Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Premise - As an eighth grader, Kimmy Schmidt was kidnapped by a cult leader and trapped in an underground bunker with 3 other girls for 15 years. When she is finally discovered and set free, she must learn to reintegrate into the real world while under the intense media scrutiny of being a "mole woman." Her life begins again when she moves to New York City.
Review - My reasons for watching this show were twofold. First and foremost, there is going to be an interactive special (movie length?) featuring Daniel Radcliffe. I watch all of Daniel Radcliffe's films/TV shows, and if I'm going to watch this one I needed to watch the ENTIRE series for context. Luckily, my second reason for watching the show is that it has been repeatedly recommended to me by a close friend who watched some of the show with me and has been a great conversation buddy for it.
It's a weird show. Not simply a comedy, but something I suppose is more satire/farce. Somewhat like a very elongated sketch comedy video (makes sense given the fact that the show is created by Tina Fey, and guest stars several Saturday Night Live alums). It's also dark. Just reading the premise alone, it might sound like a crime drama. I am reminded in plot of Blast from the Past, as the central humor is about a person who has lived in an underground bunker for most of their life thinking the world was post-apocalyptic, and now has no modern conception of how the world works.
I'm all about dark comedy, and typically my philosophy is that nothing is too dark for comedy if handled right. But there were many moments in this show where I came away feeling slightly twisted or uncomfortable due to the subject matter. It is very hard to find humor in sexual abuse, kidnapping, and a powerful man not only getting away with it, but being somewhat loved by the general public. Having seen the movie Room for example, it's just too dark even for me.
The show can also push the boundaries of what is acceptable in racial humor. I think more or less the jokes were funny, but they definitely pushed some buttons. Most significantly, with Jaclyn White's character (who is played by a White woman, but is actually a Native American who underwent reconstructive surgery to pass off as White). Does she count as a Native American character? Do they get diversity points for that?
I will give a shoutout to the fact that this is a show created by a woman, starring a woman, with predominantly female characters, and it feels very natural. It does not feel like forced feminism, but rather just showcases how funny women inherently are. The only male main character is a gay black man, and he doesn't feel token at all. It just goes to show that, newsflash, you can successfully make diverse television. What a shocker.
The most successful social commentary of the show is actually that of class differences. With a show set in New York City, there are characters who are extraordinarily rich, and characters who are extraordinarily poor, and the dynamic between the two is what is most hilarious. The rich characters have absolutely no regard for what it's like to struggle with money. They waste extravagantly and rely entirely on their servants. The poor characters, on the other hand, are so SO poor that they use public restrooms instead of their own, steal clothes out of the trash, and don't even legally rent the place they are living. Moreover, the poor characters are not necessarily actively trying to better their financial situations. They enjoy their life as it is. Lillian, for example, is a character who actively fights against gentrification as she wants to keep the ugly sides of New York as what they are.
There is such love towards this incredibly ratchet New York life experience and all of the best humor surrounds how truly unstable, unhealthy, and dead broke these characters are. It's in contrast to past shows set in New York like Friends, where somehow all of the struggling coming-of-age characters still live in a nice apartment by Central Park. New Girl is an example of a more modern show that really shows how tough things can be financially, but the characters of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt put the characters of New Girl to shame in a ratchet contest.
It is a show that was difficult for me to find any investment in because there is little to no plot and definitely no drama. It is all no-stakes sketch comedy. It's something I found myself watching while eating lunch or even at work, rather than something I would truly sit and absorb. I love watching comedy, but without some sort of substance to balance it out, I struggle to stay engaged. With the breaks in the fourth wall, and the SNL style, it was too much of a farce for my taste. But I watched the whole thing and laughed out loud A LOT. (81/100)
Quote - "I’m the one who’ll have to queer eye that bridge and tunnel tadpole. I can’t take on a project like that, I’m just one man, that show had five guys. Speaking of five guys I want a hamburger."
What to Watch For - Titus and Mikey are freakin' adorable. I also shipped Kimmy and Dong, but Dong unfortunately isn't part of the whole show.
If you liked this TV show, I'd recommend Blast From the Past!
Created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock
Distributed by Netflix
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