History YMMV / UnbreakableKimmySchmidt

** Lori-Ann, Kimmy's mother. While she does seem to have genuinely tried her best as a mother, and it's clear that she was unfairly vilified by the media after Kimmy was kidnapped, many still find it hard to sympathize with her since she didn't even bother to ''call'' Kimmy after she was rescued because she "didn't want to deal with it"... and she also abandoned her ''other'' daughter, Kymmi. While the intended {{Aesop}} of "even if you confront those who did you wrong, you can't change the past" is true, many felt that Kimmy's forgiveness was completely undeserved.
* WTHCastingAgency: Infamously so with the white Jane Krakowski playing a Native American. For some it may not be so bad at first since it's initially just a quick gag where the sheer absurdity of her unchanged appearance in contrast to her family is the punchline. But then the show goes on to repeatedly use this FakeNationality to advance her CharacterDevelopment whilst having her fight against injustice for her people, with critics noting that giving the role to a white woman greatly undermines the character's attempted progressive storyline. With all that being said, Krakowski's actual performance was consistently praised despite the common consensus that the role should've gone to an actual Native.

* AcceptableTargets:
** Young people. A few younger characters, like Xan, have HiddenDepths, but most characters under thirty are coddled basketcases, [[SoapboxSadie Soapbox Sadies]], pretentious hipsters, or some combo of the above.
** Rich people, too. With few exceptions, every wealthy character on the show is a self-important and haughty jerk with little to no redeeming qualities.
* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The rubber room Kimmy's GED teacher [[SpringtimeForHitler wants to get demoted into]] is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassignment_centers a real historic feature of the NYC public school system]].
** "I Beat That Bitch With A Bat" is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_riJ_0L27zk a real song]]; it's been remixed multiple times, but it predates the show.

* HilariousInHindsight: In Season 4, Jacqueline shuts down Xan's jerk ex-boyfriend by telling him that he should respect women and he's not more important just because he can drive a car in Saudi Arabia. Before this episode came out, [[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-women-drive.html the Saudi Arabian government has begun allowing women to drive in 2017]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** After the controversy of how the show handled Native American issues in its first season, the Season 2 finale (and subsequently, several episodes of season 3) attempted to make humor of the Washington Redskins debacle.
** Season 2 similarly got a lot of flak with its dismissive response to the controversy, portraying everyone who complained as whiny Social Justice Warrior stereotypes. Season 3 introduces Xan's college roommates, who are similarly liberally inclined but portrayed far more sympathetically, while the same episode introducing them also features a similarly exaggerated right-wing ConspiracyTheorist character. (Similarly, in Season 4, The Reverend's friends while he's in jail are [[HeManWomanHater Men's Rights Activists]].)

* UnfortunateImplications: The series has garnered [[http://www.vulture.com/2015/03/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-native-american.html criticism]] [[http://www.bustle.com/articles/68849-is-jane-krakowski-native-american-as-a-mixed-race-woman-i-question-her-kimmy-schmidt-characters from]] [[http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/03/11/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-has-two-native-american-actors-it-needed-three-159559 critics]] for casting Jane Krakowski, a white Polish-American, as a Native American pretending to be Caucasian and hiding her past.

** Jacqueline hallucinates ([[OrWasItADream maybe]]) [[ItMakesSenseInContext an intimate encounter in the kitchen with Russ' elderly grandmother]], in an extended parody of the pottery scene from ''Film/{{Ghost}}''.

* UncannyValley:
** Kimmy advises Titus to give the impression he's interested in what someone is saying by imagining their eyes and mouth have switched places. The result is horrifying.
** The episode "Kimmy Goes to Her Happy Place!" is full of this. For one thing, there's Kimmy's face in the animated DisneyAcidSequence that is the titular happy place. And then there's [[CreepyDoll Mikey's grandmother.]] Brrr...

** Jacqueline and Deirdre are dripping with FoeYay, including another AlmostKiss.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Granted, it's probably part of the joke, but DJ Fingablast's DJ "mixing" (spinning two vinyl records on a turntable) is such an inaccurate ShallowParody of how [=DJing=] works that it's just cringey.

