Sunday, March 12, 2017

Scarlett Johansson/Lorde (3.11.2017)

Okay, here's my review. This episode turned out to be much better than I was expecting given my already lowered expectations knowing the host. It was certainly more consistent than last week as well (and that likely WAS to be expected with this host). It was far from the best we've seen all season, but it was also far from the absolute worst. Love or hate her actual sketch comedy chops, Scarlett Johansson still manages to gel well enough with the SNL cast no matter how many of the players have changed from her previous hosting stints. Of course, she still hasn't changed as much as the level of the writing apparently did in the past week. The entire cast got a fair amount of airtime tonight but Melissa felt virtually shut out of the entire show. Anyway, let's get to it.

Alien Attack - This didn't necessarily blow me away or anything, but since they still want to trot out Baldwins' Trump I'll say I did like how they were able to place him in a somewhat creative and unique new setting while managing to squeeze in references to Trump's gaffes of the past week...or even just since the inauguration...or even since he started his campaign in general (even the seemingly minor ones). I did like the brief shot of the charred corpse and Sasheers' one line was the biggest laugh I got from her the entire time shes' been on the show. The slam at Trump's NY hotels was also great. I especially liked how they finally slammed Info wars as well. I mean, that part could've been better but hey, I'm glad SNL finally got around to mocking them. Now if only they could just get Beck Bennett to play Alex Jones on the show. C+

Monologue - I automatically liked this one more than Scarletts' others since it's the only one where she did not sing. Kenan and Kate really made this for me. I liked his clips and montages (as predictable as they were) and it's nice to see Kate is still grounded after her Oscar appearance. We could've done without the 5 dollar footlong jingle, though. C+

Good Day Denver - As backhanded as the entire "Good Day Denver" sketch seemed, I appreciate the shout out to my own homestate. As for the writing itself, I was just about ready to write this off as something else that shouldn't have been fleshed out as a full sketch but the out-of-context graphic quotes, Scarlett reading tweets and Kenan statement really made this for me.

Cherry Grove - I'm not quite sure who the intended audience for this Logo parody was, but I'll say it worked because Scarlett and the female cast members gelled really well. I did like Kate yelling at her neighbor, though.

Dog Translator - I thought this sketch was going to be much more one note and thin than it turned out to be. I liked how it escalated more and more toward the end. If Beck adlibbed when the dog removed his helmet, good on him for doing that. I have a feeling he didn't since all his lines did sound prerecorded. There's  a chance that dog may have been specially trained and that was written into the sketch but if not they covered it up well. I also liked how it seemed to be specifically written for the people that keep saying SNL has somehow gotten "too political" since Trumps' inauguration (despite covering him just as much as they have covered every president who has served since they've been on) buy I don't like this sneaking suspicion I have that this sketch was written specifically to placate those people. B-

Olive Garden Shoot - This sketch seemed a little long but Becks performance was what really sold it. Plus, the building absurdity of it really made it seem fun. I did think it got a little one note once Beck made everyone fake their organs at the same time. C-

Complicit - This Ivanka Trump perfume ad was some of SNLs' more pointed satire of Trumps' administration in recent memory. Since this basically relied on subtle cues and facial expressions, I'd say Bobby, Aidy, Vanessa and Scarlett did the most to sell this compared to Cecilys' voice over. I did appreciate how they worked in Baldwins' Trump in the mirror reflection. B+

Update was palatable. Che and Jost really started to get going after they got their post Trumpcare jokes out of the way. The Franken and Sessions segment was the real highlight. Kates' Jeff Sessions is still enjoyable although they should be very careful not to overuse it right now. Moffat as Franken was accurate (although he more closely resembled Samberg-if-he-were-playing-Franken in that wig and glasses). He captured the voice well enough but it helped that this didn't require Moffat to play it too big. Other than that, I'm just pleased that we got to see two different cast members each impersonate two other cast members on the show two weeks in a row. Petes' segment was unmemorable and continues to show that political commentary has never been his strong suit. The only part of this I really liked was when he made fun of his new found sobriety. C+

Truer Tales From The Sea - I'm surprised the made Kates' blob fish mermaid from last seasons' Ariana Grande episode a recurring character. It may have best been left a one time thing but I gotta hand it to Scarlett. She fit into this sketch as well as she fit into the similarly unnecessary Samberg Kuatto sketch ten years ago. In fact, this sketch reminded me so much of that one that it's like they may as well have put those two sketches in a blender. Also, it was nice to see Sasheer finally used in a role like this. B-

