I liked the Kimmy Schmidt series. I felt that it started really well but then didn't quite maintain those standards as it ran on. So I'm happy to say that I felt this show (on the run through I had anyway) was back to its best.
Just days before her marriage to Prince Frederick (Daniel Radcliffe), Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) discovers a choose-your-own-adventure book in her bunker backpack, that doesn't appear to belong to her or any of the other mole women. Trying to find out who the book belongs to leads Kimmy to visit Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) in prison, where Kimmy inadvertently discovers that there was another bunker of women, as yet undiscovered. From there, she and (in my story) Titus (Tituss Burgess) head out to find the bunker.
Taking its cues from Black Mirror's "Bandersnatch" episode, this special is an interactive episode where you use a game controller to select options to make the story progress. Occasionally you run up against an immediate wrong choice, at which point you get an "ending" of sorts - then the story rewinds and either automatically chooses the other option, or allows you to pick again. Some of these seem relatively innocuous but then, in retrospect, if feels like one of the options (whether to choose Kimmy's adventure partner as Titus or Jacqueline would have a major effect on the episode.) I haven't been back to it yet to explore the other options and see what genuine differences can be made and what other endings are available. I made it to the end credits after roughly 90 minutes that were genuinely laugh out loud funny - I assume that it was the extra writing time that really helped pull the episode quality back up. There's also a movement away from contemporising the humour, talking about what was current at the time of writing, so only one scene about the Fyre festival feels dated - as that time in the zeitgeist has come and gone.
The best thing I can say is that from a show I was contented had ended when it did; I now what to see more of again. Kimmy Christmas special anyone?
Just days before her marriage to Prince Frederick (Daniel Radcliffe), Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) discovers a choose-your-own-adventure book in her bunker backpack, that doesn't appear to belong to her or any of the other mole women. Trying to find out who the book belongs to leads Kimmy to visit Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) in prison, where Kimmy inadvertently discovers that there was another bunker of women, as yet undiscovered. From there, she and (in my story) Titus (Tituss Burgess) head out to find the bunker.
Taking its cues from Black Mirror's "Bandersnatch" episode, this special is an interactive episode where you use a game controller to select options to make the story progress. Occasionally you run up against an immediate wrong choice, at which point you get an "ending" of sorts - then the story rewinds and either automatically chooses the other option, or allows you to pick again. Some of these seem relatively innocuous but then, in retrospect, if feels like one of the options (whether to choose Kimmy's adventure partner as Titus or Jacqueline would have a major effect on the episode.) I haven't been back to it yet to explore the other options and see what genuine differences can be made and what other endings are available. I made it to the end credits after roughly 90 minutes that were genuinely laugh out loud funny - I assume that it was the extra writing time that really helped pull the episode quality back up. There's also a movement away from contemporising the humour, talking about what was current at the time of writing, so only one scene about the Fyre festival feels dated - as that time in the zeitgeist has come and gone.
The best thing I can say is that from a show I was contented had ended when it did; I now what to see more of again. Kimmy Christmas special anyone?