Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Makes Waffles
March 25, 2015 6:05 AM - Season 1, Episode 13 - Subscribe
Kimmy and the mole-women re-visit the bunker.
Can I just say how much I cheered just seeing the title of this episode?
posted by Navelgazer at 7:52 AM on March 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 7:52 AM on March 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
Karate! Karate! Karate!
posted by nubs at 8:31 AM on March 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by nubs at 8:31 AM on March 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
Random observations:
Lillian and Jacqueline's road trip is so wonderful. For all that Ellie Kemper is perfectly cast and holds the show together, it was Jane Krakowski and Carol Kane who really brought out the sheer absurdity of the scripts for me, and seeing them finally get to play off each other was what made this episode a highlight.
Kimmy bringing down the Reverend with what amounts to a Perry Mason "gotcha" moment was oddly...mundane? for this show. But it was definitely satisfying.
Cyndee measuring their escape by her cell phone reception when her hand is actually above ground is a delightfully understated gag.
I was hoping Yuko would come back in revenge mode at some point in the season. Maybe next year.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:38 AM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Lillian and Jacqueline's road trip is so wonderful. For all that Ellie Kemper is perfectly cast and holds the show together, it was Jane Krakowski and Carol Kane who really brought out the sheer absurdity of the scripts for me, and seeing them finally get to play off each other was what made this episode a highlight.
Kimmy bringing down the Reverend with what amounts to a Perry Mason "gotcha" moment was oddly...mundane? for this show. But it was definitely satisfying.
Cyndee measuring their escape by her cell phone reception when her hand is actually above ground is a delightfully understated gag.
I was hoping Yuko would come back in revenge mode at some point in the season. Maybe next year.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:38 AM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
The moment that struck me the most was when Gretchen realized what was going on seconds before everyone else. It's a crazy moment of clarity in the most brainwashed by the situation. And I missed it on my first watch, it's so subtle.
posted by lawliet at 9:00 AM on March 25, 2015 [18 favorites]
posted by lawliet at 9:00 AM on March 25, 2015 [18 favorites]
So, not a single man is a decent human being in this show? Not the Reverend, not Randy, not Dong, not Buckley with his aspirations to become a villain some day, not even Titus, who helped Kimmy on numerous occasions, but actually is a deadbeat husband?
posted by travelwithcats at 9:00 AM on March 25, 2015
posted by travelwithcats at 9:00 AM on March 25, 2015
I noticed the date on the video right away and I kept yelling at the screen "that's the day right before he said the world would end! And he's sending reality show audition tapes!" Sadly somehow they couldn't hear me.
posted by kmz at 9:03 AM on March 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by kmz at 9:03 AM on March 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
"Gay marriage is legal now. Read a newspaper."
The UKS trial made the trial on Broadchurch look believable!
For anyone interested in location trivia the scenes on the courthouse steps were filmed at the First Niagara bank in Nyack, NY, which was a Marine Midland bank when I opened an account there before Kimmy was kidnapped.
posted by plastic_animals at 9:03 AM on March 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
The UKS trial made the trial on Broadchurch look believable!
For anyone interested in location trivia the scenes on the courthouse steps were filmed at the First Niagara bank in Nyack, NY, which was a Marine Midland bank when I opened an account there before Kimmy was kidnapped.
posted by plastic_animals at 9:03 AM on March 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
So, not a single man is a decent human being in this show? Not the Reverend, not Randy, not Dong, not Buckley with his aspirations to become a villain some day, not even Titus, who helped Kimmy on numerous occasions, but actually is a deadbeat husband?
As opposed to its staggering array of stellar female role models? Seriously, the list of unimpeachably decent human beings in this series is also its title.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:05 AM on March 25, 2015 [23 favorites]
As opposed to its staggering array of stellar female role models? Seriously, the list of unimpeachably decent human beings in this series is also its title.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:05 AM on March 25, 2015 [23 favorites]
Wait, I think Dong is still okay? I guess depends on how you feel about avoiding stupid immigration laws.
posted by tchemgrrl at 9:12 AM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by tchemgrrl at 9:12 AM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I think Dong is okay, and I don't think we were supposed to take Charles as a bad guy, stuff just got awkward.
Ed Hardy, on the other hand, is just awful.
Also, I so, so, so loved the deal Kimmy makes with Gretchen, the flipside of the awful "deal" the Reverend had made with her, but Kimmy sticking by her willingness to risk herself for others but not others for herself.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:16 AM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ed Hardy, on the other hand, is just awful.
