What I’m Watching: The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 1, Episode 6 “Kimmy Goes to School!” (B-)

This episode wasn’t much better than the rest, but at least it had a different focus that found Kimmy doing something with her time and even gave Titus a pet project. The casting of Richard Kind as a bad teacher who was never motivated to do anything positive or influence kids in a good way was spot-on. Kimmy’s frustration was defined most by her ability to believe in anything and anyone, immediately assuming that Mr. Lefkovitz had once been driven to inspire and change bright young minds and had simply lost that spark. Of course, he was much more concerned with getting to the rubber room where he could sit in pleasant purgatory for the rest of his career, getting paid to do nothing and finally fulfilling his dream of making it to well below mediocrity. Kimmy rallying her fellow GED students using the meager teaching material Mr. Lefkovitz did bother to bring in was clever, and obviously in this show’s absurd universe Kimmy would get made fun of by someone named Dong because her name in Vietnamese meant the same thing as his did in English. Titus’ video was wholly preposterous, but it’s good to see him getting into a project. Posing as a handyman, however unbelievable that was, also enabled him to get leverage on Xanthippe and use it to secure better treatment by Xanthippe of Kimmy, who, all her quirks aside, really does have a heart of gold that those with less pure intentions can truly appreciate.