They went beyond incompetent to not even trying, though.

It also bothered me that apparently absolutely no one else in the courtroom realized what a terrible piece of psychological manipulation that was. Ugh, the end was really just kind of a mess compared to what came before.

"So you thought it was okay to just grab yourself under the table, start having sex with yourself?"

Acting is just dressing up in a bunch of silly costumes and stomping around yelling.

It's one of those lines of questioning that ignores the fact that acting at that level is really difficult and not many people of any race or gender can do it. Like, how many Jeffrey Tambors are there?

Seriously, I didn't know there were Jane Krakowskis available in every race, with her level of training, resume', and past experience playing a similarly absurd comic character.

It doesn't really matter if it was the intention, because if so then it was an intention extremely at odds with the tone and storytelling of the rest of the show.

But they made the trial so absurd and the townspeople so mean toward Kimmy that the drama didn't have any stakes. Of course she was going to save the day, and it wasn't funny watching everyone turn on her (and the judge and prosecution not even doing their jobs) until then.

I thought the courtroom scenes were bad, too. I gave them grades in the C range, but they really brought down what had been a delightful season otherwise.

I liked Ron, especially his inappropriate song. I wish Kimmy's stepfather had been more like Ron, i.e. actually well-meaning.

I felt like the townspeople here were written with more contempt for the characters than the ones on Parks ever were. I found the court scenes pretty mean-spirited.

I agree with your point about Gretchen but I found the court scenes a real drag. The prosecution not doing their job and then blaming Kimmy for it just wasn't funny.

I didn't see the storyline as making fun of the parents in any way— more like an incredibly exaggerated portrayal of a teenager, who "hates" (in that teenage way) her parents so much that she wants to become a different race from them— and as vapid and shallow as possible, to boot. Like, if Jacqueline’s parents had…

Not just too stupid to function, but whiny and self-centered too— feeling entitled to praise and to be part of Kimmy's, life, refusing to take responsibility for his never-ending fuckups, etc. Just a character with zero redeeming qualities whom people keep inexplicably depending on in a crisis.

"the courtroom has been home to some of Kimmy Schmidt’s best scenes"

Two things I loved from this episode:

The prosecutors being horrible at their job and then Marcia shoving Kimmy and blaming it on her was probably the worst for me. Although Kimmy's stepfather is a complete show-killer, and I like Tim Blake Nelson generally.

It's really one-note, like the writers REALLY WANT US TO KNOW how contemptible and irredeemable they find people who don't live in a major city.

It's more that apparently every single person in the town is a stupid, irredeemable hick. It's also not funny to watch them, just grating.

I just straight-up didn't like this episode. Everyone, including the prosecution, just acting stupid and mean and selfish. Hated Marcia and Chris, hated Kimmy's stepfather, and honestly the biggest takeaway I had from the episode is that Tina Fey and/or Robert Carlock have a raging contempt for "flyover country". (I…