Okay, here's my review. This show had plenty of worthwhile moments but they were scattered throughout the show at such disparate point that it felt like the most wildly inconsistent episode in years. Saoirse Ronan proved to be a capable host, but I was left wanting to see a bit more of her as she seemed to barely be used at all in sketches. Aside from Melissa and Heidi, it seemed like everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE got a substantial amount of airtime this week. Let's break it down, shall we?
White House Christmas Carol - This was enjoyable at first, but as it went on it felt more like there was some wasted potential there. It felt like they were jumping the gun a bit doing a white house holiday party/Christmas Carol themed sketch in their FIRST show of December, but I suppose it would be a necessity in this year's breakneck news cycle. This seemed like it was gonna be another simple, unambiguous premise that would flourish under proper execution at first but it seemed to Peter out around the time Beck and Kate made their walk on as Putin and Hillary. It seemed like they were under duress and had to rush the ending for some reason (which is perfectly understandable but it kinda derailed this sketch). Mikey and Alex impressed me the most. It's about time Day played Flynn Sr. While I'm sure I'm not the only one whos' over Baldwins' Trump, I must say it felt refreshing only having to see him after an almost month long absence. Strangely, it felt less run into the ground than Becks' Putin. B-
Monologue - This disappointed me quite a bit. I didn't like that the song was the sole focus of the monologue (or that the focus of the entire song was the proper pronunciation of the hosts' name) but the walking from the cast really saved it. I didn't get the impression from this that Ronan would be anything other than a strong host but rather she might have to make the most out of some weak material. I would think they would have more to work with when Saoirse Ronan as a host. D+
Floribama Shore - This was all over the place. It was funny in spots but so inconsistent I still don't know what to make of it. Just when you thought the Hurricane Irma references were going to be a throwaway joke and not the main focus of the piece, they weren't. The introductions were very funny as much of a played out comedy trope as they felt like. Kudos to this season's new featured players for making a big splash here. Luke seemed to make his biggest impression yet (even though it was in abother taped piece and he seemed to be accidentally be doing his Blake Shelton impression again). Heidi also added a lot even if her character was a little too reminiscent of her straw-addled teen from the Gal Gadot episode. I liked Chris as the only one preparing for the hurricane. He did well to punctuate moments like Luke getting impaled on the flying Stop sign. Saoirse fit in surprisingly well here. She obviously spent most of tonight surprising her native accent but this seemed like her most outside-of-her-comfort-zone moment of the night. I have to say I most resonated with Becks' line at the end as I don't know why anyone thought we really needed a Floribama Shore parody (or a parody of anything at all on MTV) right now after SNL pretty much said anything they could'be possibly had to say about Jersey Shore five years ago. C+
American Girl Store Explosion - I'm glad this wasn't a complete by the numbers rewrite of the Matt Shatt sketch from last seasons' premiere despite having a very similar structure. I will say I liked the increasing escalation of Mikeys' doll infatuation as the details unfolded. C-
Welcome To Hell - As for this music video, I have to say I did appreciate the message behind it more than the execution. I can't say I blame the writers of this piece (I'll go out on a limb and guess either Cecily or Aidy collaborating with someone on the staff) for not bothering with any subtlety on this one. I get the sense whoever wrote this also did so under some (emotional) duress. If thats' the case, then I have to say I feel for them I wasn't expecting Leslies' contribution to be as brief as it was. I have to say Melissas' brief cameos were the only things that made me laugh in this. Still, I'I'm left wondering if there was any reason why Heidi was playing a man in a trenchcoat. C+
The Kmart Return Counter - Early on, this felt like it was going to be the best live segment of the night. I loved the rapid fire succession of jokes and pure silliness in this one. I especially liked Cecilys' character in this as I appreciate someone finally attempting to parody the recent trend of people filming and posting their unpleasant chain retail shopping experiences to social media. Other than that, I'd really be surprised to find an actual Kmart anywhere these days. A-
Office Race- This short film was also very enjoyable. I can tell this was written by Beck and Kyle but likely directed by Oz because it reeks of Good Neighbors' style of humor but is very different both visually and stylistically from the rest of their short films. Anyway, while I thought this was very funny I felt like it could'be been shortened a bit. Also, it took me a shameful amount of time to recognize that Greta Gerwig was the office boss in this. B+
Update may have been the most inconsistent and disappointing it has been all season tonight. The obligatory opening Trump rant was okay buy it all kinda ran together since this was such an absurdly not-slow news week. It's nice to see Kate sneak a new impression onto Update, but her Theresa May didn't exactly blow me away. The bit was some low hanging fruit and we'be all seen Kate play stuffy British women before. The only jokes after that that stood out were the nude Afterglow performance. The Lauer material was pretty weak. I never expected them to make Mikey and Leslies' first time S&M couple recurring. The only thing that made this any different and put this above the first installment were the diagrams that Mikey bought out. C-
Bachelor Auction - This sketch was probably the second funniest live sketch of the night. I liked how they developed fleshed out Petes' dim pool boy character to the exact point where he would work well in a live sketch. Of course, it does seem like the women of the show did much of the heavy lifting but Pete set them up nicely. Kenan absurdly high bids were also a nice touch. The John McEnroe cameo felt unnecessarily tacked on but even he made the most of it. B+
Late To Class - This sketch felt a little bittersweet. It was nice to see Luke Null finally get to be the main focus of something for the first time and show us his true comedic sensibilities. It'seems a shame his material didn'the quite land with the audience but at least he got to set up Saoirse and the rest of the cast up to get much bigger laughs than he did. Good for him for making his presence known but I don't think he should get too comfortable just yet. I don't get the impression he's secured his spot on the show next season just yet. C-
Aer Lingus - This sketch may have been the worst piece of the night. It seemed like the lamest "obligatory host sketch" ever. It just seemed like a flimsy excuse to let the cast members with an affinity for European accents bounce their best attempts at Irish ones off the host and try to gain her approval. Still, I have to give it to the cast for doing their damndest to sell this even though the materis wasn't quite there. At least the host got to use her natural accent in one sketch tonight. D+
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift
2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem
3. Saoirse Ronan/U2
4. Larry David/Miley Cyrus
3. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk
2. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith
1. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z
Next week, James Franco returns for his fourth hosting stint. While I think we had seen the full extent of his sketch comedy capabilities by his second episode. He always gels well enough with the cast and writers that I wouldn't mind seeing him again. Plus, the fact that he is currently promoting "The Disaster Artist" alone justifies his return to the SNL stage. See you then!
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