Okay, here’s my review. While this show was rather
inconsistent, it showed more signs of life than last week. Reese Witherspoon
was just slightly more visible as a host this season as Amy Adams was in
December, but I would say that really benefitted the show in this case. Good to
see more of Beck, Kyle and Pete this week as they have been underused lately.
Anyway, let’s get on with it.
Republican Leadership Conference - This has to be the second
worst cold open this season. They really could’ve had something here if they
hadn’t decided to give Cecily THE ONLY SPEAKING PART! Still, I liked how they
included Beck, Kyle and Kate. Also, Taran’s greased up bare chest made me
chuckle. D+
Monologue – Bringing out the casts’ real life mothers was
something sweet and sentimental they haven’t done in at least a decade and got
this episode off to a better start than that cold open did.
Beck, Kyle, Sasheer and especially Pete were the real stand
outs here. I would say the same goes for the home movies portion (especially
for Kyle given how he was almost unrecognizable) but I also liked seeing Aidy,
Jay and Kenan’s clips. I can already tell this is going to be one of the top
two monologues this season. A-
Scene In L.A. – Well, I did like Jay, Kyle and Petes’ parts
in this sketch. Otherwise, it was pretty Juvenile and a rather dated and tired
concept for SNL in 2015. D+
Picture Perfect - This seemed like an ambitious sketch that
wasn’t executed to its full potential. Taran, Kenan and Bobby all performed
well in it. I'd say they could've taken this further bur that's probably the
furthest they could've taken this premise on network TV and within the bounds
of good taste. Thankfully, they didn't try and drag it out too long. B-
Mr. Westerberg - This
was pretty one note but Beck, Bobby and Pete were funny in it and this being a
short film really behooved it in terms of execution. Plus, it's nice to see
Beck front and center in something. C+
Update was pretty inconsistent. Che seemed like he was
really phoning it in but Just had a couple of good ones with his May whether
and Hamburg large jokes (as much as he was channeling Seth there) Leslie
commentary was okay. This one wasn't quite as good as her previous ones but at
least she tried something different with that letter thing. Cecily's party girl
continued the Update trope of hosts impersonating characters alongside the cast
members who play them but this was the first time I genuinely enjoyed seeing
it. Reese fit the mold pretty well here and helped Cecily break the format of
this character just a bit. Thankfully, they also kept this short. Kenans old
man character wasn't exactly a welcome return either but he did have some good
lines about throwing tomatoes and batteris at his graduation and locking up his
classmates. C+
High School Theater II – This sketch was something I Never
expected to return either but I have to say Reese Witherspoon is more
believable than Cameron Diaz was. Plus, Leslie was a welcome addition to this
and Bobby played well off her and the "we were black" vignette was
funny. B-
Southern Ladies – This was more genuinely funny than it had
any right to be. Reeses story about her demonic ally possessed husband and
Cecily's sperm prank were funny. Plus, it was nice to see Leslie playing
someone other than herself for once. The only thing that bugged me about that
one was that the ending made it seem like a ripoff of those singing memories
sketches with Hader, Sudekis and Forte. B+
Water Slide – Much like the sketch that preceded it, this
sketch was funny to me due to its sheer outlandishness. Bobby, Kenan and even
Reese had plenty of good lines and performances. Kudos to Beck and Kyle for
getting to be the leads in their own live sketch after getting shut out of the
show lately. B-
Whiskers R We III - I did like how their descriptions of
each cat got more outlandish (one was a set offender and one was a cult
leader). Plus, Reese Witherspoon saying "little jag off" made me
laugh. C+
Now, for my updated rankings of this season…
1. Woody Harrelson/Kendrick Lamar
2. Martin Freeman/Charli XCX
3. Jim Carrey/Iggy Azalea
4. James Franco/Nicki Minaj
5. J.K. Simmons/D’Angelo
6. Michael Keaton/Carly Rae Jepsen
7. Reese Witherspoon/Florence + The Machine
8. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson/George Ezra
9. Scarlett Johannson/Wiz Khalifa
10. Dakota Johnson/Alabama Shakes
11. Taraji P. Henson/Mumford And Sons
12. Bill Hader/Hozier
13. Blake Shelton
14. Kevin Hart/Sia
15. Cameron Diaz/Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars
16. Amy Adams/One Direction
17. Chris Pratt/Ariana Grande
18. Sarah Silverman/Maroon 5
19. Chris Rock/Prince
20. Chris Hemsworth/Zac Brown Band
Well, that was certainly better than I was expecting. The
writing is taking some baby steps in the right direction. Next week, Louis CK
returns to host the finale and I sure am looking forward to the monologue the most
of all. See you then
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