Diksha Sundriyal
Mavis Beaumont returns to her bright, chaotic, and colorful world in the second season of Netflix’s ‘Survival of the Thickest.’ The previous season saw Mavis breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, Jacque after she found him cheating on her. Her newly single status leads her to explore more romance, and while she meets several people along the way, the one who truly catches her fancy is Luca. The problem is that he lives in Italy, which means that Mavis must suffer the trials of long-distance, which leads her into a crisis that makes her accept Jacque’s marriage proposal before she breaks it off with Luca.
At the end of Season 1, Mavis flies to Rome to reunite with Luca, and the second season begins with both of them ecstatic at the reunion and spending the entire night having sex with each other. However, that still doesn’t erase the fact that Mavis cheated on him with Jacque. He cannot comprehend the situation that led her back into the arms of the man who cheated on her and broke her heart not long ago. Due to his personal experience with a cheating spouse, Luca knows exactly how it feels. This is why it becomes even more difficult for him to trust Mavis, which eventually leads them to part ways.
Back in America, Mavis tries to get her life back on track. She is back in the dating pool, which introduces her to all sorts of people. Meanwhile, Khalil is going through a crisis of his own, which leads him to seek out a therapist and work through his issues, which are more than just about his break-up with India. Marley, too, finds a spark with a woman named Daphne, who is on an upward track in her political career. While Marley finds herself falling further for Daphne, the challenges of her career start to impact their love life. In the end, everyone must choose what they truly want for themselves. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Mavis and Luca’s Romance Meets Several Bumps
For all intents and purposes, Mavis and Luca felt like they were made for each other. In the first season, they display an intense chemistry almost immediately, and Luca proves himself to be everything that Jacque couldn’t be for Mavis. But when she starts to see a future with him, he has to go back to Italy, and the long-distance brings out the insecurities that eventually tear them apart. Even when Mavis tries to fix her mistake and flies all the way to Rome to make up with Luca, he needs some time to process his feelings. Only 48 hours pass between him discovering that Mavis has chosen to be with Jacque and her knocking at his door asking to be with him. While he tries to push down those feelings, he fails repeatedly, and eventually, neither of them can ignore this complex set of emotions. Trust is the most important thing, and without it, their relationship cannot work.
For the next few months, Mavis tries to get over Luca, but even with all the flings that she has, some of which are good while others not so much, she still has feelings for him, which she cannot ignore. Meanwhile, her 39th birthday also makes her realize that she wants more out of her life, and that means having a kid, even if she hasn’t settled down on a life partner yet. She briefly thinks that she might be pregnant with Trey’s child. He, too, seems to be a good prospect for her as he is incredibly understanding and kind. But despite this, Mavis knows that there isn’t enough between them to continue the relationship, especially when he gets a job on Magic Mike, which means he has to go back to LA.
Around the same time, Luca reappears, and it turns out that he isn’t simply visiting New York but has moved there for good. The reason he didn’t reach out to Mavis all this while is because he wanted to settle down first, in his house, as well as in his feelings. He wasn’t lying when he said he needed time to process his feelings, and over the next few months, he came to the conclusion that Mavis was the only one for him. He makes it clear to her, and when she asks for space to process all that, he happily gives it to her. It’s not that Mavis doesn’t love him anymore or that she has fallen for someone else. In fact, she confesses to Khalil that Luca was her person, the one she thought she would end up with. But when the question of trust arises, and he is unable to give that to her, she decides to take a step back and focus on herself.
Do Mavis and Luca End Up Together?
Eventually, when Luca does come back, he is sensitive enough not to impose himself on Mavis. Just as he needed space to process his feelings, he gives her the space to figure out what she wants and if he factors into her plans for her future. He knows when to speak up about his feelings but also knows when to back down and have Mavis enjoy her time in the spotlight. This especially comes to light when she finds common ground with Charles Renee, with whom she had been clashing for a while over their differences in what plus size truly means. It is a big moment for her, and while he waits for her outside the venue, he doesn’t join the party, knowing that his sudden presence may take her by surprise.
