Creator Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s wacky comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has returned with six new episodes to finish out the series for good. Viewers have followed Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) from her humble beginnings as a kidnapped sister-wife living in a bunker to an executive for a company that freakishly resembles Google called Giztoob.
We catch up with Kimmy still living in New York City with her best friend and roommate, Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess). Titus is tirelessly chasing his dream of being on Broadway in The Lion King, and also painfully watching his construction worker ex-boyfriend, Mikey (Mike Carlsen), moving on with his new love. There is also their landlord, Lillian Kaushtupper, played by the comedic treasure, Carol Kane, and Jacqueline White (Jane Krakowski), the boujee and yet very poor anti-hero, who always manages to do and say the most politically incorrect things.
There is an endless parade of guest cameos throughout these final episodes, starting with Jon Bernthal (Netflix’s The Punisher), as a wannabe obsessed fan of Titus. Ronan Farrow, as himself, chasing a story of sexual abuse. Greg Kinnear also as himself, who is hopelessly optimistic about everything. Dan Byrd as a possible love interest of Kimmie’s, who unfortunately for Dan’s character is only interested in spending time with his parents. Broadway legend, Terrance Mann, reprising his timeless role as a Jellicle from Cats. Busy Phillips, as the rotten child of a millionaire who manages to constantly cause problems for Lillian. Also seen are Steve Buscemi, Anders Holm and Zachary Quinto.
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The show manages to touch on relevant topics such as the #metoo movement, when Titus is faced with the moral dilemma of coming forward as a victim of unwanted sexual advances of a pervert hiding behind a Sesame Street-like puppet. It rightly shows the damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t with coming forward and naming his accuser.
The standout and longest running episode is Sliding Van Doors, where we are shown the alternate time line of Kimmy and her friends if she hadn’t been kidnapped and shut up in a bunker by a deranged reverend. She doesn’t live out her dream of leaving her little town in Indiana and instead finds herself in a coma for a year and then married to a womanizer of a husband. Titus misses his once in a lifetime audition for The Lion King. We also see Jacqueline as a barefoot and pregnant wife of Mikey and Lillian as a Hispanic drug lord.
Over the course of the season, Kimmy pens a book to help young boys ‘tame the monster inside all of them’ called ‘The Legends of Greemulax‘, which allows Kimmy to find purpose in her life and also help change the way boys treat girls which results in men who treat women better. It ends up catapulting her to heights of famed writer much like J.K. Rowling, even allowing her to one day have a Greemulax world featured in a theme park.
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Every story told is a barrage of zingy one liner after one liner which will have you shocked at how far this comedy goes with attempting to come up to the line of too far and then treacherously dancing across it. The rewatchability of this show is high since it moves at such a fast pace you will surely catch references and jokes missed the first time around. The beauty of a show knowing it is expiring is everything wraps up neatly and we are left with no loose ends. And yet, as the series is definitely over, the Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that there is a good possibility of a movie forthcoming by co-creator, Tina Fey.
Let’s hope that the movie can capture the goodness and innocence of the Kimmy Schmidt we have grown to love but also the hilariously wicked characters that she surrounds herself with.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 4b is now available on Netflix.