Shanice Goodwin: Rival Ninja - Speaking of sketches unnecessary sequels, I would've thought the fact that Leslie supposedly tore her ACL alone the last time she played a ninja would have discouraged them from making this recurring. Still, she and Scarlett weren't bad in this and they both played well off of Bobby here. The rest of the male cast as henchmen poured it on a little too thick for my liking but the cheap prop filled stage combat they played along with amused me. C+

A Sketch For The Women - I enjoyed this sketch even if it feels like they're continuing with a theme this entire month. It almost came across like they felt obliged to tackle tge trend of "mansplaining" since they took on the trend of "male 'feminism'" last week. Aidy and Scarletts' stunned reactions really sold this and balanced out Beck and Kyles' more over-the-top acting impulses. I did appreciate the Lorde cameo even if I could tell exactly where it was headed by that point. Still, I have a hard time believing any of the women on show actually skipped an entire day of work on the show. B-

Funeral Service - This sketch did give me some bad flashbacks to when Scarlett did Deep House Dish in at least one of her first two hosting stints. Still, I had to giggle a little as the songs gto dumber and Leslies' performance really made me laugh here. C+

Now, for my updated rankings for this season

1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest
2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga
3. Kristen Stewart/Alessia Cara
4. Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots
5. Aziz Ansari/Big Sean
6. Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran
7. John Cena/Maren Morris
8. Scarlett Johansson/Lorde
9. Felicity Jones/Sturgil Simpson
10. Casey Affleck/Chance The Rapper
11. Octavia Spencer/Father John Misty
12. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd
13. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars
14. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes
15. Kristen Wiig/The xx
16. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange

...and since she is officially a five timer now, I thought I might rank all of Scarletts' episodes as well. This was pretty easy to do since all her shows run together so much and stay with you on the first viewing that it doesn't matter that I didn't review two of them.

1. Scarlett Johansson/Death Cab For Cutie (1.14.2006)
2. Scarlett Johansson/Bjork  (4.21.2007)
3. Scarlett Johansson/Lorde (3.11.2017)
4. Scarlett Johansson/Wiz Khalifa (5.2.2015)
5. Scarlett Johansson/Arcade Fire (11.14.2010)


Well, that certainly defied my expectations. In three weeks, Louis CK returns to host for his fourth time. Now, THERE'S a deserving five time host in the making! Of course, I'm less of s fan of his more recent standup as much of a fan of his earlier classic material but I have no doubt he'll still deliver an outstanding monologue. See you then!

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Octavia Spencer/Father John Misty (3.4.2017)

Okay, here's my review. It seems like this episode turned out to be the most polarizing show of this season so far (or any season in recent memory, really) and des evenly so. Some people loved this show while others hated it but you have to be able to see the forest for the trees on this one. This show isn't immediately better or worse than the previous live episode hosted by Alec Baldwin. It's just about the same in terms of quality but both episodes disappointed us for different reasons. Baldwin is an SNL hosting legend who always delivered in the past but seemed to be given a lot of less than stellar material that even he himself could only do so much to save. Octavia Spencer is a first time SNL host of whom we didn't quite know what to expect. She also happened to be an accomplished actress with some small comedic parts under her belt and that served hee well on this show. She was a game host and her acting chops stood out more than anything in what was a string of underwritten and forgettable sketches. Octavia performed so well that I'm sure none of us would mind seeing her host again sometime in the future but hopefully with some better writing. I don't know what was going on this week. As far as airtime goes, the cast was evenly balanced (even Sasheer and the new featured players made their presence known tonight). Still, noticeably missing from tonight's show were Pete, Bobby (although he may have one foot out of the door at this point) and Kate (of all people, to have Kate McKinnon this noticeably absent from a show is criminally strange but I'll have more to say on her later since this particular week seemed to be an anomally). Anyway, let's get down to it.

Gump Sessions - This cold open was very clever and we'll written and executed. I liked seeing them bring back Kates' Sessions and I liked that her impression us a bit more focused. I liked the Kelly Anne/Russia jabs. Even if Becks' Putin is a little overused lately, they used it jist right here. Even the cheap bus effect made me giggle. The way they worked in Octavia character from The Help really served this well. B+

Monologue  - This filled me with more confidence in her as a host than it did confidence that the rest of the show was going to be as strong as that cold open. Nothing she had to say really stood out to me except her lines about her nurse roles and the Hidden Fence-light bit. Still, it was nice to see her tackle a straight solo monologue and hold her own doing so (especially since I can'tell remember the last of this type of monologue SNL did). C+

TBD - This wasn't much but it was worth a few laughs. This was a nice out-of-the-box/off-the-beaten-path premise compared to their other recent filmed movie trailers. C+

