If you’ve been craving the television equivalent of a warm hug, you’ll be reassured to hear that “Survival of the Thickest” is back for its second season. The sitcom, which comes from comedian Michelle Buteau, follows the travails in work and love of protagonist Mavis Beaumont (Buteau), who spent season 1 trying to get over a cheating ex and launch her own business as a personal stylist. In season 2, out now on Netflix, her love life can still prove a challenge, but professionally, she’s getting the hang of things.
She’s comforted by the companionship of her two best friends: Marley (Tasha Smith), a corporate powerhouse, and Khalil (Tone Bell), an artist. All three face questions this season about how they want to live their lives, over the battle between art and commerce, the version of themselves they present to the world, and what their relationships to each other should be. And Buteau remains a very funny presence. Even in the midst of a fraught conversation, if someone points out that they overheard her because her apartment walls are “thinner than a Triscuit,” she’s still going to take a moment to point out that the Triscuit is a thicker cracker, and an odd choice for this metaphor.
One of the show’s more charming elements is Buteau’s idyllic vision of New York. In the world of “Survival of the Thickest,” it’s somehow always summertime, there’s a fun, hip drag bar with a hot bartender where you can always get a table with your friends, and an artist like Khalil can afford a stylish loft by himself. Spending time there makes it seem like there’s a fundamental optimism in the world that feels in short supply right now.
She’s also crafted a universe full of queer, gender-non-conforming people of color, whose bodies don’t conform to societal standards of thinness. Mavis’s entire business model is built around the idea that these communities are not served by much existing fashion, so she’s filling both a practical and spiritual need for them. If the show has an underlying ethos, it might be that looking and feeling beautiful and welcomed in the world where you live is as fundamental as any other right.
Hence the show’s deep warm-heartedness. If there’s a downside, it’s that in season 2 Mavis is doing so well that the story stalls out at times, and it’s overall not quite as funny as season 1. Watching Mavis get into humiliating situations sounds like a cruel thing to hope for, but Buteau is an especially skilled physical comedian, and Mavis is someone who is both prone to embarrassment but infinitely capable of getting past it. She can get into cringey situations without the skin-crawling horror that underlies awkward moments for shows like “The Office.”
As someone who watched a lot of “The Office” but can’t rewatch it, I have a lot of affection for a show that has mastered the art of gentle cringe. And at a stressful time, it’s a tremendous relief to spend some time visiting Mavis’s version of Brooklyn.
Lisa Weidenfeld can be reached at lisa.weidenfeld@globe.com. Follow her on X @LisaWeidenfeld and Instagram @lisaweidenfeld.
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