Also, I so, so, so loved the deal Kimmy makes with Gretchen, the flipside of the awful "deal" the Reverend had made with her, but Kimmy sticking by her willingness to risk herself for others but not others for herself.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:16 AM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Also decent:
- The construction guy in the yellow hat
- Le Loup and Felicia
- The owner of Professor Dracula's Spooky Laboratory and Bar and Grill
- Gary, Titus's coworker at Professor Dracula's Spooky Laboratory and Bar and Grill
posted by mochapickle at 9:22 AM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
- The construction guy in the yellow hat
- Le Loup and Felicia
- The owner of Professor Dracula's Spooky Laboratory and Bar and Grill
- Gary, Titus's coworker at Professor Dracula's Spooky Laboratory and Bar and Grill
posted by mochapickle at 9:22 AM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Murmur murmur murmur murmur
posted by nubs at 9:29 AM on March 25, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by nubs at 9:29 AM on March 25, 2015 [9 favorites]
Karate! Karate! Karate!
Do the Reverend and Devin Banks go to the same dojo?
posted by cottoncandybeard at 10:13 AM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Do the Reverend and Devin Banks go to the same dojo?
posted by cottoncandybeard at 10:13 AM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
So I loved so much about this episode (Gretchen! Jacqueline and Lillian's road trip! I am totally using "I'm gonna make waffles out of _____" forever!) and then...then they left Jacqueline where they did.
I feel like that leaves them open to all but abandon the character in season two ("She's in a sweat lodge in Montana"), but I can't see how they'd give up Jane Krakowski, who is so adept at being straightforwardly daft. Which means my fear that they'll double down on her Native American storyline might come true (she'll come back full of spiritual enlightenment or something) and man, I'm still not comfortable with that whole hot mess, I'm just not.
And yet I am still rewatching the darn thing and looking forward to season two. It's a dilemma.
posted by angeline at 1:38 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like that leaves them open to all but abandon the character in season two ("She's in a sweat lodge in Montana"), but I can't see how they'd give up Jane Krakowski, who is so adept at being straightforwardly daft. Which means my fear that they'll double down on her Native American storyline might come true (she'll come back full of spiritual enlightenment or something) and man, I'm still not comfortable with that whole hot mess, I'm just not.
And yet I am still rewatching the darn thing and looking forward to season two. It's a dilemma.
posted by angeline at 1:38 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Reverend Ricard Wayne Gary Wayne is basically an evil Andy Dwyer.
posted by The Whelk at 9:47 PM on March 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:47 PM on March 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
Kat Chow has a qualified defense of Dong on today's NPR's Code Switch blog:
The problem with Dong isn't that he's unrealistic. It's that we've seen the broad strokes of this character before, and in a landscape this limited, that grates, even if this show is doing something interesting with him.
posted by bibliowench at 8:41 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
The problem with Dong isn't that he's unrealistic. It's that we've seen the broad strokes of this character before, and in a landscape this limited, that grates, even if this show is doing something interesting with him.
posted by bibliowench at 8:41 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Which I now see that ChuraChura already linked to in a previous thread.
posted by bibliowench at 8:43 AM on March 26, 2015
posted by bibliowench at 8:43 AM on March 26, 2015
One thing that I really like about Kimmy as a character is that clearly her pop culture background is stuck in the 90s, but it's not a broad 90s pastiche like the Goldbergs is towards the 80s. Kimmy was clearly a kid who watched way too much MTV, particularly hip hop shows, but she seems to have had no interest in grunge.
posted by drezdn at 8:48 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 8:48 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I wonder if it was calculated or just lucky that Kimmy's specific 90s background matches the recurrent re-appreciation of 90s hip Hop and R&B
posted by The Whelk at 8:55 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:55 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also decent: That guy in the opening credits who tries to warn Titus about viral fame.
posted by Dr. Zira at 11:10 AM on March 26, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Dr. Zira at 11:10 AM on March 26, 2015 [11 favorites]
Which means my fear that they'll double down on her Native American storyline might come true (she'll come back full of spiritual enlightenment or something) and man, I'm still not comfortable with that whole hot mess, I'm just not.
That storyline is the one that keeps making me cringe throughout this final episode. And the fact that they specifically, just before the fight with the mascot, pointed out the myriad ways that Native Americans have had their culture appropriated and represented ("played by Mexicans on TV") while having a white actor portray one in that scene just really ramped it up. But it also got me scratching my head, because if the writers are self-aware enough to write in that line, then I have to believe they are self-aware enough to see what they are doing broadly with this storyline.
