Elizabeth Both
Opinions Editor
After waiting a very long, sad year of no 90’s references, season two of the sleeper hit Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is back! It started streaming on April 15 and had critics once again writing fantastic reviews. For those of you who have never heard of the show, it’s Tina Fey produced and stars Ellie Kemper (played a key role in the Office). The series follows 29-year-old Kimmy Schmidt (Kemper) as she adjusts to life in the Big Apple after she was rescued from a doomsday cult in Indiana. She and three other women were held in a bunker by Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) for 15 years.
With a slightly worrisome setup like that, the show would seem that it can’t be funny at all, but soon Kimmy befriends a street-wise landlady Lillian (Carol Kane) and finds a roommate of a struggling Broadway actor Titus (Tituss Burgess). Season 2 picks up exactly where season 1 left off. Kemper’s Kimmy is full of positivity and energy despite being locked away for 15 years. Kimmy wants to move as far away from her past as fast as possible. It’s hard not to like Kimmy with her optimistic attitude and wide-eyed take on New York City.
“What’s your deal?” Someone asks Kimmy this season. “You’re like a cartoon person.”
The goofiness that everyone fell in love with from the first season is back, and might be even more over the top as well.
The first season’s cliffhanger (SPOILER ALERT but c’mon it’s been a year if you wanna watch then you should’ve watched it back in 2015!) was who was the Reverend that kidnapped the girls? Only Tina Fey could’ve gotten Jon Hamm to play the weirdo and it worked. The show’s full of fun cameos with Fred Armisen portraying the creepy Robert Durst (that serial killer from the HBO show The Jinx), Anna Camp delivers a snarky, stellar performance as a foe to Kimmy’s employer (30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski) Jacqueline Voorhees. The absurdity of this show is way over the top but it’s so absurd is that it works.
The episodes seem to go by so quick among its half-hour show run, so bingeing through it all (it’s on Netflix) doesn’t knock off five years of your life. The craziness and flamboyancy are back and just makes you mad that it’s gonna be another year to see all the shenanigans that go down.
