Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Goes To A Play!
April 17, 2016 8:03 PM - Season 2, Episode 3 - Subscribe

Titus does a one woman show on his past life as a geisha. The Internet does not like this. Lillian is against gentrification.
posted by jenfullmoon (20 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well, for those of you who hate the Native American storyline...here's something else you won't like! But that said, I ended up being surprisingly touched by Titus's singing. And him actually having enough self-awareness to realize that everyone is doing his life story in theater already these days.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:07 PM on April 17, 2016 [4 favorites]


We get it, writers. You aren't backing down on the white-person-playing-a-native-American thing, and if we only understood how sincere you are about speaking on behalf of an ethnic group none of you actually belong to, we'd realize what great people you all are. Leave it alone.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:08 AM on April 18, 2016 [13 favorites]


Titus does a one woman show on his past life as a geisha.

This was so very gross.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:48 AM on April 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


White fragility is receiving fairly measured criticism of your handling of race issues and subsequently dedicating an entire episode to knocking down strawman versions of your critics for being oversensitive. It's honestly a little embarrassing to watch.
posted by bettafish at 10:26 AM on April 18, 2016 [20 favorites]


Thankfully, except for when they repeat the opening scene of the first episode this is the last we'll hear of Titus' past lives.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:57 AM on April 18, 2016


yeah wow that was a really dumb side plot

there is a remarkable amount of cognitive dissonance involved if this is the same team of writers who wrote the "how am I even still a thing" bit with the Redskins logo, like they know that it's not popular but fundamentally just don't understand why
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:45 AM on April 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


agh I'm so annoyed in the Jerry Seinfeld "I'm not offended as a Jew, I'm offended as a comedian" sense

like, these writers can clearly do such a good job, and we've seen that demonstrated on numerous occasions, but then they're like "those silly millennials and/or minorities sure do love being offended" (with I guess a crack about transgender-type folks too?) with all the subtlety of an editorial cartoon with everything labeled, and I just start to worry that episode 5 of this season will pivot on how women can't drive and episode 7 will really drive home just how terrible airplane food is
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:15 AM on April 19, 2016 [4 favorites]


For a show nominally about how great the less-fancy parts of New York are due to things like diverse communities, the writers sure do seem to be driving home their lack of familiarity with anyone who doesn't look just like themselves

Okay I think I have everything out of my system now

It's just so frustrating, like a box of chocolates where half of them are just the best chocolates you've ever had and the other half are full of toothpaste
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:21 AM on April 19, 2016 [14 favorites]


The Titus stuff was ill considered, I think. I hope it's not a recurring storyline. I don't necessarily hate stuff I don't agree with politically, but this wasn't funny. It was axe grinding. Well, "Everyone talks like Chandler on the Internet!" was funny. But overall the story seemed to be the writing room getting defensive and shouting down actual criticisms without bothering to tell any jokes that wouldn't be out of place on a New Republic comment thread.
posted by codacorolla at 7:44 AM on April 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


Okay I guess I don't have it all out of my system yet because UGH they made the anti-defamation group's initials "RAPE" and made it obvious through coloration of the text and I just

It drives me nuts with disappointment, like suddenly finding out that your smart, cool, funny new friend has Strong Opinions about "the Jew" and plans to vote for Donald Trump
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:24 PM on April 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


This reminded me of the episode of the West Wing where Aaron Sorkin worked out his feelings about his Television Without Pity meltdown. Just as embarrassing. Yet, even in this episode there were some truly excellent bits. I wish the writers would have just taken the criticism, much of which actually came from fans, and moved on so they could concentrate on the funny stuff.
posted by lunasol at 6:36 PM on April 22, 2016 [6 favorites]


I thought it was funny and sharp satire. & I agree with the criticisms of last season's show. I think the point wasn't that the internet group was wrong, it was that they were overthetop outraged about something tiny and dumb, and obsessed with being pure in a way that is impossible. This does happen. And the touching bits of Titus's ridiculous play were somehow both really touching and hilarious because they were a satire of dumb overly sincere appropriation.

I mean if you can't laugh at "Shut up you Hitlers!", idk.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:10 AM on May 9, 2016


I think the point was that good cultural appropriation trumps the cultural appropriativeness of it, which is not really a point that I agree with.
posted by Etrigan at 8:33 AM on May 9, 2016


I think that's pretty much it. Seemed like the point is that Titus A. actually did his homework and cared very much about the culture he was talking about and B. Was portraying a character very much like himself in a way that only he could because of who he is, which makes it different from, like, hollywood whitewashing.

The play is still a terrible idea and very silly, but it contained something that broke out of the limitations of the format. I'm not sure I agree with that either but I think it's a funny and clever premise. I also think the show poked fun at its own thesis too when the horrible white boy DJ shows up and ruins the vibe by showing how bad CA can be.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:03 AM on May 9, 2016


Website where people are offended by everything is offended by show's side plot about people who are offended by everything.

I thought the writing was kind of clumsy, but did like the intent of the geisha show. But in general, I find a lot of the show's writing clumsy, and that it's saved by leads who know how to deliver their lines.

The society scenes were more genuinely funny.
posted by kanewai at 10:35 AM on May 9, 2016


The needless jab at transgender people ("I'm transracial") seems especially tone-deaf/cognitive-dissonancey once you watch the season finale.
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:10 PM on May 9, 2016


That was a jab at Rachel Dolezal and white people claiming to be transracial.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:15 PM on May 9, 2016


Whatever the intended target, the practical result is that it feels gross in a but-it's-okay-when-I-do-it sort of way once you get to the season finale.
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:38 PM on May 9, 2016


👎 Geisha pastiche

👍 "I thought you were a Jeff Koons sculpture of Ronald McDonald!"
posted by oulipian at 3:45 PM on June 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


I would love this show- if it weren't for the racism. I hate Jacqueline's Native American storyline. I hated Dong's storyline too, and am glad that seems to be over.
posted by daybeforetheday at 3:28 AM on October 15, 2016


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