I have to confess: I didn’t watch all of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt this weekend. I watched all of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt TWICE this weekend. But as much as I loved the show – and I loved it so much, you guys – I don’t know if I’m the best person to review it, because I’m a cranky, cynical male, and Unbreakable is nothing if not a joyous celebration of feminism. As Louis Virtel from HitFix so succinctly put it on Twitter, “‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ stars a Bridesmaids actress, a gay black guy, and two female sitcom legends. Hooray, straight dudes are dated!”
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt follows the titular Kimmy Schmidt (played perfectly by The Office‘s Ellie Kemper), as she and three other women are rescued from an underground bunker, where they’d been held in captivity for fifteen years by the Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne, “senior prophet and CFO of Savior Rick’s Spooky Church of the Scarepocalypse.” (The other three are Cyndee, a waitress, DonnaMaria, a maid, and Gretchen, who volunteered to live in the bunker.) After being rescued, Kimmy decides to live in New York, where she becomes roommates with Titus (Tituss Burgess, best known to 30 Rock fans as D’Fwan). Her landlord Lillian is played by Carol Kane, who is consistently delightful, even on Gotham. Kimmy gets a job as a nanny for Jacqueline Voorhees, played by the always reliable Jane Krakowski.
As the trailers suggest, Unbreakable centers around Kimmy’s attempts to adjust to a world that she not only hasn’t seen in fifteen years, but is also completely unrecognizable to her. There are some laughs to be had from seeing Kimmy try to figure out selfies and automatic bathroom faucets, but if that’s all that this show was about, it would be a lukewarm gender-swapped Blast from the Past. But that’s not even close to what Unbreakable is about (and it kind of abandons that gimmick early on, which we’ll get into later) – it’s about the power and strength of being a woman. Co-creator Tina Fey (who created the show with 30 Rock vet Robert Carlock) has always been one of the more vocal feminists in show business, and it’s a thrill to see her do a show that wears its heart so firmly on its sleeve. Moreover, Unbreakable boasts the catchiest theme song I’ve heard in ages (if you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself randomly singing “Un-breakable!” throughout the day).
Now, the show isn’t perfect, but that’s to be expected of any first season. As I mentioned, the idea of Kimmy adjusting to the outside world is abandoned pretty early on, as she easily learns to work a smart phone, among other things. Buckley Voorhees, Jacqueline’s son, is Kimmy’s entry into Jacqueline’s privileged world, but he ceases to be an important character a few episodes in. Titus’s antisocial and caustic behavior is strongly emphasized in the pilot, but soon abandoned as well; as opposed to he is to having Kimmy as a roommate in episode one, they’re pretty much BFFs by episode two. And Jacqueline at first comes off like a warmed over version of Krakowski’s 30 Rock character Jenna Maroney – entitled, delusional, obsessed with her self-image – but to be fair, she gets fleshed out a lot more as the season progresses.
Those mistakes are forgivable, though, and for a number of reasons. One, I’m a huge fan of Tina Fey and 30 Rock, so I’m already in the tank for this show. Two, every series goes through its growing pains, and Unbreakable gets through its own pretty quickly. And three, the show has a lot to say about the power of being a woman. It’s amazing – and baffling – that NBC would take a chance on a show like Hannibal and pass on Unbreakable, the brainchild of Tina Fey, a proven commodity.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt goes to a lot of pains to illustrate the abusive relationships that women can enter into with men, whether it’s displayed through Kimmy, who was kept prisoner by Reverend Wayne (played hilariously by Jon Hamm), or Jacqueline, who makes excuses for her cheating husband Julian (Mark Harelik), then falls under the spell of a tyrannical spin class instructor played by Nick Kroll.
Honestly, I could spend another 1,000 words talking about Unbreakable‘s cameos, which even in its first season comes close to rivaling those of 30 Rock, a show that managed to land everyone from Matt Damon to Michael Keaton to Al Gore. Unbreakable features hilarious turns from the likes of Tim Blake Nelson, Mad Men‘s Kiernan Shipka, and Breaking Bad‘s Dean Norris. It’s a testament to the clout that Tina Fey has accrued in the TV industry that she can get such great actors, most of whom are best known for drama, to show up for an episode or two to be ridiculous.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is never less than a joy to watch, even when it indulges in sitcom cliches like love triangles and failed birthday parties. But Fey and Carlock aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel; if Louie has taught us anything, it’s that the sitcom format is ripe for both embrace and subversion, and can be a viable platform for experimentation and commentary. I think if anything could sum up Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, it would be one line from its theme song: “Those females are strong as hell.”
A Few Thoughts
- I liked the reveal of Jacqueline being a member of the Lakota tribe, but was Krakowski wearing the Native American equivalent of blackface?
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I’m not even going to bother posting quotes, because I’d have at least ten from every episode. Just watch and rewatch this show
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