By Christina Murphey
Columnist
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is the classic story of girl who meets a cult leader and is forced to live in his underground community for 15 years. Okay, so maybe it’s not such a classic story, but it is the latest story from Tina Fey’s brain available to stream on your television, laptop or mobile device. Thanks Netflix!
Once free from her underground lifestyle in Indiana, an appearance on The Today Show inspires her to stay in New York and see the world for herself. Her post-cult life in New York begins quite successfully, almost too successfully. She explores New York City with a Buddy the Elf level of excitement and naiveté.
It works out for her because in her first day in New York she finds herself with a job and an apartment. This had me feeling perplexed and envious. How are things going so well for her? How has a homeless man not yet spit up pieces of croissant on her while riding the subway? Something like this happens to me weekly on my commute to work. If you’re having doubts about the version of New York portrayed in the show, don’t worry, she gets robbed and fired from her job in no time. Now this is the New York I know.
She meets a colorful cast of characters along her journey including her eccentric roommate, Titus, who is a failed Broadway star who now wears a creepy costume in Times Square.
You may remember Titus from his short stint as D’Fwan on “30 Rock.” He basically plays the same character, except here he’s a struggling performer, not a chic hairdresser/ reality star. On “Unbreakable,” he’s not the only “30 Rock” character repeat.
Jane Krakowski plays Kimmy’s boss, Jacqueline Voorheese. She is a rich, wasteful and insecure person, essentially a grown up version of her character on “30 Rock,” Jenna Maroney.
This character, Jacqueline Voorheese, has a bizarre back-story involving her abandoned Native American heritage that seems unnecessary and not satirical enough to justify the use of cultural stereotypes.
Kimmy’s unrelenting optimism and innocent observations of the odd world around her is enough to give hope to any viewer. The show tackles many social issues of today, like catcalling, plastic surgery and the broken public education system effortlessly.
“Females are strong as hell” is shouted in the opening credits by a ranting neighbor who witnessed the rescue of the Mole Women, mimicking the style of those viral “autotune the news” videos, which you’ve probably seen unless you too were living in an underground bunker since the 90s.
It’s a statement that goes to show that underneath this light and frothy comedy is the story of a survivor. Kimmy Schmidt is a girl who was taken from her home, cast away from society and subject to “weird sex stuff” at the hands of an older man. She doesn’t let the trauma of being a mole woman define her. Instead, she chooses to overcome her past and better the lives of those around her and that is what makes her unbreakable.