Feeeemales Are Strong As Hell - Season One (as a whole) Discussion

[Skittl1321]

I just finished binge watching the series. I enjoyed it, and it was mostly funny.

 

But something that bothered me the entire time- it is clearly set in the present (our close to it, as they do make references to things in the late 2000s).

 

So why was Kimmie acting like she was kidnapped in the 80s? She had a walkman!  If she was in the bunker for 15 years, she was kidnapped in 2000.  The internet was definitely a thing then, with most people having moved off Prodigy and onto bigger and better AOL with IM, a huge number of people had cell phones, and the disc-man had taken over years ago- you could even burn CDs by then.

[ruby24]

I posted in the finale thread, but I guess I'll ask here too- we're supposed to think the Reverend had sex with the girls in the bunker, right? Given all of Kimmie's trauma that was hinted at, and the whole premise of a crazy guy kidnapping teenage girls and holding them captive for years, it seems hard to get around that part of it- even though it was never stated explicitly.

[ApathyMonger]

So why was Kimmie acting like she was kidnapped in the 80s? She had a walkman!  If she was in the bunker for 15 years, she was kidnapped in 2000.  The internet was definitely a thing then, with most people having moved off Prodigy and onto bigger and better AOL with IM, a huge number of people had cell phones, and the disc-man had taken over years ago- you could even burn CDs by then.

 

They said she was kidnapped in 1998. Most people (especially teenagers) would still have been using casettes then, and cell phones wouldn't have been common for another few years.

[paramitch]

To echo many others, I loved the start of the season, but it really went downhill in those final trial episodes. Ugh. 

 

If you'd asked me what I thought based on the first 4, 5, or 6 eps I would have said that I adore this show, and what a great and creative premise.

 

But after bingewatching season 1, I have no plans to keep watching. I really hated where they chose to take the show, which took a nosedive for me in episode 7 or so and never really recovered.

 

I loved the first half of the season because it walked the line and managed to be charming and to embrace the best in the protagonist. The fish out of water in NYC was genuinely fun and even managed to richly parody several other shows including "Sex and the City" in really clever ways.

 

But the final few episodes epitomized the cartoonish aspects I hated (and epitomized aspects of "30 Rock" that made me quit the show repeatedly). The show's handling of the kidnapping, imprisonment and implied rape of these women (including Kimmy as a freaking 14 year-old girl) just went over the top for me here. There is just nothing funny there.

 

At first, I was fine with them not making a huge issue of the kidnapping in the early episodes, as we got the definite sense of what Kimmy had survived and we took it seriously thanks to simply watching her try to get back into society and to overcome her legitimate PTSD. It was quietly poignant without belaboring the point.

 

Then the halfway point hit, and suddenly it was like the show found the entire kidnapping hilarious. As others have commented, the final 3 eps actually felt like something out of SNL, it was so broadly done. The showrunners actually including that as a subplot I feel was a huge, huge mistake and misstep. 

 

Ultimately, they took a lighthearted show and made it look truly creepy and stupid. The first 6-7 episodes of Kimmy as a fish out of water were delightful. The final 6 episodes of Kimmy facing her experiences with a cartoonish pout and ridiculously unbelievable attorneys (and fellow victims incapable of honest testimony) was just really unpleasant and gross to watch.

 

I'm just so disappointed. I liked the show and loved the actors in the lead roles and it was such a treat to discover this happy little fluffy diversion -- and I'm happy for the fact that this is a starmaking turn for the wonderful and adorable Ellie Kemper -- but the decisions in the show's final half of the season I found really unpleasant and hard to watch (as was the laughable and ultimately insulting "native American" subplot for Jane Krakowski.

 

I'm just so disappointed right now. I loved the show. Then all too quickly went from bingewatching to cringewatching.

Edited March 22, 2015 by paramitch

[Nanrad]

I get that's she is supposedly unbreakable, but a real person wouldn't be this upbeat after being held captive and forced to do "weird sex stuff" for 15 years, and I guess that's my issue with really being able to fully enjoy the show. YMMV.

See, I always interpreted that as her having weird sex with her fellow Mole Women. And based on the trial, it seems as if the Reverend didn't even touch them--perhaps the reverend forced them to touch one another. 

