Yahoo News Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt makes one BIG mistake in final episode
Note: This article contains spoilers for all episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season four
Season four of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has come to a close and so too have the adventures of Kimmy, Titus, Lillian, Jacqueline and the host of supporting characters we’ve grown to love since Kimmy first came to Netflix in 2015. For big fans of the series it’s going to be uhhh, you know, a fascinating transition (damn it!).
Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s razor-sharp comedy has dug much deeper than its candy-coloured surface first suggested. From the moment Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) and her fellow "mole women" emerged from the underground bunker where they had been held captive, the show has dealt with the subjects of trauma, repression and anger in an inventive way.
It’s been a show that’s at once committed to being silly and sincere. Mix in some so-quick-you-could-miss-them quips about pop culture and the delights of Tituss Burgess’ singing and strutting, and you’ve got a show that has humour and heart – and isn’t afraid to say it how it is.
The show’s final episodes offer an almost perfect finale as we see the lives of Kimmy and friends come together. Titus (Tituss Burgess) lands his dream role in The Lion King and finally gets back together with the wonderful Mikey (Mike Carlsen), Xanthippe (Dylan Gelula) actually kinda sorta likes Kimmy now, Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski) has accepted Xan as a daughter and has become a high-flying agent and Kimmy has mended her friendship with Donna Maria, made peace with her mother and made a success of her children’s book The Legends of Greemulax. (We have to assume dear old Mimi Kanasis (Amy Sedaris) – one of the show’s finest creations – is still drinking in her car or a ditch somewhere.)
But there's one glitch.
The only headscratcher, by the end, is Lillian’s closing story. For a show that so excellently negotiates difficult issues, using humour to encourage its characters and audience to find the "small, unbreakable you inside yourself", the final storyline for Carol Kane's lovable landlady is nothing short of baffling.
When the city marks Lillian’s home for demolition, Lillian suddenly decides that it’s her destiny to haunt the rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood. Her decision to sneak inside the building and die in the explosion is frankly horrifying. It feels like some last-minute drama that’s been cobbled together by writers who didn’t spend four seasons defining Lillian’s character – otherwise they’d know this is something that doesn’t sit right with her motivations at all.
Are we to believe that Lillian was only ever an eviction away from killing herself? And, if so, isn’t this a plot-line that would warrant attention and the show’s signature empathy and not just a quick side-plot in the show’s closing episode?
When Lillian sees the ghosts of her two loves in her apartment, she doubts her decision, but ultimately she doesn’t get out in time and it’s only thanks to some cheap, faulty explosives that she’s alive at all.
The fact that this character very nearly – and fully intended to – commit suicide is brushed over as quickly as the monumentally unfunny back-and-forth between Kimmy and Lillian, where Kimmy naively misunderstands Lillian’s decision to die.
It's a pity, because, this shocking misstep aside, the final episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are on strong form. Season four part two picks up the baton from where part one left off, with the spotlight firmly fixed on gender inequality and the recent #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
The show’s quick-witted writing cuts down the disgraced celebrities accused of sexual misconduct without missing a beat. In part one, we saw Kimmy, puzzled when her attempt at kindly firing a colleague is misconstrued as a sexual advance, exclaiming "It’s not like I’m a Weinstein or a Spacey or a – the President!" "That doesn’t matter," Titus tells her. "Even Kimmys have to watch their step these days. There’s a reckoning going on and it is important."
Titus reveals to Kimmy that the puppet Mr Frumpus demanded sexual acts from him in return for a job. The fact that the figure in question is a Sesame Street-style character is irrelevant – we’re used to off-beat by now – it’s treated as a serious and traumatic event and when the puppeteer defends his 'co-worker' in part two, it sends a powerful message about the cover-up of these crimes that still goes on in the entertainment industry.
Sure, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has a good laugh at the things celebrities do to show solidarity at press events, hence the funny shorts-on-the-red-carpet stunt, but it never makes light of the stuff that matters.
When part two introduces a spy who’s trying to discredit Titus as a witness to Mr Frumpus’ behaviour, it’s genuinely sickening. The fact that the spy is a hottie that Titus becomes enamoured with just helps the bitter pill go down.
The second half of season four brings us some great moments, including the fun 'what if' Sliding Doors-inspired episode featuring Fred Armisen’s final foray as Robert Durst, but for all the joy that the ending might bring there’s still a lingering sour taste.
Seeing Lillian get her happy ending making abusive tannoy announcements for the New York subway doesn’t erase the plotline we just watched. We want to know how such an observant show could take a dramatic lurch towards tragedy with seemingly no regard for the implications – for Lillian or for the audience that love her.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season 4, part 2 is streaming now on Netflix.
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