Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2016 0:15:24 GMT -4 Hamatron said:

Overall, it's kinda fun to watch. Sometimes I will kinda smile. But there's something about it that feels really soulless and empty.

I think that is the perfect description of the show. I am halfway through season 2 and it is fine. I really like the Titus and Mikey stuff. I'll usually chuckle a couple of times during an episode but its not really sticking with me. I'll definitely watch the rest eventually but I don't have the urge to binge it. Although I have heard the second part of the season is better than the first. I don't know, I think I am a little over Tina Fey.

[kostgard]

Interesting - I walked away from this season thinking they had gone much deeper than the first season and it isn't shallow at all. And the second half of the season is better, and not coincidentally, because it goes darker.

If you scratch below the zany/absurd surface of this show, there is a lot of darkness. It's wrapped up in jokes, but what happened to Kimmy was awful. We got even more evidence this season that Kimmy is probably a rape survivor in addition to surviving the bunker. We don't really think about how evil the Reverend is because he looks like Jon Hamm (who looked super-handsome in the final scene of the season when he dropped another bomb on Kimmy/the audience) and Hamm's goofy performance. And the scene where we discover that he snatched Kimmy when he stopped to ask her for directions to the nursing college? Yeah, that was a Ted Bundy reference - another handsome, charming, completely evil man (ETA: actually, a Richard Speck reference. I'm getting my serial killers mixed up. But he's still a guy who raped and tortured his victims before killing them).

And when Kimmy cries because she couldn't help Cyndee after never shedding a single tear during all her time in the bunker or after? That's a huge step forward for a PTSD victim. Kimmy's moving forward, but it's been hard and kinda ugly - she had to walk away from Tina Fey's character because you just can't help someone like that if they don't want help. And after finding her mom she learns that some of us are just saddled with shitty parents and there is nothing you can do about it.

And we got another song from the "Daddy's Boy" musical - this one sung by the father about his infant son, where he mentions his son's "alabaster thighs" and describes him squirming on his lap. Yeah, that shit is hilarious, but dark as fuck. And then Titus off-handedly mentions that the writer of the "Daddy's Boy" musical was beaten to death in prison - yeah, he was. Because inmates don't like pedophiles much. Ask Jared of Subway fame how well his fellow inmates have been treating him.

The four main characters (none of whom are straight white males, which is a nice change) are running away from a painful past and/or are weirdos trying to find their way in a world that doesn't really welcome them. I thought this season we got more of that with Kimmy learning some hard lessons and the two shallowest characters - Titus and Jacqueline - becoming more human and genuinely falling in love for probably the first time in their lives.

[Deleted]

I agree with everything kostgard said. They didn't shy away at all from the fact that Kimmy had some messed-up shit happen to her, and she has serious issues because of it. I saw the main arc of this season as her accepting these issues and beginning to learn how to deal with them.

And I also loved that Titus and Jacqueline were in serious relationships and actually trying to be better people. And there was more Lillian! I love her.

[Hamatron]

I think for me the humor, tone, and acting style is too cartoony for me to be able to really relate or feel connected to the characters most of the time. I've had similar problems with other Tina Fey stuff. Even the most "human" moments still feel really sitcom-y to me.

I will say I am glad there was no courtroom-style stuff this season, though. That shit was so frustrating it was giving me anxiety to watch.

[kateln]

Apr 19, 2016 0:00:01 GMT -4 Hamatron said:

I think for me the humor, tone, and acting style is too cartoony for me to be able to really relate or feel connected to the characters most of the time. I've had similar problems with other Tina Fey stuff. Even the most "human" moments still feel really sitcom-y to me.

I will say I am glad there was no courtroom-style stuff this season, though. That shit was so frustrating it was giving me anxiety to watch.

I think that's what makes it interesting for me--there's this hilariously silly overlay to some seriously dark stuff.

[kostgard]

Okay, no season three until next spring, I think, but I saw some pics of them filming in NYC and I'm already dying. Season three can't get here fast enough.

First, there's a Yuko in the background. I love that they continue to proliferate in the Kimmy Universe. Second, the guy's sweatshirt says "Roy Cohn [something I can't read] college". Roy Cohn was Donald Trump's mentor. That combined with the obviously fake "admissions stuff" table makes me think Kimmy is gonna get sucked into a fake college while the show throws some Trump University shade.

Finally, Titus's 1990s hair. It is simply awesome.

Also, I wish I could read Lillian's t-shirt.

[Ladybug]

I love them all. I love this show!

[kateln]

It's back!

I honestly am loving this season so far!

[kostgard]

I've already binged the season. I watched while working from home on Friday, so I think I need to watch again.

It didn't feel as strong as last season, but it was still enjoyable. And I may have laughed a little too hard at the Teddy Ruxpin that screams "WHITE LADY."

[kateln]

May 21, 2017 0:33:08 GMT -4 kostgard said:

I've already binged the season. I watched while working from home on Friday, so I think I need to watch again.

It didn't feel as strong as last season, but it was still enjoyable. And I may have laughed a little too hard at the Teddy Ruxpin that screams "WHITE LADY."

I missed that! I binged while working from home too! "Boobs in California" is stuck in my head now.