Drug Company Lawsuit - This sketch was barely a full premise that should never have been fleshed our even half as far as they did here but I will say I appreciate Sasheer, Leslie and Octavias' level of commitment to it. D+

Girl At A Bar - This left quite a bit to be desired. I liked the idea of SNL finally tackling the sudden rise of outspoken male "feminists" who inevitably turn out to be secret abusers and harassers, but I was hoping this would be less one note and predictable than it turned out to be. They really hammered to point over our heads to a degree that the even the ending with Aidy felt way too predictable. This seemed lacking in both writing AND execution. D+

Zooopolis - This had its moments but it was absolutely the flimsiest example of what it was I've ever seen in the history of sketch comedy. It's nice to see Melissa finally get to squeeze in more impressions from her repitoire (and kudos to her sneaking her Wiig in there and for being the first person to ever do a Kate McKinnon impression anywhere). I also liked seeing Octavia score a few of her own as well as the way they worked in Becks' Bardem and Kenans' Tracy but the rest of this did nothing for me. C+

Youngblood - This was another thin premise, but this had a few things going for it. What really saved this was Kenan, Pete and Octavias' acting plus the fact that it was filmed helped out the pacing a lot. B-

Update was a bit of a roller coaster. Both Jost and Che had their fair share of great jokes but overall it felt a little uneven. I think they can be forgiven for this though seeing as how they must've had to scrap a lot of material for what they had to write about Trumps' Wire Tapping tweetstorm from THAT MORNING. It was nice to see Mikey and Alexs' Trump sons finally get fleshed out as full characters. Alex got the most laughs out of me here. I think Vanessa child reporter character is a little played out by now, but her comments on the Transgender protections rollback and the Korean murder were okay. B-

Three Kellyannes Kneeling - I liked the idea of sneaking in a running gag that adds some continuity to the show (like Ferrell as Ken Starr subpoenaing everyone in sight in the spring of '98) and having Kate as KellyAnne Conway kneeling on everything in sight was a cute idea but keeping her in that outfit the whole show for this seemed like a HUGE waste! This sort of thing makes me think Kate might be jumping at the gun a bit to leave the show and get going on that budding movie career of hers. I mean, this is only her fifth year on SNL. These days, that's like being skipped ahead two grades and graduating early. It feels like Kate was absent most of the week working on abother movie. At least they obeyed the rule of three with these.

Sticky Buns - This felt too much like a sketch from the Era of Wiig and Armisens' dominance on the show for me to really get into Beck and Octavia really stood out to me here but I do wish there was more variance between hers' Mikeys' and Melissas' parts. They each had different gags between them but kept repeating them over and over. C-

Wine Bar - This went nowhere and made me tune out more and more as it progressed. I do like seeing Cecily (and even Sasheer with a decent amount of lines) on the show but not like this. It was the type of sketch that SNL does that is only palatable to the current generation (millenials in this case) and no one else. D+

Office Chocolates - This sketch was strange, but less in a good way than I had hoped. It seemed like it was going to build to something but it never did. Beck, Aidy and Octavia made me want to like this sketch more than I was able to. It's like they were unable to ultimately decide what type of sketch they wanted this to be before they put it on the air. Either that or they just rewrote a sketch from 2014 that got cut at dress because I remember reading about a sketch very similar to this being cut from that season but it involved Beck playing a perv who was fired just for sexual harassment. It really seemed to be lacking any real ending. Also, it looked like almost this entire cast was pretty close to breaking by the end of this sketch. I can kind of see why, but I still have a hard time suspending my disbelief here. C-

Octavia Spencers' Gifts - This seemed like the type of sketch even Octavia Spencer had the least amount of confidence in based on her performance compared to all her other parts on the show. I did like her back and forth with Aidy, though. The best thing I can say about this was that it was placed at the perfect slot in the show. D-

Now, my updated rankings for this season...

1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest
2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga
3. Kristen Stewart/Alessia Cara
4. Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots
5. Aziz Ansari/Big Sean
6. Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran
7. John Cena/Maren Morris
8. Felicity Jones/Sturgil Simpson
9. Casey Affleck/Chance The Rapper
10 Octavia Spencer/Father John Misty
11. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd
12. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars
13. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes
14. Kristen Wiig/The xx
15. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange


Well, that was disappointing despite some bright spots here and there. Next week Scarlett Johansson joins the five timers club. Ugh, given how this show as well as each of Scarletts' previous appearances turned out, I am not looking forward to this but hey...they could still surprise us. See you then!