So my hope/strange assumption is that she goes back to reconnect with her family and the reveal is that she is white, adopted by a Native American family. That would just double down on the ongoing identity question (which is an important theme for the show overall), and maybe allow it to move forward in some way. Maybe. I don't know, the whole thing just feels like a minefield and I wish they hadn't gone there.
Not the Reverend, not Randy, not Dong, not Buckley with his aspirations to become a villain some day, not even Titus, who helped Kimmy on numerous occasions, but actually is a deadbeat husband?
Everyone on this show is damaged in some way, and it's about how that can (or doesn't) shape your identity. With what I view as the show's three main characters for season 1 (Kimmy, Jacqueline, and Titus), there's been some level of confrontation with that. Kimmy went back to confront the Reverend and the bunker and emerged as unbroken as she did the first time - but having the confrontation rather than running from it was important to keeping her the same person; Jacqueline confronted her sham of a marriage and began working towards defining her identity because she didn't have one beyond defining herself in relationship to everyone else. Titus decided to keep working on his dream of being an actor very early on (which was his mild identity crisis), but (despite hints) he's never really confronted the difficult past he had; now it's here, and he has no choice any longer.
It's in how these characters confront and deal with their pasts and their damage that determines who is decent, and who isn't. If Kimmy had continued to avoid her past, she would've not been the character who has helped others through these moments. Kimmy being around is why Titus and Jacqueline have started their movement, but (unless this show is really going to change thematically) each is still going to face these moments and choose to either display integrity or continue the damage.
posted by nubs at 11:30 AM on March 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
That storyline is the one that keeps making me cringe throughout this final episode. And the fact that they specifically, just before the fight with the mascot, pointed out the myriad ways that Native Americans have had their culture appropriated and represented ("played by Mexicans on TV") while having a white actor portray one in that scene just really ramped it up. But it also got me scratching my head, because if the writers are self-aware enough to write in that line, then I have to believe they are self-aware enough to see what they are doing broadly with this storyline.
So my hope/strange assumption is that she goes back to reconnect with her family and the reveal is that she is white, adopted by a Native American family. That would just double down on the ongoing identity question (which is an important theme for the show overall), and maybe allow it to move forward in some way. Maybe. I don't know, the whole thing just feels like a minefield and I wish they hadn't gone there.
Not the Reverend, not Randy, not Dong, not Buckley with his aspirations to become a villain some day, not even Titus, who helped Kimmy on numerous occasions, but actually is a deadbeat husband?
Everyone on this show is damaged in some way, and it's about how that can (or doesn't) shape your identity. With what I view as the show's three main characters for season 1 (Kimmy, Jacqueline, and Titus), there's been some level of confrontation with that. Kimmy went back to confront the Reverend and the bunker and emerged as unbroken as she did the first time - but having the confrontation rather than running from it was important to keeping her the same person; Jacqueline confronted her sham of a marriage and began working towards defining her identity because she didn't have one beyond defining herself in relationship to everyone else. Titus decided to keep working on his dream of being an actor very early on (which was his mild identity crisis), but (despite hints) he's never really confronted the difficult past he had; now it's here, and he has no choice any longer.
It's in how these characters confront and deal with their pasts and their damage that determines who is decent, and who isn't. If Kimmy had continued to avoid her past, she would've not been the character who has helped others through these moments. Kimmy being around is why Titus and Jacqueline have started their movement, but (unless this show is really going to change thematically) each is still going to face these moments and choose to either display integrity or continue the damage.
posted by nubs at 11:30 AM on March 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
I bet Jane K is gone next season. She's great in the early eps but as you say they wrote themselves into a corner with her background and in general Kimmy doesn't need the same job situation to interact with in new york. Plus, Tina Fey probably wants to move beyond references to her old show. She's like the Rachel Dratch appearances in S.1 of 30 Rock.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:26 PM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:26 PM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
My kids and I have been enjoying this, me with more reservations than them. But I was amused when we were dropping the youngest at gymnastics practice today, and my 11yo said, "Troll the respawn, Jeremy," and the 7yo said it back, as their way of saying good-bye.
posted by not that girl at 8:37 PM on March 26, 2015 [30 favorites]
posted by not that girl at 8:37 PM on March 26, 2015 [30 favorites]
That's literally the cutest thing I've ever heard.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:02 AM on March 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:02 AM on March 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
As opposed to its staggering array of stellar female role models? Seriously, the list of unimpeachably decent human beings in this series is also its title.