 

I just finished binge watching the series. I enjoyed it, and it was mostly funny.

 

But something that bothered me the entire time- it is clearly set in the present (our close to it, as they do make references to things in the late 2000s).

 

So why was Kimmie acting like she was kidnapped in the 80s? She had a walkman!  If she was in the bunker for 15 years, she was kidnapped in 2000.  The internet was definitely a thing then, with most people having moved off Prodigy and onto bigger and better AOL with IM, a huge number of people had cell phones, and the disc-man had taken over years ago- you could even burn CDs by then.

The Internet was a thing, but not everyone or most people had computers or access to them. My house didn't get a computer/Internet until around 04/05-ish. Sure, I had access through my friend and perhaps my school. But, it wasn't constant or regular use and it would also depend on the school. With the introduction of CD players, there is still a transition phase. iPod's have been out since like 00/01, but I didn't get one until 08 (I believe some even still use CD players). And that's because they were/are super expensive--I believe CD players used to be very expensive, but not as expensive as iPod's.

 

They said she was kidnapped in 1998. Most people (especially teenagers) would still have been using casettes then, and cell phones wouldn't have been common for another few years.

I'm confused, was she kidnapped in 98 or 00? 

 

I enjoy the show in parts, but the end of the season really did take a nosedive. I really liked tutor dude and wish that they would've kept him around and made jokes about his lack of purpose because the kid wasn't around anymore or make off screen references to the kid. Their "break up" just felt out of character, not that he'd react with a side eye just his "I want to have fun" thing. Logan seemed really normal and level headed, until Dong as a second interest was introduced and I didn't seem where his intense feelings came from so I wasn't invested in him. He was adorable and sweet, but I didn't know why I should've root for them. I wished that the tutor and Logan hadn't gotten involved with Kimmy and just had better send offs than they did. Like they were just interested and found her "quirks" endearing, but realized that she wasn't ready to date.

 

The trial episodes mostly bothered me because of the flat out incompetence and that it was just being played for laughs. I understand that it's a comedy, but kidnapping is a pretty dark matter and several of the Reverend's arguments could be easily refuted. I don't even understand his motive either. 

[Skittl1321]

They said she was kidnapped in 1998. Most people (especially teenagers) would still have been using casettes then, and cell phones wouldn't have been common for another few years.

 

I was a teenager in 1998, I'm basically the age of the character. My car had a cassette player, but it was horribly out of date and my friends made fun of me for it , and I actually had to go BUY cassettes for it because it had been so long since I had one (I kept a discman on the passenger seat- but off course those skipped really badly).

 

She may not have had a cell phone, but by then they were already a problem at my school- so the idea of having one wasn't unknown.

 

I lived in fly-over country, it wasn't like I was in LA or NYC.

 

The show had her trapped in the 80s for quite a few things.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Skittl1321

[Glory]

I don't know. I am the same age as Kimmie and I think a TON of the jokes landed! Mmmbop and the "I don't know what Hanson's current hits are now!" slayed me! 

 

I binge watched the entire season yesterday and while the trial episodes were my least favorite, I really loved the show as a whole. Titus is spectacular! I want more of him. 

 

I even think that that Kimmie's relationship with Dong is super sweet. Though, Buckley's tutor from the first two episodes seemed as if he had potential and then BAM he was gone. When you binge watch a show, those kinds of tonal shifts can be especially jarring. Maybe since the second season will be developed for Netflix will get less of that. 

[Flannery Tanner]

I get that's she is supposedly unbreakable, but a real person wouldn't be this upbeat after being held captive and forced to do "weird sex stuff" for 15 years, and I guess that's my issue with really being able to fully enjoy the show. YMMV.

 

 

I posted in the finale thread, but I guess I'll ask here too- we're supposed to think the Reverend had sex with the girls in the bunker, right? Given all of Kimmie's trauma that was hinted at, and the whole premise of a crazy guy kidnapping teenage girls and holding them captive for years, it seems hard to get around that part of it- even though it was never stated explicitly.

 

 

See, I always interpreted that as her having weird sex with her fellow Mole Women. And based on the trial, it seems as if the Reverend didn't even touch them--perhaps the reverend forced them to touch one another.

