Michelle Buteau's Netflix comedy "Survival of the Thickest" returns for a second season today (March 27) — and I'm thrilled to see the peak of plus-size TV.
Every plus-size single woman’s experience is unique, but I’ve never related more to a TV show than I did HBO’s acclaimed gem “Somebody Somewhere” and Hulu’s one-season wonder “How to Die Alone."
Both recent heartfelt, hilarious comedies center on a lead character who’s profoundly stuck and still needs to learn that she’s worthy of taking up space and being heard; that new friends and potential lovers will stay even once they truly know her; and that she is capable of making choices about her life rather than accepting whatever comes her way.
So often, a plus-size heroine’s story ends there. But "Survival of the Thickest" focuses on what happens after a woman finds her confidence, passion and fight. And for New York City fashion stylist Mavis (series co-creator Michelle Buteau), that’s riding a rollercoaster that continues to have its raucous highs and moving lows.
'Survival of the Thickest' season 2 sees Mavis getting her groove back in Italy
When we last saw Mavis, she summed up season 1's theme at the alternative prom she styled for local teens (and their equally fabulous adult allies) when she implored them to expect more for themselves and to keep their heads in the clouds.
“Because I think when we get older, we forget about that, and we think life should be a certain way,” she said. “But I hope your wildest fantasies become your truest reality. Because dreaming big, it makes life worth living.”
She then phoned her jilted Italian lover Luca (Marouane Zotti) and explained why she was briefly engaged to her cheating ex Jacque (Taylor Selé): She felt she had to settle for the sure thing in front of her, but now she realizes she’d rather take a chance on uncertainty with him and still believe in love.
Luca said he needed time to think, and he got about 15 seconds before Mavis knocked on his door in Rome.
Season 2 picks up with their steamy makeup-sex montage, which climaxes with the show’s signature dose of reality — something that also finds Mavis entertaining herself with gelato, a nude statue and a public drinking fountain and oversharing with a butcher at the market before meeting Luca’s disapproving sister.
As the trailer above reveals, “Mavis in Rome” doesn’t end the way she hopes. But it may not be the last we see of Luca ....
All Mavis does is thrive, thrive, thrive
Upon returning to New York, the action flashes forward a few months to find Mavis and her devoted besties, painter Khalil (Tone Bell) and badass boss bitch Marley (Tasha Smith), all single and ready to mingle.
Episode 2’s Afropunk Festival proves pivotal as the trio seizes an opportunity for Mavis to style rapper Anderson .Paak, while Marley meets her match in a polished politician (Jerrie Johnson) and Khalil has an epiphany that sends him into therapy.
The latter is a storyline that is one of the season’s true highlights as the reformed ladies’ man works through his artistic block and his feelings for an art dealer (Tika Sumpter) who prefers to keep things professional.
By episode 4, Mavis has a new goal: to open her own boutique, catering to anyone who’s ever cried in a dressing room. She becomes business partners with Marley, an arrangement that gets fleetingly complicated. I’m all for any plot point that allows us to see just how far mediating Khalil and Marley have come as friends.)
Mavis turns 39 in episode 5, which, in addition to letting her loosen up her buttons with a stripper, reunites her with original client Natasha (Garcelle Beauvais). The ‘90s supermodel receives a Harper’s Bazaar Icon award on an evening that takes a slightly smaller twist than Mavis discovering she’d unknowingly styled Natasha for her ex’s funeral in Season 1.
And episode 6 has an even bigger jaw-dropper in store when Mavis styles an event for friend and "RuPaul’s Drag Race" alum Peppermint.
The final two episodes of the season pit Mavis against a fashion designer (RonReaco Lee) who claims to offer plus sizes but doesn’t really. The battle shows just how savvy and fearless she’s become.
The sartorial solution may not be to my taste, but what’s not up for debate is that, in the end, Mavis and Buteau triumph.
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