What I’m Watching: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Season Premiere)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 2, Episode 1 “Kimmy Goes Roller Skating!” (B+)

Ah, this show. I wasn’t too fond of season one overall but I thought there were some great aspects to it. This premiere, absurd as usual, emphasizes some of the best and most ridiculous elements that make this show work. I’m still not so into Lillian as a character, but she’s in the background enough hanging out with Fred Armisen that it’s not too much of a problem. I worried that Titus being revealed as a married man would lead to a long, drawn-out plotline, but instead it was all neatly wrapped up with a dance routine on the Amtrak platform and a handful of past lives coming back up as part of Titus’ schizophrenic personality. I enjoyed the reframing of Amtrak as a purposefully late destination for reuniting lovers, and I also appreciated Titus referring to Kimmy as Kim Blake Nelson, an especially humorous nickname given the fact that Tim Blake Nelson plays her father on the show. Kimmy’s spirit, as always, continues to be the defining part of the show, going after Dong and nearly getting him into trouble with immigration, constantly driven by positive energy. Seeing Jacqueline in her native habitat was pretty hilarious, as she failed to remember where her house was and then got sent out to the middle of the cornfield to do a dance so that she wouldn’t bother her parents anymore. That’s another plotline that could have gone wrong, yet this show managed to make it work. Here’s hoping for more of that this season, which I’ll get around to watching in full closer to the summer.