That's how I interpreted it, that the Mole Women did "weird sex stuff" with each other. I don't think the reverend did anything (sexual) to them, and I don't think he made them do things with each other. I think it went along with the role-playing dates together and that sort of thing.

[Kel Varnsen]

 

 

 

 

That's how I interpreted it, that the Mole Women did "weird sex stuff" with each other. I don't think the reverend did anything (sexual) to them, and I don't think he made them do things with each other. I think it went along with the role-playing dates together and that sort of thing.

Wasn't there a line in one of the later episodes, where one of the Mole Women says to another one "I can't believe I made out with you! "(that made me laugh). Although that doesn't really explain why Kimmy thinking taking things to the next level means knocking your partner out.

[xander874]

I agree that some of the pre-kidnapped references seemed too early although I can't really think of any specifically (except maybe the CDs - I was in college in the early/mid 90s and had tons of CDs as did all my friends). I just chalk it up to small-town-ness and don't worry too much.

 

The pacing and quirkiness and even the upbeat background music remind me so much of 30 Rock. I can't really add much to what others have said. I do hope they back away from the bunker a bit next season. I think it is pretty much wrapped up, so I would like them to concentrate on New York Kimmy (with the occasional appearance by the bunker brides). The thing is, I found myself enjoying the non-Kimmy plots a lot more in some episodes (especially Titus as an old man) so I hope they can move on from the past as much as possible without forgetting it.

[Sakura12]

 Although that doesn't really explain why Kimmy thinking taking things to the next level means knocking your partner out.

 

That's what made me think that the Reverend liked them unconscious when he had sex with them. That might be too dark for this show though. But my mind went there.

 

I also think Kimmy is suppressing everything that happened to her, trying to ignore it and move on with her life. I did like the early episodes that did address that she was suffering from PTSD, by almost killing Titus while sleepwalking and going into sudden fits of rage. That's why the cartoonish trial bothered me, they were able to kind of handle the dark side of the kidnapping without getting to deep into it because Kimmy didn't want too. Then they ruined it with that SNL skit of a trial where they tried to make everything a big joke. They should've just skipped making the trial a big part of the episodes and just said Kimmy testified and the Reverend was found guilty off screen. 

[Janet Snakehole]

That's what made me think that the Reverend liked them unconscious when he had sex with them. That might be too dark for this show though. But my mind went there.

 

I also think Kimmy is suppressing everything that happened to her, trying to ignore it and move on with her life. I did like the early episodes that did address that she was suffering from PTSD, by almost killing Titus while sleepwalking and going into sudden fits of rage. That's why the cartoonish trial bothered me, they were able to kind of handle the dark side of the kidnapping without getting to deep into it because Kimmy didn't want too. Then they ruined it with that SNL skit of a trial where they tried to make everything a big joke. They should've just skipped making the trial a big part of the episodes and just said Kimmy testified and the Reverend was found guilty off screen.

Yup, this pretty much sums up how I feel about it all. I have nothing against dark humor, I love It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for example. But they kind of straddled the line with the reverend, instead of going all the way dark the SNL skit of a trial just made things not add up at all.

Also, I got the impression that the Mole Women were at least forced to do stuff together by the reverend, especially because it was Donna Maria who said the making out thing. If she was pretending to not know English why would she go along with their weird scenarios, like Kimmy and Cindy and the date thing?And I think being forced to do stuff with the other women would be traumatic even if the reverend did not do anything himself.

[ruby24]

And I don't think they can really sidestep the fact of the reverend doing things himself to them, because why else does a man kidnap three teenage girls and hold them captive for years? It's always for one thing in the end, there's no getting around it. Maybe so much focus on the trial in the last few episodes is what kept that underlying factor the elephant in the room- I kept thinking if they just brought any of that up it'd be enough to lock him away in an instant.

[Spencer Hastings]

I don't know. I am the same age as Kimmie and I think a TON of the jokes landed! Mmmbop and the "I don't know what Hanson's current hits are now!" slayed me! 

 

This killed me.  I grew up reading The Babysitters Club, so I was already feeling like Kimmy was my soulmate, but when she referenced Mmmbop, I was gone.

 

But I could definitely tell her Hanson's current best songs.  