Take back what you just said about my hero Lillian Kauschtupper RIGHT NOW.
he says, sanding off his fingerprints
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:27 PM on March 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
Take back what you just said about my hero Lillian Kauschtupper RIGHT NOW.
he says, sanding off his fingerprints
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:27 PM on March 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
My kids and I have been enjoying this, me with more reservations than them. But I was amused when we were dropping the youngest at gymnastics practice today, and my 11yo said, "Troll the respawn, Jeremy," and the 7yo said it back, as their way of saying good-bye.
This reminds me of how my brother and I spoke about 50% in Simpsons quotes to each other for about 4 years when we were kids/teens. Pop culture: overcoming sibling rivalry for decades!
posted by lunasol at 10:49 AM on March 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
This reminds me of how my brother and I spoke about 50% in Simpsons quotes to each other for about 4 years when we were kids/teens. Pop culture: overcoming sibling rivalry for decades!
posted by lunasol at 10:49 AM on March 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
My favorite quotes:
"Where are all his geodes and gymnastic ribbons?"
"I know some of those words!"
In Spanish: "Do you think this penis cake has nuts in it?"
"You always thought you were better than us, like that stuck-up owl from the Tootsie Pop commercial."
"Look, I've got mole sauce to sell."
"I have a car like Gizmo."
[redirecting to nearest tampon store]
"Well, I got a home crank..."
"Bunnies can be very mean."
"Well its a long story, but here goes: I was 11 pounds at birth..."
"This is Vonda, my wife." "Foop."
And that Rick mix!
posted by sweetmarie at 7:52 PM on March 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
"Where are all his geodes and gymnastic ribbons?"
"I know some of those words!"
In Spanish: "Do you think this penis cake has nuts in it?"
"You always thought you were better than us, like that stuck-up owl from the Tootsie Pop commercial."
"Look, I've got mole sauce to sell."
"I have a car like Gizmo."
[redirecting to nearest tampon store]
"Well, I got a home crank..."
"Bunnies can be very mean."
"Well its a long story, but here goes: I was 11 pounds at birth..."
"This is Vonda, my wife." "Foop."
And that Rick mix!
posted by sweetmarie at 7:52 PM on March 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Re-watching episode 5, Titus actually casually mentions feeling guilty about abandoning his wife when Kimmy mentions feeling guilty about about leaving Cyndee.
posted by drezdn at 7:36 PM on March 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by drezdn at 7:36 PM on March 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I never really got how that was supposed to be so "WHAAAAA?!?" as they seemed to want to make it, especially in a show that they knew people were going to be bingewatching, so Titus's BIG REVEAL had been spoiled, like, before lunch that same day.
posted by Etrigan at 8:11 PM on March 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 8:11 PM on March 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
And episode 7, when Titus is planning his outfit for singing at the party: "I bet I can still fit into my tuxedo from my weddin... ♫ ding dong, ding dong, Bells are fun to listen to!♪ ♫ ♬ "
posted by mochapickle at 7:36 AM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 7:36 AM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
They mentioned Titus's wife at least twice before this episode, so it's not a big reveal. It's just news to Kimmy.
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:27 AM on April 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:27 AM on April 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
They mentioned Titus's wife at least twice before this episode, so it's not a big reveal. It's just news to Kimmy.
I feel like when the audience knows something, it's a little underwhelming to use it as a season-ending revelation, unless it's something key to the overall plot. Titus having been married doesn't rise to that level of importance to me.
posted by Etrigan at 5:32 PM on April 4, 2015
I feel like when the audience knows something, it's a little underwhelming to use it as a season-ending revelation, unless it's something key to the overall plot. Titus having been married doesn't rise to that level of importance to me.
posted by Etrigan at 5:32 PM on April 4, 2015
It wasn't really a season-ending revelation, though? Just a plot twist. Next year Titus' wife will know that he's still alive (and presumably where he lives).
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:39 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:39 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I can't see how they'd give up Jane Krakowski, who is so adept at being straightforwardly daft. Which means my fear that they'll double down on her Native American storyline might come true (she'll come back full of spiritual enlightenment or something)
Yeah maybe.. but she'd do it up Jacqueline style, meaning Not Getting It At All.
