Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Goes to a Hotel!

May 8, 2016 8:25 PM - Season 2, Episode 8

Now that we've caught up with the opening scene, the flashback is officially over! Kimmy and Dong talk about Dawson's Creek, practice telephone etiquette, and get a surprising lesson about the human body.
posted by DoctorFedora (5 comments total)

Stray thoughts:

• The running gags on this show only ever seem to last one episode at a time, but they're always so good — the "other characters being reminded of Kimmy by red things" thing was great.

• If Jacqueline is the Dorne of UKS, then I guess that makes Mimi the Oberyn Martell or something. Amy Sedaris is a delight.

• I love Jacqueline's parents so much.

• It's kind of funny how the Big Message this really inconsistent season seems to be "it's okay if it isn't perfect," because the show really loves self-referential meta-humor

• Titus should be allowed to end every episode with a one-liner.

• Five episodes after we're told hamfistedly that we, the audience, were Deeply Moved by Titus's incredible tasteful and sensitive portrayal of another ethnicity, we are reminded* that the one line delivered in actual Japanese at any point is not just an unnatural phrasing ("Murasaki doesn't Christmas") but straight-up said wrong (shimasen pronounced shamisen 'sup transposed vowel sounds) and clearly judged by the creators as "close enough." Cultural sensitivity at its best! Look forward to the season finale for more gross cognitive dissonance on the part of the writers when it comes to race relations!
*for certain values of "reminded" — speaking the language makes it much easier to notice, admittedly.
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:36 PM on May 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

pretty sure the place the hotel was based on was the subject of an FPP I made!
posted by The Whelk at 8:53 PM on May 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

The whole Dawson's Creek bit seemed super forced to me. Like, I get that Kimmy's only cultural referents are going to be 90s for obvious reasons, but that one just went on for WAY too long. (Also every time I see that smug face I remember watching him outside a club inviting a girl into his cab, she goes "ehhh..." he goes "Don't you know who I am?" and she goes "Yep," and walks away. My friend and I nearly wet ourselves laughing.)

Although I thought it was kinda cute how she wanted to have sex, and wanted to do it in a hotel in a grownup way (or the teenager version of a grownup way) and ended up doing it in the back of a car instead. And I really liked when she said "your hands are tied up, which makes me feel safe for some reason." Very subtle way of calling back to the abuse in the bunker while making a larger point about womens safety with men.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:54 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

pretty sure the place the hotel was based on was the subject of an FPP I made!

Oh, I thought it was one of the abandoned Poconos love hotels, probably the Penn Hills Resort. As a devotee of weird early oughts urban explorer blogs, I loved this part of the episode.
posted by Miko at 8:46 PM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

So this was probably Kimmy's first consensual sexual experience, then?

Yeah, that was weird to think.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:42 PM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]