While Mavis is happy to hear it, she cannot deny the fact that she had been hoping to see him at the party. Her heart jumps a beat when she thinks she has seen him, but it turns out to be someone else. So, when it is time to go home, and he puts her in a cab, for which he fights with a person, Mavis reconsiders her plan to stay away from him. She calls out to him to share the cab as they are both going in the same direction, and he happily accepts. They don’t kiss and make up but sit silently together, smiling because they both know that they have finally crossed the bounds that had been keeping them from each other. This is a subtle way to show how the initial passion, which they both thought had motivated them, has taken a backseat, and their feelings are purely driven by love and their desire to be together, no matter what the challenges.
Do Marley and Daphne End Up Together? Do They Go Public?
While Mavis and Luca struggle to clear up their doubts about trust, Marley finds herself at a point where she is forced to change who she is for the one she loves. Life hadn’t been easy for Marley, and she worked hard to get where she is now. She is wealthy, and she likes to show it, especially in her attire, which is like armor for her. However, when she falls for Daphne, she discovers that keeping up one’s image is an important part of dating a politician.
Daphne’s career is on the rise, and one of the major things that she focuses on is being relatable to her constituents and not feeling too elite to seem out of touch. This must also be reflected in her partner, which is why Marley is told to tone down the expensive nature of her attire and resort to something simpler and cheaper. She understands Daphne’s point of view, but this also means giving up something that makes her her. She is conflicted about all this, but in the end, Daphne comes around and decides not to change Marley as she loves her exactly how she is.
Despite their relationship stepping up by leaps and bounds, Daphne refuses to appear with Marley in public. She does not come to the events that Marley invites her to, and they always have dates in private spaces where no one can click pictures of them together. Daphne explains that this is just until her team has done their due process in background checking Marley and making sure that nothing from her past can be used against Daphne. This is another thing that eats away at Marley, but she keeps quiet about it. This is why, when Daphne suddenly shows up at Mavis and Charles Renee’s collaboration party, Marley is ecstatic to have her by her side. With her appearance and agreeing to have pictures taken with Marley, which are sure to find their way to the newspapers, Daphne has shown that she is committed to their relationship now and is in it for good.
Why does Simone Drop Khalil as a Client? Do They End Up Together?
With Mavis and Marley exploring what it truly means to be in love and what it takes to maintain a relationship, Khalil goes on a journey of his own. In the last season, he enjoyed a great relationship with India, but it fell apart due to his own issues. With her gone, he seems to spiral further, and it starts to affect his sex life. He seems to have forgone any interest in a passionate affair as he doesn’t feel so good about himself anymore. It takes some time for him to open up to Marley and Mavis, who suggest he get therapy. Later, when he shares the same thing with his male friends, he discovers that they, too, have sought out therapy, and one of them is even a therapist himself. This gives Khalil the confidence to explore his issues and come to terms with the things that he had kept buried for so long, especially in the context of his parents.
Therapy also allows him to focus on his art with new vigor, which is encouraged further by the introduction of Simone in his life. He meets her through Marley, who sets them with the intention of helping Khalil sell his art. He and Simone hit it off, and while they both feel attracted to each other, the professional relationship keeps them from exploring something personal. Eventually, Khalil creates something that is highly personal to him, and that is also appreciated by others. A client offers $30k for the art, and while it is a very good offer, it also raises a few concerns for Khalil. He does not want his art to be collected by someone who doesn’t fully appreciate the meaning behind it. He doesn’t want it to be just another acquisition for a rich, white person. He wants to have a say in who gets to buy his art, and Simone makes it clear that she doesn’t work that way.
Her words set down the fact that she and Khalil cannot work together with the clash in their approach towards selling his art. So, they decide to end their professional relationship on mutual grounds. While this would be bad because it means that Khalil will have to find someone else to represent his art now, it also means that he and Simone are no longer bound by the ethics of their professional relationship, which means that they can explore their romantic interests. In fact, it takes a moment for Khalil to understand this, and Simone has to highlight this fact for him. But when he does get it, he is happy to realize that he has finally found the feeling that he had been lacking since his break up with India. The therapy, his art, and the arrival of Simone in his life have changed him for the better, and the future looks much brighter now.
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