Kimmy Gets a Review!

Among the absurd stories that gave the show its voice, Netflix’s “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” found a way to tell stories of trauma and recovery in a surprisingly genuine way.

With the release of the final six episodes of Kimmy Schmidt, the Tina Fey production has officially come to an end after four seasons. After following the show since the beginning, I can’t help but feel conflicted about the series’ finale. While it still had the humor and heart that made me fall in love with it, the finale itself felt at times rushed and uncertain of where to take some of the characters.

One of the moments of this season that stuck out the most to me was Kimmy’s attempts to reach out to Donna Maria as she realized that, after the bunker, the two never connected. This episode showed so much of Kimmy’s growth in the series. It provided a lovely full circle, as Kimmy taught another mole woman what she had to learn, that hiding from your past doesn’t work. At the same time, the writers never let Kimmy become just a mole woman. At her lowest point, she was willing to write the story of the bunker, to tie her future to her past, but because of the success of her book, “The Legends of Greemulax.”

However, for all its successes, many of the character’s happy endings don’t feel quite earned or satisfactory. After watching Titus unable to book more than a role as a werewolf in a dinner, it’s hard to believe that he could go from that to his Broadway debut, especially without a single audition. After four seasons of seeing him struggle, watching him have all his dreams come true, in both his professional and romantic life, in a single episode, feels rushed. Jacqueline’s ending fell even flatter for me, and I just couldn’t bring myself to care that much about her relationship with a character who was only introduced an episode prior, and it just didn’t seem to make sense as her finale.  

However, Lillian had a perfect wrap up to her story: she became a New York legend, like pizza rat, and got to make the city a little worse because of it. I can’t imagine a more perfect ending for a character who was, quite often, the worst in the best way. As for Kimmy herself, I felt almost proud of all the progress she made as she learned to overcome her past without hiding that it was a part of her. The show also never sacrificed her childlike sense of wonder, and having her build an amusement park was an excellent way to show that despite the growth she had, it was still part of her.

While the ending was far from perfect, I enjoyed so much of the series, and I’ll certainly be binging it again.