Imagine being kidnapped right from your front lawn at the age of 14. Sure, your home life wasn't that great and your mom is kinda wonky and a bit neglectful, but still, even that shit show of a home life would be better than living in a dark underground bunker with three other women and a crazy religious captor.
Trust Tina Fey and co-creator Robert Carlock (30 Rock) to make that kind of story amusing. Now gearing up for season two, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt makes a binge-worth watch list for several reasons, and let me be clear: at first I didn't even like it very much. I think my error was watching it hot off the heels of a Master of None marathon. Master of None is based on realism; its New York City is busy and anonymous and provides the backdrop to characters you need time to get to know. Kimmy throws an anonymous girl into its fray (when she decided to stay in the Big Apple after an appearance on The Today Show after being freed from 15 years imprisonment by local law enforcement). It's a comedy; I swear!
Kimmy's New York is bright and brash and her new found village is straight from central casting: the rich blonde trophy wife and her sullen mean-spirited but needy step daughter, the flamboyant gay wanna be actor/recluse, the slightly paranoid crazy landlady (Carol Kane, who I adore). It took me a few episodes to understand that this didn't have to be the same kind of show as Master in order to be good — and that I should appreciate it in all its technicolour glory for what it was: campy and cheesy and colourful and FUN. It's like candy for dinner!
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a great show to land softly on after a more serious binge watch like Master of None or Downton Abbey or Game of Thrones. It's a palate cleanser but a tasty one; it's cherry sorbet with sprinkles, not bullshit boring lemon. Ellie Kemper plays Kimmy with an almost unbearable likability, yet she is the only one I can see in the role. Her face just emanates happiness and pure joy at nothing more than basic freedom in a bunker-free environment. To outsiders, she doesn't have tonnes to be happy about — she lives in a basement apartment closet and she's dirt poor, having lost her "Mole Woman help fund" money after her bright pink backpack was stolen. But there's a lot of good in her life too: her maybe-boyfriend Dong (I swear I'm not making this shit up), a job as an assistant she seems to like despite the abuse hurled at her by the household's spoiled rich occupants, and a roommate who turns her into Cinderella at the ball using no ore than some chandelier crystals and a bath mat.
And really, what more do you need in life?
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season One is available on Netflix and Season Two is available April 15, 2016.
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