[janie jones]

They said she was kidnapped in 1998. Most people (especially teenagers) would still have been using casettes then, and cell phones wouldn't have been common for another few years.

That Walkman she uses is Titus's.  The real question is why is Titus still getting cassettes from Columbia House?  (Aside from the fact that both of them are too poor to buy an iPod.)  But also, my last car, which I just got rid of last year, had a tape player in it, and it was a 2003.  I was regularly listening to tapes until 2014, so the idea of someone using a Walkman in 1998 isn't that strange to me.  I'm pretty sure I was using a Walkman in 1998, even though I also had a CD player.

 

Thank you to whoever said Jon Hamm looks like Fred Flintstone.  It's exactly true.

[tennisgurl]

Hanson is actually pretty good these days! They have had a decent amount of success as an Indie band. Go figure, right?

 

Yeah, like everyone else who binged, the whole show is pretty much perfect, except the last few episodes. Those were pretty awful. WAY too broad and unfunny. I found myself just getting pissed off, not laughing. But even they had a few nice moments here and there, and I`m still excited to see where they go next season, when they know that they're a Netflix show.  

[DrSpaceman]

That's what made me think that the Reverend liked them unconscious when he had sex with them. That might be too dark for this show though. But my mind went there.

 

I also think Kimmy is suppressing everything that happened to her, trying to ignore it and move on with her life. I did like the early episodes that did address that she was suffering from PTSD, by almost killing Titus while sleepwalking and going into sudden fits of rage. That's why the cartoonish trial bothered me, they were able to kind of handle the dark side of the kidnapping without getting to deep into it because Kimmy didn't want too. Then they ruined it with that SNL skit of a trial where they tried to make everything a big joke. They should've just skipped making the trial a big part of the episodes and just said Kimmy testified and the Reverend was found guilty off screen.

I agree about the 30 Rock vibe and its very much the music

Also agree the trial lacked something, in particular the two prosecuting lawyers just weren't that funny. Hard to believe Tina Fey was one of the weakest parts of the show, but its true here.

If you really think about it, the very basis of the show is cliched : small town girl moves to NYC, moves in with a gay best friend and works for a rich white woman in a bad marriage due to her husband cheating. Even the "marrying someone to stay in the country" cliche was thrown in. They just do it all so much better than most shows though.

And the accents bug me. I eventually just ignored it and got over it, but Kimmy's and her father-in-laws accent as well is much more Minnesota than Indiana.

[bettername2come]

This killed me.  I grew up reading The Babysitters Club, so I was already feeling like Kimmy was my soulmate, but when she referenced Mmmbop, I was gone.

 

But I could definitely tell her Hanson's current best songs.  

Are you me? Because I was definitely thinking the same thing. And suddenly I want Hanson to guest star next season.

[Spencer Hastings]

Are you me? Because I was definitely thinking the same thing. And suddenly I want Hanson to guest star next season.

Haha, we should totally get the ball rolling on this! Let's start a campaign and I'll present it when I see them in May!

[Portia]

That Walkman she uses is Titus's.  The real question is why is Titus still getting cassettes from Columbia House?  (Aside from the fact that both of them are too poor to buy an iPod.) 

They're also too poor to have a computer and internet in their apartment, so that would make downloading music problematic.

 

I have a question about the images/clips in the opening credits, which of course I'm obsessed with. (I've seen all 13 episodes and have probably watched the credits 24 times, because once is seldom enough.)  I know that the little girl in the cowboy hat is Ellie Kemper, but are the next two shots her as well? Then we get a black-and-white clip of two girls dancing, and my husband pointed out that the one on the left really looks like Jane Krakowski--does everyone agree with us on that? So what about the shot after that, of a little one in a snow suit falling flat on her face. Does anyone have verification that that child is a cast member? It'd make my whole life if it were Carol Kane.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Portia

[arc]

I have a question about the images/clips in the opening credits, which of course I'm obsessed with. (I've seen all 13 episodes and have probably watched the credits 24 times, because once is seldom enough.) I know that the little girl in the cowboy hat is Ellie Kemper, but are the new two shots her as well?

Well, the hula-hooping girl is definitely stock footage; it's even already been used in the title sequence for The Americans. So probably a few other clips are stock footage too.

[janie jones]

They're also too poor to have a computer and internet in their apartment, so that would make downloading music problematic.

