The show does, however, have its issues. My main concerns come from story pacing. It has your standard A, B, and sometimes C plots for a sitcom, but more often than not, the A plot gets far too much screen time over the B and C plots. The A plot should be the most important, but when the rest of the stories, which are interesting in their own right, feel like afterthoughts, it’s a bit of a shame. With Netflix, there is not really a need to accommodate for network, commercial time constraints, so you could make the 24 minute episodes a full 30 to give those plots their due. The Frankenwolf plot I mentioned is a terrific idea, but we only get glimpses of it. I support putting constraints on yourself to think more creatively, but here is one of the few times I would recommend letting loose a bit.
In terms of characters, there are two that rub me the wrong way. The first, and more minor, of the two is Tim Blake Nelson as Kimmy’s idiotic cop step father. None of what he does is particularly funny and is more frustrating than anything else. He causes conflict where it should never exist, and you hate him for that. He is a very good actor, but this character is insufferable. Thankfully, he shows up only here and there and isn’t a main staple of the cast. The other character I am not a fan of is Kimmy’s love interest, Dong (Ki Hong Lee), who is a fairly large part of the story.
I might as well dive into the controversy of the show now, as it has a lot to do with Dong. For a show filled with women and people of color (none of the main cast members are straight, white men), critics and fans alike are very quick to condemn “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” for its use of racial and gay stereotypes. While I recognize their discomfort, quite frankly, none of it bothered me because the show is commenting on stereotypes in a very interesting way. Jane Krakowski, who in no way is Native American, plays a Native American character who has decided to pass herself off as white in order to get a leg up in the world. Getting back to this notion of people wanting to distance themselves from their pasts, that is such a rich concept. Do they handle it particularly subtly? No, but in this fairly absurd world, it doesn’t bother me. I mean, forty-six year old Krakowski also plays herself as a teenager in flashbacks. It’s silly.
Then there’s Dong, an undocumented Vietnamese immigrant who speaks broken English and is good at math. This one I definitely see why people would cry “Racist!” from the rooftops, though I don’t see it so much as racist as much as I consider it lazy. His name is Dong for crying out loud. You know the kind of jokes they’re doing here. The writing team may think they’re playing with stereotype conventions in a more clever way than they actually are, but they aren’t really doing anything interesting there. Or maybe because they are giving him positive traits and not negative ones they think they’re in the clear. I don’t know. The stereotype here is not my problem.
[Sidenote: I do find it interesting how many are complaining about a non-Native American actor playing a Native American, but hardly anyone is complaining about a Korean actor playing a Vietnamese character… But that’s a topic for another day…]
My problem with Dong is he is boring. He’s like a puppy dog. His only personality trait seems to be affection for Kimmy. We all have affection for Kimmy, so it is not a particularly novel trait. I don’t know why I should be invested in their relationship other than they are nice to one another. Perhaps in season two, he will be fleshed out to a more interesting character, but he has appeared in enough episodes already for me to see not even an attempt at evolution there. I will also say where this relationship ends up in the final episode is totally unsatisfying and will be my least anticipated plot line going forward.
Even with my problems here I hope the show runners will fix in season two, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is still some of the funniest television I have watched in awhile. Every episode had me laughing out loud at least a dozen times an episode. Ellie Kemper is finally given a role she has a lot to play with, and her castmates match her every step of the way. Because it is on Netflix, it is easily available to a lot of you, and I highly urge you all to watch this show. If you already have, watch them again and again as you patiently (or more aptly impatiently) wait for season two to arrive.
