Sunday, September 4, 2016

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

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 2, Episode 13 “Kimmy Finds Her Mom!” (B+)

It really didn’t take long for Kimmy to track down her mom, and what a superb bit of casting Lisa Kudrow was. The “Friends” Emmy winner has just the right loose vibe to play a woman who spends most of her time obsessed with getting on the next rollercoaster, a physical act that’s loaded with metaphors about just going in circles and not moving forward. Kudrow’s chipper style was perfect, and the two of them seemed like a very good match. Kimmy’s inability to tie her shoe quickly because Lori-Anne never taught her to how to was very on the nose as a diagnosis of their relationship, and Lori-Anne very quickly morphed into an uninterested, selfish person not content to wait around for her daughter to catch up with her. Titus was great at telling Kimmy what was happening with her mother over the phone, and he had quite the trip to the place poorly named Titusville famous for being a backwards space town made irrelevant by the shutdown of space missions. Jacqueline had a triumphant moment in her relationship to her family and to her newfound boyfriend, so horrified that Russ’ family owned the Redskins and equally unhappy to see how his family, including his brother, played by Josh Charles, treated him. Seeing the whole weird family together at the end of the episode was a fitting conclusion for the season, followed up of course by the Reverend’s phone call that shakes things up quite a bit. After a few so-so episodes at the start of the season, this has actually been a great year. I roll my eyes and shake my head more than anything watching this show, but it’s undeniably well-done and entertaining. Bring on season three!

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Ellie Kemper

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