I was going to mention that too, but Titus has a library card and uses it.  I don't know if the library lets you download stuff though.

[Dev F]

I've seen a lot of people theorize that the "weird sex stuff" was among the girls and not with Rev. Richard. Am I the only one who thinks it's totally creepy for the show to suggest that when a gross middle-aged man kidnaps a bunch of teenage girls and holds them prisoner for fifteen years, maybe he was chaste as a priest and the girls sexually traumatized each other?

 

It's as if, in its desire to turn the reverend into a lovable Jon Hamm character, the series is validating the sort of victim-blaming deflections the real Rev. Richards of the world would offer in their own defense. Which is especially frustrating after the early episodes of the season deal in such a frank but humorous way with the possibility of sexual trauma.

[lucindabelle]

There was weird sex stuff but maybe not all the time. None of them gave birth down there.

Where did the reverend get the dresses? I want a flashback of him ordering them up throb a catalogue,

Also he was manipulative but kim my spoke back to him which suggests it was more brainwashing than beating.

I moved to NYC from Alabama in 2004. I had to explain to someone at a Starbucks in Harlem what an iPod was.

In 2000 most people running would have had a Walkman. A portable CD player skipped when jolted. iPods were brand new.

Many cars came with cd players but almost none had usb connections. Yiu had to use a cassette device that attached to your iPod or some radio crap that never worked.

Yes the internet was around in 98 but much more email than web. Loads of places still thought web was just for selling things. I remember using Emil at Internet cafes and being on Usenet groups.

It all changed in just a few years but those years were key to miss.

[CofCinci]

That Walkman she uses is Titus's.  The real question is why is Titus still getting cassettes from Columbia House? 

I know I'm not the only person to do this.... but, way back when, you could sign up for Columbia House with fake names and never pay for the cassettes.  That's so Titus.

Edited April 3, 2015 by CofCinci

[sjohnson]

Not blown away, although I enjoyed the show. Binge watching it with Deadbeat on Hulu and I don't see that much difference in quality. 

 

Don't find Titus Andromedon endlessly funny. In fact, he's most appealing when he sings and for me his series high point was singing at the party where Jane was trying to catch the husband. 

 

Find Kimmy pleasant company but there's nothing that makes me deeply invest in her struggles because the show is just too much of a farce. Jane and Carol are consistently funny, despite being played in the broadest strokes imaginable. Xanthippe is just a shrew, seems like a retarded twenty five year old. Buckley's disappearance reminds me of the advice never to act with children and animals. The subtext is that nobody in their right mind has children, much less cares about them.

 

Perhaps if I felt a vicarious glow when Kimmy wins and thought Titus was the funniest thing ever? Maybe I'd rave. But the show is amusing enough to watch, even so.

 

PS I find the show very reminiscent of the first season or so of Raising Hope, when Hope's mother really was a killer on death row. The way that a truly grim situation was mined for some comedy with cartoonish characters (Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton in Raising Hope) just seems so similar. And the trial was like the way Raising Hope undid the mother's execution.

Edited April 7, 2015 by sjohnson

[lucindabelle]

I loved the show, but early episodes ripped off "Nanny Diaries" a lot...

[mightycrone]

It's interesting to see some of the many comedic influences that this show draws from.  Maybe the court room stuff is funny to me because it seems like it is so Airplane in its style.  Sadism, perversion and JK as a Native American seem like they're right out of Strangers With Candy.  And if you grew up with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, you see shades of it here and there (in the opening-- mixed in with a little Sound of Music just for good measure).  

[funkopop]

It's interesting to see some of the many comedic influences that this show draws from.  Maybe the court room stuff is funny to me because it seems like it is so Airplane in its style.  Sadism, perversion and JK as a Native American seem like they're right out of Strangers With Candy.  And if you grew up with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, you see shades of it here and there (in the opening-- mixed in with a little Sound of Music just for good measure).  

 

I remember that episode of Strangers with Candy!! That show takes the cake with throwing all caution to the wind regarding political correctness.

[EllieH]

 

To echo many others, I loved the start of the season, but it really went downhill in those final trial episodes. Ugh.

