Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

This weekend I accidentally binge watched an entire season of a new show in two days. (Netflix is a trap, but I won’t get into all the ways it’s ruining my life.) It was called Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and I am obsessed. I’m already counting down the days until season 2… well I would be if I knew when it was coming out.

Obviously any show created by Tina Fey and starring Ellie Kemper is bound to be awesome, and this show exceeded my expectations. They bring up so many issues that anyone who is a not a white-cisgender-heterosexual-male can relate to and they do it in ironic and hilarious ways. And the theme song is so catchy, it repeatedly says “females are strong as hell” and I love it so much (I’ve been singing it all week).

(does this guy remind anyone else of Charles Ramsey??)

So basically long story short without any real spoilers, here’s what you need to know:

-4 girls kidnapped 15 years ago by a crazy reverend who said the apocalypse is coming

-The girls were found (in the first 2 minutes of the show- not a spoiler I swear!)

-Kimmy moves to New York, and lives in a poor neighborhood with a gay, black man

-The whole show is based off of her new life, being that she is now 29 and has the education of an 8^th grader.

One of the main characters is Kimmy’s landlord Lillian. She is a sketchy, middle-aged, white woman who is set on making sure her building doesn’t become a victim of gentrification. Lillian is hilarious. In the beginning of episode 4, she tells Titus (Kimmy’s roommate) to change the channel because she “can’t get news from a woman.” The little jokes like that throughout the entire series is what I find hilarious, because it addresses real issues in a comical way. She also talks about her husband who was shot in killed in their own home- by her. She states “it was dark and a black man was trying to get in bed with me. It was the 70’s!” Also a comical approach to a serious issue.

Another character is Titus. He is a flamboyantly gay black man, who lives with Kimmy. In one episode, they highlight the issues of what it’s like to be a gay black man in New York (or anywhere for that matter), and Titus is sent to a “straight camp” type class so he can further his career, since he was told he was too gay to be casted as a major role by his boss. At this “straight camp” he is faced with different scenarios:

-picking a seat at the movies, he fails because he didn’t leave a “buffer” seat

-he is offered a drink, he fails because he pretends to drink from a straw and “real mean don’t suck through straws”

-a co-worker is telling him about his sick wife- he fails because he doesn’t pretend to drink beer and because he is actually listening to what his pretend co-worker is saying, the coach stays “straight men never give any indication they’re listening”

Eventually Titus passes the “straight test” by going to a bar, ordering a beer and sexually objectifying a woman. This whole episode with Titus represents the stereotypical straight male, and the things one must do to be “manly.” Additionally, Titus’ highlights some serious issues that are still alive in the world today. Racism, homophobia, and ageism. 

Although the show has been a victim of some criticism, I think that it is doing a good job at addressing issues in a humorous way that brings the problems to light.