In ‘Survival of the Thickest,’ a Drag Icon Sashays Away with the Whole Show

Survival of the Thickest, the new Netflix series starring comedian and The Circle host Michelle Buteau, is a sweet, thoughtful, and effortlessly watchable series. Inspired by her collection of essays of the same name, Buteau plays Mavis Beaumont, an up-and-coming stylist in a relationship with a prominent photographer. Mavis’ life seems to be finally lining up the way she’s longed for—until she arrives home to find her boyfriend cheating on her.

When they say that there are no small parts, only small actors, they mean it—and Survival of the Thickest proves it. Peppermint, an iconic NYC drag queen, plays one of Mavis’ friends, who all help her find herself post-breakup. But Peppermint has the smallest role of Mavis’ friends. She doesn’t have a major story arc, and her character doesn’t go on any particular journey of her own. She doesn’t even appear in every episode. But that doesn’t matter: Every moment Peppermint appears in Survival of the Thickest, the show is better for it.

Peppermint’s is the kind of performance overflowing with so much charisma and charm that she towers over everyone else in the best way. Whenever Peppermint wasn’t on screen, I wondered why; when she was, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her work reminds me of a moment from one of my favorite Simpsons episodes: “Whenever Poochie’s not on screen, all the other characters should be asking: ‘Where’s Poochie’?” Just replace an animated dog with a glorious drag queen, and you have Survival of the Thickest’s best character.

Michelle Buteau’s ‘Survival of the Thickest’ Is a Flimsy Star Vehicle

It takes less than a second for Peppermint to make an impact. (Yes, I timed it.) From the moment we first see her, working as a waitress in a drag bar called CC Blooms, Peppermint demands our attention. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to this baby carrot so I can dip him into my hummus?” she says to Mavis, about Mavis’ friend Khalil (Tone Bell). There’s nothing quite like starting off with an outrageously flirty one-liner to get me to fall head-over-heels in love with a character. When Khalil flirts back that there’s nothing “baby carrot” about him, Peppermint gasps, screeching delightfully in unison with Mavis.

Peppermint has been on screen for a mere 16 seconds (again, I timed it) at this point, but both her character and her relationship to Mavis are crystal clear. It’s no wonder Mavis lights up when she sees Peppermint—she’s absolutely radiant. She’s exquisitely dressed every time Mavis sees her, including when she’s wearing her adorable sky-blue uniform adorned with colorful polka dots. And the energy Peppermint exudes is totally infectious: She commands attention in a way that never feels forced. The show makes it clear that she’s the kind of pal you’d call when you need a pick-me-up—or to share some good news with because you know either way, she’s going to make you feel on top of the world.

In the same scene as we first meet her, Peppermint also kicks off a major plotline, setting Mavis up with a styling job with a nightmare client (played by Garcelle Beauvais). “You seem desperate enough to put up with her shit,” she tells Mavis. What more could you want from a friend than both a job and some biting snark?

Purveyors of New York City nightlife or fans of reality television are likely already familiar with Peppermint. A staple in the city’s drag scene for years, Peppermint took her stardom to the next level by appearing in RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9. On the show, which aired in 2017, she blew audiences away with her lip syncs and her unstoppable personality, and she’s been enshrined as a fan favorite ever since.

Her career has only become more impressive since then. In 2018, Peppermint became the first transgender woman to originate a principal role on Broadway, in the show Head Over Heels. She’s also been a prominent part of the drag competition show Call Me Mother and has appeared on television in Pose and God Friended Me. Survival of the Thickest, however, is her most exciting acting role yet. While drag performers like Peppermint are beloved in the queer community, it's still a massive challenge to properly break through into the mainstream, and appearing in a Netflix show is a huge platform for her.

But Peppermint’s excellent performance in Survival of the Thickest confirms that we need more queens on TV, and in bigger roles at that. Shows like Netflix’s recent Glamorous have given queens more space to show they’re more than just nightclub performers, and Peppermint proves she’s worthy of a starring role in each of her brief appearances. Every second that Peppermint is on screen in Survival of the Thickest is magical—whether she’s going wild (in the best way) over a eulogy (and later doing an epic lip sync to the same speech), helping Mavis embrace who she is, or putting on a queer prom. If there is a Season 2, I can only hope Peppermint gets a major story arc of her own.

My endless appreciation of Peppermint’s performance is amplified by the unavoidable elephant in the room: Last week, SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s union of actors, authorized strike action for the first time since the 1960s. The strike comes in the face of countless actors unable to afford to live as the rise of streaming and digital media has drastically altered the way performers make money. While it’s easy to just think of the big names at times like these—and how they’ll be gone from our screens for the foreseeable future—Peppermint’s glorious, uplifting performance serves as a vital reminder that actors, even in small roles, provide an essential part of a show’s tapestry.

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