Okay, here's my review. This was a real forgettable middle of the road show for this season. It had it's fair share of recurring sketches and derivative premises but thankfully it was at least buoyed by a very charming and likable host whom I wouldn't mind seeing on the show again. Everyone in the cast seemed to get an even amount of airtime (except Chris who only seemed to appear as a utility player in one pre tape and Ego seems like she is still going virtually unused). Anyway, let's break it down.
Donnie Does Argentina - Another cameo loaded uninspired cameo stuffed political cold open with Baldwin's Trump as the centerpiece. Hey, I'm not crazy about still having to see him either (that "parking space" joke was wholly unnecessary and way to awkwardly shoehorned in) but hey...two appearances across seven shows isn't too bad. I guess since the latest developments in the Muller investigation were the biggest political headline this week they felt they had to do something on that. It may have seemed like this was done in the same vein as the cold open from Donald Glovers' episode in May but at least this felt more direct and to the point due to the comparative lack of cameos. Speaking of which, I know Armisen has been know to play various ethnic/foreign leader roles competently but seeing him portray Mohammed Bin Salman somehow felt pretty tone deaf. They may have taken a minor risk that may not have paid off there. Other than that, all that stood out was the jab at Eric and the "like a son to me" joke. D+
Monologue - This started off slightly awkward and Claire seemed visibly nervous but the way she delivered the anecdote about meeting the actual queen worked for me. It was nice to see they trusted her to deliver a straight forward true solo monologue and once again resisted the temptation to have Fred or even Kate for that matter make a cameo as present day Queen Elizabeth despite both being in the building currently. C+
Netflix...has EVERYTHING (*meant to be read in a Stefon voice*) - At this point, the idea of Netflix letting itself become this endless inane void that will one day consume us all simply by buying every show pitched within their field of vision is starting to feel like a worn out comedy premise but the gritty Family Matters reboot and Leslie's segment made this worth watching.
C+
Morning Joe IV - Well, congrats to Joe and Mika on their recent nuptials but I'm not sure that alone was enough to do another sketch where they put their relationship front and center over their actual jobs. Still, Melissa and Claire were the true highlights here. Good to see Melissa shine in a role that was pretty much designed just for her. C+
WWI Letters - This didn't really seem to be going anywhere at first but I liked Mikey's increasing exasperation at Claires' cryptic ongoing vagueness and Kenans' unexplained, unwarranted presence. It reminded me of the Jennifer Lawrence/Tim Robinson civil war letters sketch from 2013 but this thankfully went to a much stranger place. B-
Dad Christmas - While this was pretty much the exact type of pathetic middle aged divorced guy humor I was expecting once they established the basic premise, every part of this was executed very well. Mikey and Cecily really played their parts well and Aidys' song at the end really made this whole thing for me. B+
Update was kind of all over the place tonight. Jokewise, all that really stood out were Jost on the Trump balloon and Che on Manafort & Assange. As usual, Leslie's commentary was endearingly boisterous and visually entertaining but very scattershot and unfocused and probably could've benefitted from being trimmed down a bit. Che's Judge Judy name drop had to have been adlibbed based on the reaction it got. Becks' character seemed a little one note at first but his bit really picked up steam once he talked about getting hit by cars and his dad inventing Oxycontin. Colin played off of him very well. I liked how this was very possibly the very first Update commentary that ever ended with one anchor gently pushing the character off screen. Between this and Leslie's commentary, this is by far the most animated I have seem Colin on the show ever. Finally, while I thought the end of Update was initially a very strange place for a sincere, heartfelt Bush 41 tribute but I did like how they segued to a few clips of Carveys' Bush that concluded with the remote pre taped clip of the real HW from Carveys' '94 monologue. Plus, it's not every week that a former president dies while SNL is actively in production. I was just thinking about why they never did a similar tribute for Gerald Ford (who has a similar connection to the show and even made a similar pre taped cameo on the show when he sent his real life press secretary to host in season one) and it was probably because he died during the Christmas/New Years' 06/07 holiday when everybody was off and it would've been old news by the time they came back that January. Also, I'm betting this was the only reason Leslie's commentary wasn't the thing they ended Update on given that it ended with the Rocky theme. C+
Charlie And The Cialis Travesty - It felt strange watching this because they just did an extremely similar (and much better written) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory parody two seasons ago with Kristen Stewart. This was the much raunchier version of that. It was pretty much that mixed with the Game Night sketch from Haders' episode last season. I didn't much care for it but at least they knew exactly when to end it. C-
HSN - Okay, seems like there's quite a bit to unpack here. At first, it just seemed like someone started out trying to write another "Right Side Of The Bed" sketch before realizing that Taran Killam is no longer on the show but decided to keep writing anyway to see what direction this could go in. Then, it seemed like this was going to be like one of those "Hello Dolly" sketches that Ana Gasteyer did in the late '90s/early 2000s mixed with that QVC sketch Cecily did with Kristen Wiig two years ago. Thankfully, this went in a much stranger direction. Cecilys' string of very light profanity was amusing and then Aidy came in and added a whole new level of surreal strangeness to it. Also, it seems a little strange that the portion of the show where Claire Foy tries different accents that are not British would be so late in the show but it was nice to eventually see that somewhere. B-
Good Morning Goomah - As soon as I heard the words "Staten Island Cable", I knew exactly who could've written it. Still, there were a couple of reasons, I couldn't totally get into this. First, I thought Cecily should've had Kate or Aidys' role instead of just being relegated to an offscreen voice over. Secondly, this was so dialogue heavy it seemed longer than it actually was. At least we got to see Pete actually attempt to act. C-
Muller Christmas - The fact that this was a parody song rather than a straight, dramatic maudlin cover song was the only thing that kept it from being another "Hallelujah" or "To Sir With Love". That being said, it was immediately obvious where this was going and even though some of it felt rushed and awkward it was pretty solidly written and performed for what it was. It really got going once they let the women who got hired AFTER season 40 joined in. Other than that, this either should've been the cold open or saved for the cold open for whichever of the next two planned episodes Baldwin won't be able to make it to rather than buried at the end of this week's episode. C+
Now, for my update rankings of the entire season so far...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Adam Driver/Kanye West
3. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
4. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
5. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
6. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
7. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that was that. Next week, Jason Momoa makes his hosting debut. I don't know much about him besides the fact that he was on "Game Of Thrones" and is now in "Aquaman". In fact, the only thing I'm sure I've seen him in is that meme where he looks like he is going to sneak up on Henry Cavill on some red carpet. Still, he strikes me as someone who is going to be a similar type of host to The Rock or John Cena. He seems like he has a big enough personality to handle sketch comedy well. See you then!
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