By Danielle Smith
Staff Writer
Set in modern-day New York City, Netflix’s second season of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is more humorous and quirky than its predecessor but unfortunately lacks the cohesion of the first season.
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is a Netflix original comedy that follows Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) on her journey through New York as she strives to find her place in society after being locked in a doomsday bunker for 15 years.
Although the show has addressed controversial issues such as divorce, sexuality and infidelity over its two seasons, each subject is approached humorously. The show contains a unique storyline that follows that of the first season, well-developed characters and timely pop culture references. However, the plot can be difficult to follow at times.
The second season of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” further explores Kimmy’s romantic life while also giving the viewer insight into her gay roommate Tituss’ (Tituss Burgess) past mistakes and her rich boss Jacqueline’s (Jane Krakowski) troubled family life.
The premiere episode of the second season, “Kimmy Goes Roller Skating,” features new characters like Gretchen Chalker (Lauren Adams) and successfully develops ones from the previous season on a more personal level. While season one was primarily focused on developing the character of Kimmy, season two spends much more time developing secondary characters.
Additionally, pop culture references are featured throughout each episode in similar fashion to season one, adding to the series’ relatability. In “Kimmy Goes Roller Skating,” the Kardashians are made fun of multiple times. The characters joke about how they know so much about the seemingly untalented reality television family, creating relatable satire within the episode since many of these references are timely and relevant to viewers.
Many popular aspects from season one reappear in the second season of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” allowing for continuation of running jokes and a seamless blend between the two seasons. The catchy theme song and title sequence used in both seasons of the show depict the moment Kimmy is freed from the doomsday bunker dressed like an Amish woman, giving a look at Kimmy’s backstory explored in season one. Because of this, viewers are able to begin watching season two without seeing season one, making the series accessible to new audiences.
Although the characters in season two of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” are well-developed and entertaining, the show falls short in plot depth. Outrageous moments and excessive silliness draw much attention away from the main storyline. For example, in one episode, Jacqueline performs what she believes to be a Native American ritual dance to the fictitious Corn God. Although somewhat humorous, the ridiculousness of these moments can take away from the main focus of the episodes.
Additionally, in each individual episode of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” season two, the plot is difficult to follow. Each episode flips between scenes focusing individually on each of the three main characters, simultaneously creating three different stories that do not correlate. Flashbacks of Kimmy’s time in the bunker on top of simultaneous stories in each episode further add to each episode’s already-jumbled storyline.
The engaging story of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” highlights a dynamic variety of humorous situations, although it falls short at times as the plot is hard to follow despite its correlation to the first season. With well-developed characters, running gags and many relatable pop culture references, the Netflix original comedy’s second season may very well have topped the first.
Both seasons of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” are currently available on Netflix Instant Streaming and are rated TV-14. Season 2 was released on April 15.
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