Okay, heres' my review. This episode was definitely in the top five strongest of the season. It was a little inconsistent but what was good was very good and really stood out. Sterling K. Brown seemed like a very promising host going by his social media activity promoting this weeks' show and he certainly delivered everything he promised by being a standout host and performing the hell out of all the parts he was given. I could definitely see him being asked to come back and host again if he has something else to promote thats' as high profile as "This Is Us" or "Black Panther". As far,as airtime, Melissa had a real breakout night and Pete, Alex, Kyle and Aidy seemed to be dominating the show the most. Anyway, we do have a lot to unpack this week so let's just get right down to it.
Bachelor Finale - This cold open was probably the weakest and most baffling of the season. It felt like a real throwback to the types of pop culture parodies the show would do during Fallon, Kattan and Morgans' final seasons in the cast under Feys' reign as head writer. I do have to give the writers credit for trying something a little different for these past two seasons here. I do appreciate how they tried to blend their obligatory topical white house commentary with the type of pop culture parody they would often attempt to do during the Bush II/Obama administrations, but this ran a huge risk of alienating the portion of SNLs loyal audience who doesn't happen to also watch "The Bachelor" religiously. I'm still not sold on the basic premise of Kate McKinnon playing Robert Muller but I will admit it worked somewhat here. Her semi-dramatic take actually dovetailed well with the premise of this cold open. I also liked the Stormy Daniels/American Steel jokes. Those were the only things that even made me chuckle in this whole open. Plus, the split screen didn't hurt this as much as lacking any real ending did. At least they gave us a break from Baldwin tonight but I just saw a promo for Fallons' show that named him as a guest next week so I guess we can expect him again real soon. Overall, I didn't hate this. I just struggled to make sense of it. Personally, I would've much preferred a Sam Nunberg cold open. Frankly, I'm shocked he didn't even get a mention on Update. I mean, he really only dominated Mondays' news cycle but it was still a pretty big deal. I do have to wonder what conservative sites are going to make of this site seeing as it basically depicts Muller admitting his investigation is turning up empty? D+
Monologue - This helped get this episode off to a better start and build back up some of the momentum that the cold open really killed. I liked how Sterling showed the same raw enthusiasm he exhibited on social media all week and I especially liked how he was able to poke fun at his own emotions. That was the real highlight of this monologue. It really helped counterbalance all the jokes he delivered well enough but still didn't quite land. His Kenan impression made me laugh. The only real drag is that while Leslie was great in it, it seemed like Sterling was setting up for an appearance from his "This Is Us" castmates. Maybe it wouldn't have been totally necessary but at least it would've mixed things up a bit more. C+
Family Feud X - This wasn't greater than the sum of its' parts or anything but everyone got their individual chance to shine. Oscar winners and losers seemed like a thin premise but the performances really boosted this. Kate had good material as Frances MacDormand, but she seemed to be putting less into it than the last time she played her. Maybe she was basing the character more on her animated Oscar speech but it partly felt like Kate was playing herself. Beck did a solid G. Del Toro but his part ultimately felt underwritten. Heidi did a brilliant Allison Janney. Hell, at times she even bordered on channeling Kristen Wiig attempting an Allison Janney impression and despite tripping over her last line she really nailed it. It was great to see her debut another actual impression. Chris as Jordan Peele was a great addition. He really nailed the Jordan Peele impression. Kudos to him on being the first person to even play a former MAD TV cast member in SNL. His prompting Kenan to intentionally break character AND the fourth wall was the single most brilliantly executed moment of the entire show. Pete as Timothee Chalamette (sp?) didn't do much for me. He seemed slightly miscast and it seemed like less an impression than a base observation about a celebrity. Alex as Willem Dafoe was great. He got solid laughs with just a look and a couple of lines alone. It was nice to see Melissa get to debut a new impression but it was such an obscure one and it was done entirely in sign language. It was the most spectacular way they've defeated the purpose of having her on the show at all so far. Sterlings' got bars but I still don't quite know what to make of his actual Common inpression. B+
This Is U.S. - Now, this was a more successful blend of politics and pop culture than whatever they were going for in the cold open. Still, also like the cold open it felt somewhat like a throwback to what they would do in a previous Era of the show. Scratch that, this actually felt like something MAD TV would've done but with writers who are more competent at tackling current political events. Sterling does a fine Ben Carson but he certainly didn't make me forget about Jay Pharroh. Pete as Jared Kushner was an interesting take (and one I wouldn't mind seeing again if handled the right way. Still, I do have to wonder how Alex or Colin would also play him. B-
Shrek Vs. Coco - This family dinner sketch was much bett r than it had any right to be thanks to the increasingly heated tension between Beck and Sterling near the end. I can't imagine any other host making that sketch as watchable as he did. I do have to wonder if this sketch was written by the same writers who wrote the La La Land interrogation sketch from the Aziz Ansari episode last January since they both revolved around heated confrontations over grindingly banal film & pop culture minutiae. B-