 

Same here.  I feel like the show could go back to form though, for the next set of episodes, since the trial is over, Kimmy could stay in NYC and have more fish-out-of-water experiences. 

[arc]

I really wonder how they intended to structure the first season. Were they planning on a back nine pickup from NBC? As I understand it, the Netflix move came very late in the process. It's just so odd to take Kimmy back to Durnsville for three eps to close the season. I mean, in one way, it provides some closure on the kidnap story, but it also loses some of the show that the previous nine episodes built up.

[califred]

In an article someone posted it says the second half was written after they knew they were headed to Netflix.

[lovinbob]

Are you me? Because I was definitely thinking the same thing. And suddenly I want Hanson to guest star next season.

Can't happen! This reminds me of one of my favorite lines from my oft-reread favorite book, Tina Fey's Bossypants. She talks about the ups and down of SNL, the pleasure and pain of working with various hosts. And she says something like, sometimes you get to write a clever piece for a great actor, and sometimes you're taking notes from the youngest Hanson brother about which jokes he doesn't particularly care for.

So for Tina's sake and mine, no Hanson!

[FurryFury]

So I've finally managed to overcome my prejustice for Netflix shows (thanks, Daredevil) and watch this one. After stuff like House of Cards and Bloodlines (which I've not seen but read about extensively) I kinda had an impression that they are only interested in prestige, pretentious stuff, glad to see it's not quite the case (even if DD had way more of that than I would have preferred).

 

Anyway, I liked the first 10 episodes quite a bit. The first few weren't quite as funny, but the show has hit its groove fairly quickly. I liked that romance wasn't a big factor but still present and Kimmy obviously provided for a great, likable lead (and funny, too!) Jaqueline was probably my second favorite character, but I have a soft spot for Titus too. Not a huge fan of Lillian, but she grew on me, her road trip in the finale was hilarious.

 

The thing that kept me away from the show was the premise. The first thing that occurred to me when I've read it was "Eww, were they sex slaves as well?" and the show never really answered this. I tried just to ignore it (rather successfully) for the first 10 episodes, but then came the focus on the trial and wow, that was not funny at all. I mean, I get the point. I support the point. But it was just not funny at all, and actually pretty hard to watch if you take this stuff seriously (and I can't NOT take it seriously). Jon Hamm was an inspired casting, even if I have never seen Mad Men, but overall, that storyline really didn't need 3 episodes. One would have been more that enough, TBH. I'd prefer to see Cindy's inevitably disastrous wedding, more Kimmy and Jackie and maybe a bit more of Dong (whom I still can't see as a serious love interest). And really, lots of fun stuff to be explored. The trial just made me feel miserable, and Tina Fey + the other guy weren't funny or interesting characters.

 

Also, "step-dad" sucks and needs to go away, pronto. Worst character in the whole season.

[helenamonster]

What I think I love most about this show (besides Ellie Kemper, who I've always liked but have fallen in love with this year thanks to Kimmy) is the really fine balance it strikes between seriously dark humor (there was weird sex stuff in the bunker, y'all!) and relentless optimism. Maybe I've been living in a cave my whole life, but I have yet to see a show, comedy or drama, walk that line as finely as this show does. Part of me feels I should get upset when they take some of the bunker stuff too lightly, but at the end of the day it is a comedy, and sometimes these kinds of issues are best explored through humor. Plus, it's hard to take any of that seriously after seeing Jon Hamm (!!! still not over the fact that Tina wrangled him into this) air-hump an ottoman. There's a time and a place to have a real talk about PTSD and sex-crazed cult leaders, but this show is not it. I just have to embrace the absurdity and stand back in awe as Kimmy manages to remain unbreakable.

[arc]

After stuff like House of Cards and Bloodlines (which I've not seen but read about extensively) I kinda had an impression that they are only interested in prestige, pretentious stuff,

Nah, they'll make anything they think people will watch. They're making four Adam Sandler movies and then there's the Richie Rich kid's show, which looks kinda terrible.

[Tabbyclaw]

I really enjoyed the season. But I did notice that when I watched three or four episodes in a row, and then took a long break to watch or do something else, I tended to enjoy the first ep after the break better and my enjoyment would slowly diminish until the next break. I think a show like this maybe isn't the best to binge watch, just because it starts to wear thin a bit or the energy becomes a bit too relentless if you don't sleep on it and come back to it fresh every so often.

