing audiences to laugh, gawk and wince alongside a floundering Mavis and her awkward embrace of singledom. Survival of the Thickest, loosely based on Buteau’s eponymous essay collection, shines as a raunchy, offbeat exploration of Mavis after her uncoupling. But Mavis also rediscovers herself through this forced independence, holding steadfast to her tribe and learning lessons from a revolving roster of eccentric romantic interests and styling clients. Mavis has to rebuild her career roster, untangling her successes from Jacque’s influence. “These floors look like the stage of Hamilton,” quips Mavis’ high-powered friend, Marley (a hilarious Tasha Smith). She leaves the couple’s chic flat for a Brooklyn armpit. ![]() ![]() Across an eight-episode season, we watch a heartbroken and infuriated Mavis navigate the rolling hills of post-breakup life. But Mavis’s world is toppled when she comes home to find Jacque in bed with another woman – the “skinny model version” of Mavis whose boobs she just double taped for a photo shoot, no less. ![]()
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