** Lori-Ann, Kimmy's mother. While she does seem to have genuinely tried her best as a mother, and it's clear that she was unfairly vilified by the media after Kimmy was kidnapped, many still find it hard to sympathize with her since she didn't even bother to ''call'' Kimmy after she was rescued because she "didn't want to deal with it"... and she also abandoned her ''other'' daughter, Kymmi. While the intended {{Aesop}} of "even if you confront those who did you wrong, you can't change the past" is true, many felt that Kimmy's forgiveness was completely undeserved.

** While "Spider-Man Too: Too Many Spider-Men" was a jab at ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', the "Too Many Spider-Men" title became a lot funnier in the wake of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' and ''SpiderManNoWayHome'', which both feature multiple Spider-Men (and Spider-Women... And a Spider-Pig... [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie No, not that one...]]).

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped:
** In season 2, Lillian tells Kimmy that on some occasions giving up on some certain things isn't necessarily bad all the time, as it can be healthy for you in the long run and lets you look forward to much better things in life.
** The last episode of season 2 drops this anvil: some people have parents who aren't always around or did a terrible job in raising them and sure, CallingTheOldManOut may sound appealing, but in the end, no matter what has been said, it ultimately doesn't change the past and the only thing you can do for yourself is to accept what has happened and move on with your life.
-->'''Kimmy''': But there's nothing I can say that will un-kidnap me or fix my childhood or give you the life you wanted before you had me.
** Staying married to a sex offender while stopping someone else from marrying them will not do you any favors down the road no matter how noble your actions are.

* {{Anvilicious}}: While the show had always had feminist themes, in the wake of #MeToo the fourth season really doubles down on these, particularly through Kimmy's book storyline. While nevertheless an important message, some feel it starts to dominate the show and detract from its overall enjoyability.

* Anvilicious: While the show had always had feminist themes, in the wake of #MeToo the fourth season really doubles down on these, particularly through Kimmy's book storyline. While nevertheless an important message, some feel it starts to dominate the show and detract from its overall enjoyability.

** The revelation that Ellie Kemper was a [[https://www.newsweek.com/ellie-kemper-controversy-what-veiled-prophet-ball-1596387 "KKK Princess"]] makes the entire story of Kimmy, a women raised in a cult, much more dark.

** The success of Kimmy's book is mirroring that of Literature/HarryPotter would become awkward in 2020, after Creator/JKRowling made transphbic comments on twitter

** After the controversy of how the show handled Native American issues in its first season, the Season 2 finale (and subsequently, several episodes of season 3) has a massive TakeThat to the Washington Redskins and their fans.

** Lori-Ann, Kimmy's mother. While she does seem to have genuinely tried her best as a mother, and it's clear that she was unfairly vilified by the media after Kimmy was kidnapped, many still find it hard to sympathize with her since she didn't even bother to ''call'' Kimmy after she was rescued because she didn't want to deal with it... and she also abandoned her ''other'' daughter, Kymmi. While the intended {{Aesop}} of "even if you confront those who did you wrong, you can't change the past" is true, many felt that Kimmy's forgiveness was completely undeserved.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop:
** When Lillian sees Kimmy being hung up on [[spoiler:Dong]], she tells Kimmy that sometimes in life you have got to know when to just give up on certain things.
** Kimmy's decision to not divorce the Reverend to stop [[spoiler:Wendy]] from marrying him costs her a job as a crossing guard, and in "Party Monster: Scratching the Surface", she is then painted up as a faithful wife to the Reverend by Men's Right Activists that refuse to see the evil deeds the Reverend did, so ultimately the lesson is that staying legally married to someone to prevent from anyone else marrying from them will not do you any good favors down the road, and even if it was backed by good intentions, it's just not worth your time and energy.

* GeniusBonus: The interactive episode makes a few jokes about West Virginia that reference the state's history of mining. The local town is called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing Fracktown]]," and the local bar is called "The Living Canary]]," referencing the "miner's canary."