 

Oddly enough, I had the exact opposite reaction. When I watched in blocks, the later episodes would gradually get funnier to me. It's like I had to warm up to the universe all over again each time I came back to it, but once I got sucked in everything was smooth sailing.

[Azaelia]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who got an 80's vibe! Honestly, I think some of it might also reflect the ages of the writers and possibly Tina Fey - not sure how old she is, but she looks young enough to have have grown up during the 80's. This happens a lot with media. (I'm a writer Kimmy's age  and I have to watch that with younger characters. "Okay, so she'd listen to Avril Lavi - Lady Gaga?") However, I think YMMV when it comes to technology, too. I have friends who never really grew up with computers and stuff. 

[GoGamecox]

I just finished binge watching the series, too, and I have mixed feelings. While Titus, Kimmy, Dong, the engaged Mole woman (can't remember her name) and Mrs. Vorhees are likable enough characters that you can put up with some of their shenanigans, some of the other characters just come off as annoying and don't have redeeming characteristics -- Kimmy's stepdad, Kymmy, the prosecutors, Lilian, Logan, etc.  Some of Lilian's lines are delivered in with such an overdone accent that they're hard for me to understand (and, no, it's not because I'm a Southerner -- I have a lot of Northerners in the family, too. Love for all!).  I find myself irritated when Lilian appears onscreen.  There are plenty of other fun sitcoms that have characters that are annoying at times, but they're still somehow likable (Seinfeld, for example, also Big Bang Theory) in spite of it. I think the key to making Unbreakable work is refining these kinds of characters so that we actually care about them and want to know more, in spite of the annoyance factor. Right now, I wouldn't be sad if Kimmy's stepdad, Kymmy, the prosecutors, Lilian and Logan never come back ever again.  I feel like I got through the series in spite of them existing on the show. Kimmy and Titus are such a strong characters that they make me want to stick around for another season. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LeGrandElephant]

I just finished watching the first season, haven't seen any of the second yet. The premise is weird for a comedy, because it's so dark, but I was ok with it at the beginning. I think it worked having Kimmy be relentlessly positive but clearly suppressing some very serious trauma. I don't believe for a second that a man was kidnapping teenage girls and keeping them locked up for years and not sexually abusing them, and there have been plenty of little moments where Kimmy's behavior implied that as well (and so did the obvious parallels between the pilot and the Cleveland house rescue, with the neighbor). There's no way it didn't occur to the writers and creators of the show that that's what their premise was implying. I think it worked to have her just refuse to discuss it and insist on moving on and focusing on the positive, while still having nightmares and PTSD-type reactions.

However, the trial episodes and the entire character of the reverend didn't work at all. There was no mention of him being charged with anything like rape, and overall he seemed like a harmless buffoon that didn't have any real power over them. They could have made him charming in a creepy and scary way like many real criminals and cult leaders, but the style of "charming" they did didn't work at all, and really really took away from the premise.

If they only wanted to do ridiculous broad comedy, then I think they should have skipped the trial and the reverend all together. They could have had her go back for an off camera deposition and had him take a deal, and then have the details of the deposition be another dark off-camera thing she refuses to talk about.

I'll watch season 2, but I'm hoping they find a better balance between dark humor and ridiculous cartoonish characters.

Edited to add that even if he didn't actually sexually abuse them, keeping them locked up for years away from other people or the sunlight or healthy food or anything was still pretty horrific and too dark for the way they played the courtroom scenes.

Edited April 22, 2016 by LeGrandElephant

[scrb]

Liked what I've seen so far, which is a few episodes into the second season.

More far out than 30 Rock but similar feel.

I'd read that there was always a serious undercurrent because of her past but it seems most of the flashbacks play her years as a mole woman as jokes, like the Hispanic mole woman pretending not to speak English because the other girls were insufferable.

I thought Tina Fey just lent her name to get the show off the ground, like that horrible show with her younger brother.  But in fact she was the show runner so then the comparisons to 30 Rock made more sense.

Ellie and Jane are good in their roles but there isn't quite someone like Jack Donaghy.  Also seemed like the cast was too limited compared to a network ensemble sitcom.  But Tidus is good.