Sasquatch - This film had a lot going for it. There were more reasons it worked than just it was filmed. It established it's premise quickly without letting it get too one note and it was just unabashedly silly and immature enough without getting too juvenile. C+
Update felt a little underwhelming compared to what surrounded it in this episode but the commentaries really sabed it. Right off the bat, Che had the better of the two sets of Trump-meets-Kim-Jong-Un jokes and Josts' Jong-Un/lesbian joke came off incredibly awkward. Nothing else really stood out and Ches' Gary Cohn/video game jokes felt derivative as did Josts' Amelia Earhart/Barbie joke. Che did get to redeem himself with his In-And-Out Burger joke. I'm glad to see that they decided to keep tweaking the formula if they're going to keep bringing out Mikey and Alex back as Eric & Don Jr. I'm really glad to see that they'really actually having a lot more fun in these roles (especially Alex) but most of all, I'm just floored that they could get away with saying "goddamn jews" on live network television. The thing I liked most about Vanessas' cameo was how genuinely unexpected it was. Seriously, I was expecting Bobby to come back for a cameo before Vanessa did at this point. It was nice seeing her again even if she came back to do the last character she left the show with and I almost thought it was Heidi impersonating her for a few seconds for some reason. C+
Black Panther Deleted Scene - This obligatory host sketch was worth watching just for Kenan. He pretty much carried this with several funny lines. Plus, the more you actually watched this sketch the more apparent it became that you didn't necessarily need to have actually seen Black Panther to actually get it. B-
Dr. Love - This sketch was all right for what it was. It was another premise that would only work with Sterling as a host. I liked how it didn't get too one note too fast. I liked how they let on more that Sterlings' Dr was medically uncaring than that he was just flat out medically incompetent. Most of all, I liked how comfortably and swiftly Beck and Sterling instantly switched the tone of this from simple comedy sketch to final act of a romantic comedy. C+
Script Supervisor - This sketch was more frustrating than anything else. I wanted to like it much more than I did since it seemed like it was going to go in a much different direction than it did early on. It seemed like it was going to be all over the place until it became obvious this was going to be a near carbon copy of the Arizona Evenings/Starfish sketch from Alec Baldwins' 2010 episode. Still, this was a superior sketch to that as Cecily wasn't playing as one dimensional of a character. Plus, this had Kyle in a decent role that he hadn't played before and the added gag of the script Cecily was reading becoming increasingly, gratuitously filthy. Also, I'm glad Melissa is being used a lot tonight but maybe she didn't need so many lines given how small her part was. C-
Rock N' Rap - I was really excited to see the return of Kyles' Chris Fitzpatrick character after a near four year absence. The thing I liked most here is how instantly my fears were put to rest that this character wouldn't work in a man-on-the-street interview setting. I liked how progressively odd and outrageous the interview responses were getting. B+
Nickelback Deathbed - This worked more than it had any right to. It was possibly the most endearing ten-to-one sketch in recent memory. It felt more like a Web video I would've seen posted by an Internet sketch group on Cracked.com. Kudos to Melissa for getting an elderly woman role over Kate for once, first of all and to Luke for getting in his one genuinely funny line per show here. If Melissa actually had a Chad Kroeger impression than this sure was an overly elaborate way for her to sneak it onto the show. Also, if they found out over the course of the week that Sterling also had a Chad Kroeger impression that would be a bit of an unusual thing for he and Melissa to bond over but it would explain how this got on the show. B-
Now for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Sterling K. Brown/James Bay
2. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift
3. Chance The Rapper/Eminem
4. James Franco/SZA
5. Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa
6. Charles Barkley/Migos
7. Jessica Chastain/Troy Sivan
8. Sam Rockwell/Halsey
9. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton
10. Larry David/Miley Cyrus
11. Saoirse Ronan/U2
12. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk
13. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith
14. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters
15. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z
Well, that was something the show needed right now. Next week, Bill Hader comes back to host for a second time. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this, but this is the episode I've been looking forward to the most the entire month. I have to admit though, I feel a little less excited for it than I did for Ferrells' episode only because Hader hasn't been gone from the cast as long as Ferrell has so as much as I loved him then as a cast member then (and still do) it's a bit harder for me to be nostalgic for his Era of the show since it still feels so recent. Still, I have no doubt that he won't disappoint and I'm sure Hader can boost staff morale just as much as Sterling clearly did. Plus, this is only Haders' second time hosting and (counting his appearances at the 40th anniversary specials and the only two season 39 episodes he cameoed in) his fifth return to the show overall since leaving the cast. Speaking of which, someone here mentioned they had hoped he could get through this episode without any cameos from Wiig or Armisen. I agree about the former, but I wouldn't mind if we got another Armisen cameo if it also meant we get another Vincent Price St. Patricks' Day special. See you then!
No comments:
Post a Comment