Could you maybe put me in a women's prison. The Reverend finally meets his match when his arrogance and control of his mouth betrays him. We still have those brainwashed women out there and they will be a bit of a bane to Kimmy's development. I enjoyed the car trip with those two reckless messes actually finding their ways to Kimmy's trial (a day late and a dollar short). The ongoing business with her father should now be over. He is a simple buffoon and they have taken about as much out of his character as is possible. As the first season ends we have to say that this is a highly creative effort and should now get better.
4 Reviews
S1: Weak at first, strong for the majority, bit weaker at the narrative-driven end, but mostly very funny
bob the moo14 August 2015
Like many, I did love 30 Rock for the majority of its run, and with Kimmy Schmidt I had heard many good things. Starting the show was a lot more challenging than I had expected though, as the first episode or so had this "trying too hard" feeling across the board. I was surprised by the jokes falling mostly flat, and the performances not really having much to work with. It probably didn't help that it had this very forceful sense of cheerfulness to it, but yet no sharp edges or acerbic wit to balance that out. After the second episode I was still in two minds as to whether I would bother.
In some ways this is the benefit of Netflix, because the show doesn't need to stick with you for a week to make you return, it just needs to make you interested enough so that the lazy viewer part of you says "go on then" and selects the next episode from the queue. That is pretty much how we continued, and fortunately the show seemed to get a lot better very quickly. Suddenly the 30 Rock level of character, asides, and dialogue, all seemed to snap into place and I was actually laughing throughout each episode. Not sure what changed, but the characters were suddenly supported by the material, and the narratives had more than enough asides and threads to help support them. As a narrative whole the show relies totally on Kimmy and as a result it does feel like characters just come and go – for example the daughter, the son, the tutor all feel like they are put away when not needed. This narrative weakness is perhaps to be expected in a sitcom, but it does show a strain later when the final few episodes bring the mole woman thing to a sort of conclusion.
The performances are very direct, which seems forced early on but when the material gets better, so do they. Kemper mostly is pleasing despite her limited character – she plays it well though. Krakowski is as reliable as ever, and has great timing. When his material is weaker Burgess is a bit annoying, but mostly he is very funny and has strong timing. Kane is only a small role but fun, likewise some cameos from Kind, Norris, Short, Hamm and others.
The show is a solid sitcom with some very strong and funny episodes, but it is not consistent across even this short running time and, although I enjoyed the season as a whole – I'd still return to season two tentatively.
In some ways this is the benefit of Netflix, because the show doesn't need to stick with you for a week to make you return, it just needs to make you interested enough so that the lazy viewer part of you says "go on then" and selects the next episode from the queue. That is pretty much how we continued, and fortunately the show seemed to get a lot better very quickly. Suddenly the 30 Rock level of character, asides, and dialogue, all seemed to snap into place and I was actually laughing throughout each episode. Not sure what changed, but the characters were suddenly supported by the material, and the narratives had more than enough asides and threads to help support them. As a narrative whole the show relies totally on Kimmy and as a result it does feel like characters just come and go – for example the daughter, the son, the tutor all feel like they are put away when not needed. This narrative weakness is perhaps to be expected in a sitcom, but it does show a strain later when the final few episodes bring the mole woman thing to a sort of conclusion.
The performances are very direct, which seems forced early on but when the material gets better, so do they. Kemper mostly is pleasing despite her limited character – she plays it well though. Krakowski is as reliable as ever, and has great timing. When his material is weaker Burgess is a bit annoying, but mostly he is very funny and has strong timing. Kane is only a small role but fun, likewise some cameos from Kind, Norris, Short, Hamm and others.
The show is a solid sitcom with some very strong and funny episodes, but it is not consistent across even this short running time and, although I enjoyed the season as a whole – I'd still return to season two tentatively.
Goof
liammciver14 March 2018
This is truly awful
xhidden997 March 2015
Like everything Tina Fey touches there are no jokes. Only snarky winks ABOUT jokes. There is no humor at all. None. It's a series in search of catch phrases about jokes. It makes less than zero sense. It's stupid and loud and angry and terrible. The writing is about as good as the fake writers on 30 Rock. The biggest problem with Kimmy is that even if she's been underground for 15 years she's about 30 now so she must be retarded because she literally knows nothing. And there is an incredible amount of high volume screaming. It is truly terrible not even worth binge watching on Netflix while you're busy doing something else terrible.
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