Yidio Recommends: 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' on Netflix
by Andy Neuenschwander
If you haven't seen "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" yet, chances are you still know about it thanks to your Facebook feed. The show has turned out to be a moderate hit for Netflix with a good deal of positive buzz.
We here at Yidio can back that buzz up: "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" is a true follow-up to "30 Rock" and officially gets our Seal of Approval.
For those unfamiliar with the show, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" was created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, and stars Ellie Kemper of "The Office" as Kimmy, a woman who was kidnapped as a teenager by a cult leader and kept in an underground bunker for 15 years.
Now age 30, Kimmy and her fellow "mole women" (they don't love the name, but the media made it stick) are finally rescued and must face the world after being brainwashed and lied to for more than a decade. The adventurous Kimmy decides to take up residence in New York City, where she lives with her musical theater actor roomate Titus (Tituss Burgess) and works for an incredibly wealthy but emotionally unstable housewife (Jane Krakowski).
This is the first major starring role for Kemper, who has until now mostly served as a supporting or ensemble player, and she absolutely shines. Kimmy is endlessly optimistic and bubbly and approaches everything with a childlike wonder (mostly because she still has a middle-school-level education and hasn't seen any new technology for the past 15 years) and Kemper plays it all perfectly. She takes a character that could easily be cartoonish, or even obnoxious with her constant perkiness, and makes her human and impressively likable.
Krakowski, who played Jenna Maroney on "30 Rock," is as great as ever in her role as Jacqueline Vorhees (no relation to Jason that we know of). Though Fey and Carlock have given Krakowski a role that is just on the verge of being too similar to Jenna, Krakowski plays her differently enough to set her apart.
The series starts off very strong, and continues as such throughout most of the season. However, there is a slight dip toward the end of the season that might slow down your binge-watching momentum. Firstly, Titus enters a bit of a slump character-wise toward the end, but thankfully manages to pick it back up with a good B-story for the last couple of episodes. It seems as though the writers are still figuring Titus out and finding ways to avoid just having him be a "funny gay roommate" stereotype. Fortunately, they're mostly succeeding, but Titus' quirks will have to be more specific as the series go on to keep him interesting.
The only other major detriment to the show is how it handles Kimmy's eventual confrontation with her former captor when he goes to trial. The two-episode arc features a cameo from a truly delightful actor who does a great job of being both dumb and charming, but there's a point where you might start to wonder if the show is taking the idea of the kidnapping, brainwashing, and repeated sexual abuse (yes, they allude to that in the show) of four women over 15 years a little too lightly.
Still, that flaw is off-set a bit by the consistent themes of feminism and empowerment that pop up throughout the show, and with Fey at the helm, you practically have to give the show a pass for any perceived insensitivity toward women.
The 13 episodes of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" make for fun binge-watching, especially at an easily digestible 30 minutes each. Get on board now, because there's an excellent chance that you'll be seeing a second season of this show sooner rather than later.