TV & Film | Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Starring the talented Ellie Kemper, a familiar yet fresh face after her involvement in The Office and hit film Bridesmaid, comes a new Netflix Series: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The show is created by comedic genius Tina Fey along with Robert Carlock and follows the story of Kimmy Schmidt who, after spending the last fifteen years in a Doomsday Cult, embarks on a new lease of life in New York City.

(Image Source - Slash Films)

It's certainly not your average show premise and it's definitely quirky, which means I had high hopes it would be right up my street. I've obviously heard of 30 Rock - it's not like I've been living underground for the last 15 years - but I've never actually watched it. I assume it does, or did, air in England, but it just never really arrived on my radar. Therefore my only real association with Tina Fey are the SNL sketches I've watched on YouTube and of course clips from the Golden Globes, where she's hosted the last three years with fellow SNL alumni (and Smart Girl) Amy Poehler.

With 13 episodes each averaging around 23 minutes long, it was an easy series to binge watch and did not require necessary life-affirming pauses like when I attempted to binge watch the second series of OITNB. Overall, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was pretty good. Kemper was fabulous and I can't imagine anyone else filling the role as well as she did. She has so many facets and it was a joy to watch them all. To be honest, all the casting was gloriously well chosen. Jane Krakowski was haughtily hilarious, Tituss Burgess was brilliant and Carol Kane was raspy and uproarious. (I'm told that's a fancy synonym for hilarious - my apologies, my need for alliteration is getting a bit out of control.) Dylan Gelula, who played the step-daughter of Krakowski's Jacqueline Voorhees, was also a star find, portraying the pretty rich teen who's a joy to watch but would be a nightmare to meet. Even Chuck Bass couldn't handle her kind of sass.

The series was clever and witty but for me personally, there were parts that were a little too twee. That's not a criticism, more a comment on my own personal taste. There were a few jokes which I didn't find to be in the greatest of taste, for example about eating (or lack thereof) from Kimmy's employers. But it's comedy, it's artistic license, and I get that. The love triangle between Kimmy, Dong and Logan was fairly fun, as was the softening of the sisterly relationship between Kimmy and Kymmi. There was also great word play through-out every episode, which I cannot ever get enough of. There's also - in between some predictable portrayals - great messages for women coming out of it. Not that I'm sure these messages are the central reason Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was created, but it really can't do anyone any harm to hear just how unbreakable we women can be, right? (Who run the world? Girls, GIRLS.)

It's definitely worth a watch if you're looking for something new to watch on Netflix; the episodes are short, snappy and refreshingly platonic, which isn't a bad thing. I for one definitely need something to balance out the steaminess of Scandal! And with quotes like 'When we were in Florida, he [a dog] jumped into a shark ... on purpose!' are included, you just know it's going to satisfy your comedic cravings.