Okay, here's my review. This show was the most consistently enjoyable show of the season so far. It wasn't as unevenly balanced as last weeks episode. Tiffany Haddish proved to be a dynamic host and a welcome presence on screen. Thankfully, they front loaded the show with all their best material so that they didn't run out of steam at least until Update. Everyone in the cast got a pretty decent amount of airtime on the show although I'm starting wonder about Luke Null. He should definitely be worried that he still hasn'hasn't gotten to break out with anything of his own after being shut out of the show completely. Anyway, let's break this down.
Moore, Pence & Sessions - The cold open was enjoyable. I just knew Mikey would be the one to play Roy Moore. He sure looked the part as much as he could but he should've tried to affect a deeper voice. I appreciate that they leaned more on Becks' Pence and Kates' Sessions this week than they did on Alecs' Trump (guess he wasn't available this week). My only real complaints were that Becks' Louis CK name check was pointlessly weak and that there seemed to be no real ending besides the possum thing. C+
Monologue - This helped get the show off to a strong start. It was a lot faster paced and shorter (and a little more pointed and acerbic) than most SNL monologues in recent memory but it had a lot of great moments (especially for someone whos' seen none of her standup.) I especially liked the Tupac/Tyler Perry Island and SNL vs In Living Color jokes (although ILC was on Sunday nights so it must've been pretty easy to watch both back in the day). My only complaint was that the dress/fashion jokes were a little repetitive. A-
Death Fighter 12 Tournament - I did like seeing this sketch fully realized but seeing Mikey on Seths' show describe this its premise in detail kinda ruined it for me. I will say that Tiffany, Kenan and Alex added more to this sketch than Kevin Hart or Leslie could've. B-
Lion King Screen Tests - This left a little something to be desired as far as new impressions being debuted on the show. There were only a few worthwhile impressions out of the ones we haven't seen on the show before. I liked seeing Becks' Nick Offerman again and Cecilys' Lin-Manuel Miranda worked better here than it did in the Family Feud sketch from last seasons' premiere. Petes' Eminem seemed like a pointless addition but it almost looked like he was on to something with that impression. That and Aidys' James Cordes are two impressions I would like to see a bit more of if they develop them a bit more. Although I had been thinking if any member of the current cast was going to play John Oliver it should've been Kyle Mooney, Mikey did a great job with the impression . I think we could've done without Tiffany & Chris as MJ Blige/Cardi B/ Offset and Kenans' LL Cool J but hey, they had to include Tiffany somewhere. Leslie as Oprah and Heidi as Kristen Schaal were both inspired casting. Heidi played well off of Chris' Sterling K. Brown and Alex did well as Kit Harrington and Melissa as Celine Dion was a welcome addition despite sounding just like a cross between her J.Lo, Xtina and Ariana. C-
A Message From The DNC - This was okay. I liked the impressions (kudos to Mikey on getting to play Tim Kaine for the second time ever) but it could've been shortened a bit and it didn't exactly seem like the freshest or most originsl take on the democratic party. Plus, Leslie playing Donna Brazille stood out to me as I was expecting Tiffany to play her. Tiffany just resembles Donna Braille more closely that Leslie. I did like how they bought Larry back just to poke fun at his monologue from last week in character as Bernie and that they included a pretaped cameo from Jason Sudekus that (for all we know could've been taped four years ago). C-
Beck & Kyle & Colin & Leslie - This short film was a very strong outing for Beck, Kyle, Colin and Leslie. I did like how they gave us a look at Leslie and Kyles' relationship from Beck and Colons' viewpoints as they grew a pat as friends. I also liked how they included the masquerade ball plot rather than going in the direction I was expecting; having Beck use Tiffany to make Kyle jealous. The ending with everyone punching Jost repeatedly worked extremely well and I liked how they worked Lorne and Tiffany in there. Also, does anyone recognize who was playing Kyle and Leslies' now college aged son? Just from hearing this guys' voice closely enough, I can tell that it's not Che, Redd or Pharroh. B-
Update was a little uneven. It got off to a rather tepid start but really picked up with the Roy Moore jokes and the commentaries. Tiffanys' monologue callback must've really given Jost and Che a shot in the arm because all they really hit all their jokes out of the park after that. She showed up at just the right time too as I was starting to think she was being underused as a host at the point. Cecilys' commentary worked extremely well and may have just been the funniest thing she's ever done on the show. Part of me was hoping they would give us another chance to see Heidis' acting skills during this part of the show but I enjoyed this more as it went on as I recognized that Cecily clearly wrote this herself from a place of fear, anger and frustration that she wanted desperately to express. Kudos to her on having the courage to do so. I did like seeing Kenans' Lavar Ball again even though it felt like more of the same. B+
The Last Black Unicorn - This seriously needed some edits. Tiffany really sold her part but Leslie didn't really add anything here. Overall, it showed some promise but turned too one not too early.D+
Get Woke with Tamiya - This was the first real dud of the night. It was too long, had some serious pacing issues and it was the first time I've seen Leslie not really committed fully to a character or try to sell it. I did like the sponsors and Leslie and Tiffany played well off of each other once Tiffany entered the scene. D-
The Dolphin Who Learned To Speak - This was a bit better than it had any right to be. Kate and Leslie really sold their parts but Tiffany really stole this scene and kept it from being too one note. Plus, I felt the timing of this sketch was a little too eerie. C-
Whiskers R We VI - This may have been my least favorite installment of this sketch. The only things that really stood out to me were Tiffany blatantly hitting on Kate and the kittens reactions to being on camera. Speaking of Tiffany, she really stood out like a sore thumb here. This feels like something they tried to write for Taylor Swift earlier in the week that she dropped out of by Friday so they just substituted Tiffany in her place. Plus, kudos to Chris Redd on bring the third SNL cast member to play Katt Williams (even if his was the weakest impression of the three). C+
Now, for my updated rankings for this season...
1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift
2. Larry David/Miley Cyrus
3. Kumail Nanjiani/P!ink
4. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith
5. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z
Well, that show provided some much needed stability for this season. Next week, Chance The Rapper makes his hosting debut (after two previous appearances as musical guest). He may seem like an odd choice for host but he did a fine job in his sketch appearances from last December and obviously made an impact on the show then. He reportedly pitched several ideas for his own sketches when he showed up that week and "Jingle Barack" was apparently his strongest one and it worked well when they did use it. They must have decided to book him as a host because he showed a lot of initiative and willingness to be very involved with the show just as a musical guest and they liked those qualities enough to let him host so he could pitch his ideas on Monday like everybody else instead of (presumably) Thursday. I have a feeling cast members like Cecily, Kate and Aid are going to dominate this show. Apparently, Chance The Rapper is known to be politically and socially active (they say he wanted to do a sketch called "Gentrified Chicken" last year) so he's probably going to want to work the most with cast members that have similarly "woke" sensibilities to his. See you then!
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