It doesn’t take very long for the third season of Netflix’s Original Series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt to remind its audience why it’s such a powerful and unexpected treasure. In 2015, the show first hit Netflix and was praised by critics and general audiences for its humour and overall freshness from the generic television show.
By the time the first episode of the new season “Kimmy Gets Divorced?!” is over, it once again had proven itself to be the same wacky and wounding oddity we have grown to know and love. The first season of the show introduced the audience to Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper), the endlessly enthusiastic former cult member unleashed onto the streets of New York after being held captive for over a decade with aplomb and style. It was a fantastic season of television, and if the second season only somewhat unsteadily expanded the narrative goals, this third installment is a fantastic and poignant return to form by getting to the consequences and anguish beneath its day-glow wonderland aesthetic.
For many sitcoms, the trick required to secure success and longevity is continuously re-establish the formula, to reset at the end of each episode so that the audience knows exactly what to expect next time; but Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt blows that dynamic out of the water, demanding that the viewer accept that these people will be different with each passing episode, to relate to them at a more deeper and personal level. The melancholy will start to seep through, trauma will often rear its ugly head at the most inopportune times. Part of what made the second season feel fragmented was the difficulty it had in giving each character side-plots whilst still maintaining the super fun group dynamic that was so successful.
Also expect a lot more of those celebrity cameos, all brief, all in service of Kimmy Schmidt‘s joyous lunacy. Besides Diggs, Laura Dern, Rachel Dratch, Ray Liotta, Andrea Martin and Maya Rudolph all pop up through out the season. Regular returning guests include Fred Armisen, Anna Camp, Mike Carlsen, Cross, Tina Fey, Hamm and Amy Sedaris (the hilarious Mimi).
On the whole Tina Fey and the whole creative team have delivered another fantastic season of Kimmy Schmidt, with a fresh new direction full of depth, rich character development and hilarious jokes which will have all fans clamouring for Season 4.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
All three seasons of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are streaming on Netflix now.
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