Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Recap: Kimmy Goes Outside! (Season 1 Episode 1)

I am a huge 30 Rock and Tina Fey fan, so when I heard about Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt coming to Netflix, I couldn’t wait to watch it!

My first thought at the beginning of “Kimmy Goes Outside” was “Oh…Christmas?” However, the carols seconds later had me snorting with laughter.

And so is the opening of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and seconds later with a montage of a viral video (what you will later have stuck in your head after marathon-ing this TV show), footage of the swat team releasing the “Mole Women” and a (very funny) news clip from The Today Show, we are introduced to the premise of the show.

Four women, held hostage in a bunker for fifteen years by a crazy pastor, suddenly freed…and the aftermath for main character Kimmy Schmidt.

Kimmy decides to stay in NYC…and frankly does things that I would probably do if in the same situation. Being the same age as the main character, I relate to her fifteen-year-old pop culture desires. Buy light up sneakers (I really wanted some when I was younger), eat candy for dinner, and swing all the way around the swing set. And free a horse… okay, maybe I wouldn’t have done that. BUT the scene does remind you of the NYC montage from ELF, and both had me seriously laughing.

After binging on candy, Kimmy sets out in search of an apartment. Carol Kane as landlord Lillian Kaushtupper is just amazing in this show. If you’re not a fan of hers…well, who isn’t? Princess Bride anyone? Everything that comes out of her mouth on this show is gold. And we meet Kimmy’s potential roommate, Titus Andromedon.(Oh…hello D’Fwan. I have missed you!) who tells her to come back when she gets a job.

After a few meetings with a little kleptomaniac, Kimmy has her meet-cute with our other main character, Jacqueline Voorhees, the little boy’s mother. (The names in this show are probably my favorite thing ever. A+, writer’s room. A+). As a fan of 30 Rock, it was great to see Jane playing basically the same character, but…better.

As the episodes go on, you realize how wonderful her plot line is. The fridge full of water is a gag that doesn’t get old.

After landing a job being a nanny, of sorts, Kimmy arrives back at Titus and Lillian’s, and moves into Titus’s “office”, which is a closet with a window. I’ve been to some of my NYC friend’s apartment…that’s a sweet deal.

To celebrate her new job and apartment, Titus and Kimmy hit the town and go clubbing. Kimmy is thrown into 2015 culture, with drug offers, booty dancing, and offers of first kisses — all which she takes in perfect stride and blissful ignorance. That is, until she has her backpack, with all of her money, stolen out from under her (literally, it was wrapped around her ankles) and gets kicked out of the club.

Without a backpack or money, she walks from the club to her job, shows up late, and is fired. After heading back to her apartment, she ends up having a heart to heart with Titus, who spills the beans to her that he is actually Ronald Wilkerson from Mississippi, and that NYC is where dreams come to die. And he brings up the fact that “Escaping is not the same as making it.” So he gives Kimmy back her rent money from the freezer, and sends her on her way.

With only a few things to her name, she drags to herself to the bus stop, where she spills milk all over her babysitter club books, and her secret santa gift from her “sister”. While cleaning off her things and dumping the mess into the trashcan, she sees a rat, which triggers a flashback to the bunker. We see that Kimmy was never a brainwashed member of the cult, and was actually the rebel of the group. This reminds Kimmy she can’t be broken, and with her renewed since of self, she heads to Time Square to find her roommate. She gives him an inspirational speech about not giving up, and she sets goals for both of them:

Kimmy’s goals: Get her job back and kiss a boy.

Kimmy’s goals for Titus: Sing at the Grammy’s with Whitney Houstan and Michael Jackson.

The episode ends with a Circle of Life sing-a-long. Because…of course it does.

Overall, “Kimmy Goes Outside” is quirky, a little all over the map, and it jams a lot of stuff into less than a half hour. But I think it sets us up for an enjoyable and fun ride along with Kimmy — where the viewer can’t possibly tell where it’s going to go. And that makes for watchable, or in this case, binge-able, TV. With 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation off air, this show will fill that quirky hole left behind.

If you were a teenager fifteen years ago, you will probably enjoy this show more than you expected, simply for the barrage of 90s pop culture references. I know I did.

Favorite Quotes:

Gretchen: “Kimmy I think we counted wrong…it’s not Christmas!” (saying the first thing, of course, you would think after being liberated from a bunker)

Matt Lauer: “I am always amazed what women will do because they are afraid of being rude.”

Lillian: “Honey, you also don’t pay the rent.”
Titus: “Because I do not have any money!”

Lillian: “Don’t wear that sweater! The Crypts will think that you’re in the Banana Boys…it’s a new gang…there weren’t any good colors left!”

Jacqueline: “You’ll need to be here by 6 every morning to get Buckley up for school. Then get me up at 10, but don’t wake me up.”

Titus: “I envy you! I’ve never gotten to meet me!”
Kimmy: “Dancing is about butts now!”

Random Girls at a club: “Are you into Molly?”
Kimmy: “Am I?! She’s my favorite American Girl doll!”
Titus: “I’m pretty, but tough like a diamond — or beef jerky in a ball gown.”

 

What did you think of “Kimmie Goes Outside”? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt is currently available for streaming on Netflix.