Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend Review

This review contains spoilers for the interactive special as well as some tips and tricks on choosing your own adventure. Proceed with caution; no takebacks here!

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt released its original series finale more than a year before the interactive special and it wasn’t a finale that left me wanting more.

To be clear, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. All the main characters seemed to be well on their way to a new, happy life, most notably with Tituss (Tituss Burgess) taking the movie world by storm and Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) evolving into a literary darling in the vein of J.K. Rowling, if J.K. Rowling you know, wrote about less death and trauma and had more of a Dr. Seuss vibe.

Kimmy Schmidt didn’t need this extra time to wrap up any storylines and truthfully, story comes second in the interactive special. It’s really just an excuse to spend time with some of our favorite characters, and oh, what a wonderful excuse it is. 

Part of this lies in the fact that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt enjoys an ideal marriage with the interactive-special concept. (For those who watched Black Mirror‘s special, Bandersnatch, make no mistake: the Schmidt special is better in every single regard).

The show has always felt a bit like a live-action cartoon, existing in its own bizarre alternative reality. Plus, it’s a show known for cramming tons of jokes into its short run time. A special like this, which begs for a seemingly endless amount of alternative jokes and gags, has to have been a dream for the writing team.

Most available paths lead you to three main storylines: on the eve of her wedding, Kimmy and Tituss embark on a quest to uncover another of the Reverend (Jon Hamm)’s secret bunkers; Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski) scrambles to cover for Tituss’ absence on his movie shoot; and Lillian (Carol Kane), Xanthippe (Dylan Gelula), and Cyndee (Sara Chase) spend time with Kimmy’s fiance, Prince Frederick (Daniel Radcliffe).

You’ll hit most of the same story beats — with some deviations — but it’s clear the show is trying to guide you towards certain outcomes.

There are a few choices that ultimately end the story early, but in all those cases, a character breaks the fourth wall to lecture you before letting you restart.

Mikey (Mike Carlson) and Robert Durst (Fred Armisen) have some delightful cameos doing this, but the funniest ones are Tituss and Cyndee’s. Tituss bemoans your poor choices and compares them to his decisions at Chipotle and Cyndee joyfully reports that the Game of Thrones writing team used all of her ideas for the final season. (I mean, something has to explain that season, right?)

If there’s one complaint I have about these stories, it’s that there’s simply not enough Xanthippe. Bless Gelula for that hilarious performance (though if you’re a Xanthippe fan like me, if you choose to stomp the Reverend at the end, you’ll get a little more time with her. Trust me, it’s worth it).

Speaking of supporting characters, significant credit must be given to Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe. Hamm, known for so long as Man Men‘s broody Don Draper, has honed his comedic sensibility over the years, in large part due to Kimmy Schmidt.

The way he says “karate” is an art and his ability to play the Reverend as an evil buffoon, without any sense of insecurity or self awareness, is laudable. Plenty of actors would be caught up in self consciousness but Hamm leans all the way in.

Since finishing the Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe has made a practice of appearing in off-the-wall fare. I didn’t personally think Kimmy needed to have a paramour, and in fact, I rather liked that she didn’t end up with anyone at the end of the original series.

Nevertheless, Prince Frederick is a total weirdo, and on top of that, weirdly perfect for Kimmy. Radcliffe is totally game for whatever nonsense they throw at him, and they throw plenty. His performance is completely joyful.

(If you want to enjoy a particularly off-the-wall moment with Radcliffe, make sure you choose “fancy dress” when given the option; this will increase your likelihood of getting to see him play Prince Frederick and Prince Harry’s long lost father at the wedding finale. And yes, you read that right.)

Speaking of that, this special does an exceptionally good job plotting numerous choices to lead us along similar plot paths. It also manages to keep track of decisions that you make early on in the special and tie them to current events. In plenty of choose-your-own-adventure scenarios, each decision has the most impact on the one or two decisions immediately following it but not much beyond that.

Here, one of the first three decisions I made impacted the outcome of the story; I simply wasn’t aware of the full impact of my choice until much later.

It’s clear that there is an ideal ending for the story: Kimmy marries Frederick while in her fun dress with Jacqueline and Tituss on top of the world professionally. To get to these, you generally need to make the most responsible, selfless decisions. When in doubt, ask yourself, what would Kimmy do? 

I’d recommend running through the special at least once with this in mind, but remember this is a vehicle that rewards multiple viewings. I followed different paths for several hours after getting my first “happy ending.”

There’s a multitude of hidden jokes, including a great bit where Josh Groban’s speaking voice sounds a bit like Kermit the Frog’s and one where Tituss reads a baby (yes, the insult kind of read and yes, at a baby).

The only plot — and really the only jokes — that don’t land as well are in Jacqueline’s story. Certain decisions lead to the ending of Time’s Up and #MeToo, and there’s also one path where Jacqueline pretends she’s been physically attacked by TItuss.

While this show is remarkably glib in tone, given Kimmy’s past and the nature of the Reverend’s crimes against women, this isn’t really humor I could get behind. It’s the one misstep in a special with with plenty of opportunity for error.

Overall though, the interactive special is excellent.

The story, giving Kimmy one last chance to be a hero and help other women begin their journey to freedom and healing, is a more suitable way to bid farewell to our heroine. Here’s to you, next generation of Mole Women. You’re alive, dammit!

Stray observations:

• If you are some kind of monster and try to skip the intro theme song, you are punished (or depending on how you look at it, rewarded?) with an extended cut of the theme song, and seriously, if you don’t finish those two minutes convinced this is one of the greatest theme songs of all time, I simply don’t know what to do with you.
• The writer in Jacqueline’s story reminded me of a spin on Guy In Your MFA and every painful theatre/film class I sat through in college, because yes, there are only two types of women: hookers and mamas.
• Bowen Yang is really having a moment, isn’t he?

What did you think of “Kimmy vs. the Reverend” and what was your favorite path? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is currently streaming on Netflix.

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