Survival of the Thickest

Each time the show sticks to Buteau’s own history and insights, we sit up and say, “You know, this ball of fire might be going somewhere!”

Survival of the Thickest packs a lot into this season’s eight-episode run. Sometimes, that feels appropriate—the period after a big breakup certainly can feel like everything is happening all at once. But the show occasionally struggles to keep its many storylines cohesive. .... Survival of the Thickest is at its most artful when drawing attention to just how much Mavis is trying to balance. The series doesn’t need to do everything to be great—it just needs to keep Buteau’s charm at its center.

As it is, the series’ pleasant tone goes down easily, and probably makes it ideal for binging over a glass or four of rosé. But Mavis, in the end, refuses to settle for the familiar and practical route when she could hold out for the challenging and exciting one. Her show shouldn’t settle for it either.

The lack of focus combines with the brevity of a season that runs just eight 25-minute episodes, an inconsistently written protagonist, and the scripts’ pervasive empowerment-feminism platitudes to yield a show that never finds a distinctive voice.

Despite Buteau’s incisive wit and confident performance as a version of herself, Survival of the Thickest falls back on the pillowy comforts of old sitcom tropes, with few efforts to update them for a new era.