REVIEW: Kimmy Schmidt bows out quietly.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt began with a promising comedic outlet for ironic humour surrounding the sadistic happenings in the show.  From Kidnappings, forced marriages and PTSD. Not to mention a theme song that goes round and round in your head long after your binge has ended. Tina Fey's quirky sitcom always found a way to ensure that these topics delivered quality laugh after laugh. However, with the release of season four, which marks the end for one of the first Netflix original comedies. it has become apparent that the writers have disregarded their original story and have instead resorted to an embarrassing attempt to focus each episode on the ever-changing political climate.

Fans of Fey's other long-running comedy, 30 Rock will now she and co-creator Robert Carlock enjoy lambasting popular culture, and it has worked with Kimmy in the past, but somehow, four short seasons on something feels disconnected.  References to the #MeToo movement, gentrification and political correctness throughout the show has ultimately lost value and substance due to the show's desperate attempts to tick these boxes rather than focus on their original story and these issues that the writers attempted to address have become nothing more than a prime example of a try-hard attempt to pander this specific message.

If this final season has one redeeming characteristic, and it does, it's the fact that we finally get to see the characters’ we have followed over the course of four years begin to finally make a life for themselves. Kimmy writes and sells a book, opens a theme park, which attracts her thrill-seeking mother back into her life. Titus wins his ex-boyfriend Mikey back, Jacqueline becomes a respected agent after teaming up with her rival. And Lillian? She doesn’t die. Which I suppose is the best Lillian can't hope for.

Over the four seasons stretch, the show has become less about the mole-women and their struggles to become a part of civilisation, and a functioning member of society after being locked in a bunker for fifteen years. Unfortunately, this storyline is where the best laughs are, and where the most interesting elements of the show are. As a fan of the show since it started, it's clear to me that the show has lost touch with itself, its message, its story and ultimately its audience. At its heart, the show was a warm and sweet-natured comedy with its focus on a character who has been through something horrendous but only ever sees the good in the world. Moving away from its premise was a huge mistake and left me feeling disconnected from a show I had once really enjoyed.

Contributed by Jazz Cooke

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is now streaming on Netflix Worldwide.