Honestly, I'm worried about S2. This season has just been so consistently brilliantly done (especially the creeping undertones of the absolute horror living behind THAT SMILE OH KIMMY JUST SMILE AT ME MORE AND MAKE THE WORLD OKAY ahem), even with its few misses, that I am apprehensive that they'll be able to catch this particular lightning in another 13 bottles. I was trying to explain to a friend of mine why he had to stop doing everything and binge watch NOW and explained it as "well like, imagine if the very best bits of Community and 30 Rock had sex, ok? Their kid is this show."
I'm kind of worried that the next season will be Community S3.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:13 PM on April 20, 2015
Yeah maybe.. but she'd do it up Jacqueline style, meaning Not Getting It At All.
Honestly, I'm worried about S2. This season has just been so consistently brilliantly done (especially the creeping undertones of the absolute horror living behind THAT SMILE OH KIMMY JUST SMILE AT ME MORE AND MAKE THE WORLD OKAY ahem), even with its few misses, that I am apprehensive that they'll be able to catch this particular lightning in another 13 bottles. I was trying to explain to a friend of mine why he had to stop doing everything and binge watch NOW and explained it as "well like, imagine if the very best bits of Community and 30 Rock had sex, ok? Their kid is this show."
I'm kind of worried that the next season will be Community S3.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:13 PM on April 20, 2015
That would have to be a pretty big gas leak.
posted by bibliowench at 11:21 PM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by bibliowench at 11:21 PM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'd read about this show and I was concerned mostly about the depictions of Lakota people but I finally decided to take the plunge (mostly because I'd read Jane Krawkowski was speaking Lakota and I wanted to hear her fuck it up) but I got sucked in... as with 30 Rock, I got sucked into the story and the power of the players. Jackie Lynn's story is a story of passing, a story of forgetting yourself and then finding yourself again. I pass, as white, every day and all day and I loved this series for stomping on the fucking mascot! I am not your mascot! HOKAHE!
posted by blessedlyndie at 7:05 PM on May 18, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by blessedlyndie at 7:05 PM on May 18, 2015 [6 favorites]
I love the series as a whole, but these last two episodes, ugh. The courtroom scenes felt like the same two or three jokes over and over, through *three* episodes. Titus and Kimmy's step-father got a little repetitive too. On the plus side, at least we got more Carol Kane than usual.
If Jane Krakowski isn't in season 2 that could be a problem--she's one of the best things about the show.
posted by jjwiseman at 10:32 PM on May 30, 2015
If Jane Krakowski isn't in season 2 that could be a problem--she's one of the best things about the show.
posted by jjwiseman at 10:32 PM on May 30, 2015
I've been re(re)watching, and have decided that while Kimmy is the main character, Titus is actually the most interesting. She had a horrible thing happen to her, and everything comes from that. (Side note: that speech she gave to Jacqueline a few episodes back, "That's what women do" was the most blatanly feminist thing I've ever seen on TV. MOAR PLS).
Titus, however.. he's seriously, incredibly talented. He's amazing. And he's living in his own bunker in his head--he's continually ground down by being older and black and not particularly svelte and still having this incredible, unbelievable voice. There's a dark meditation there on how fame and success are such terribly ephemeral things that really have very little to do with actual talent or merit.
I'm really looking forward to S2. And for those who worry, Krakowski is signed on and filming.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:08 PM on October 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Titus, however.. he's seriously, incredibly talented. He's amazing. And he's living in his own bunker in his head--he's continually ground down by being older and black and not particularly svelte and still having this incredible, unbelievable voice. There's a dark meditation there on how fame and success are such terribly ephemeral things that really have very little to do with actual talent or merit.
I'm really looking forward to S2. And for those who worry, Krakowski is signed on and filming.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:08 PM on October 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Netflix picks up third season (second season was part of the initial pickup).
posted by Etrigan at 1:37 PM on January 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 1:37 PM on January 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Pinot by Tituss (autoplaying audio after age check) is apparently now a real thing.
posted by sparklemotion at 2:07 PM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by sparklemotion at 2:07 PM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
omg Gretchen
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 3:37 PM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 3:37 PM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
That was my EXACT REACTION did you clap your hands to your cheeks in horrified delight too????
Definitely brought back Jacqueline, which, okay. Let's see what happens.
posted by angeline at 2:59 PM on March 15, 2016 [3 favorites]
Definitely brought back Jacqueline, which, okay. Let's see what happens.
posted by angeline at 2:59 PM on March 15, 2016 [3 favorites]
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posted by drezdn at 6:05 AM on March 25, 2015