Emma Stone/BTS

Okay, here's my review. This show was pretty much at the level of quality I would expect from an Emma Stone hosted episode. Glad to see the presence of BTS was something that had minimal effect on the show itself unlike some people were expecting. The writing was much more consistent as was airtime for the entire cast. Let's just break it down, shall we?

MSNBC Lockup Chino - It's nice to see we're getting a slightly more pop culture themed and only vaguely political instead of strictly only political cold open every third show now. I would've cast Cecily as Lori Laughlin instead of Kate but I guess they thought Kate was more convincing at playing intimidating characters you're supposed to be afraid of. Pete's Avenatti and Melissa's unexpected Tekashi 6ix9ine were the funniest parts of this. Not sure 69 was in the news that much these past few weeks but I suspect referencing him, including Pete as Avenatti and all the "Aunt Becky" jokes were merely a ploy to draw in those in the age group that BTS is actually age appropriate for to keep them at least vaguely interested in the actual show as much as they could. As much as I like seeing Michael Keaton appearing in things, casting him as Julian Assange felt a little off. Maybe it was his timing or maybe it was the fact that he is the only person to ever play Julian Assange on SNL and not even attempt an Australian accent or the fact that this sketch came uncomfortably close to glorifying the guy which took me out of it. Still, I loked getting to see a different type of cold opening than what they've been giving us the rest of the season. C+

Monologue - This felt like it was gonna be all over the place at first. I guess we were too busy thinking about how the presence of BTS and their fans would affect the show made us forget about Emma's well established love of the show itself so no one thought to expect another sincere slightly emotional monologue where the host just explains what the show means to them or their family or how it put them on their path in life. Thankfully, that wasn't what the entire monologue turned out to be. I'm guessing whoever wrote this monologue for Emma may have also written the monologue for Melissa's 2016 episode when she hosted for her fourth time because that's what this reminded me the most of. Thankfully, Kenan and Kate  only Garth and Kat-ed their way through a small portion of this and ceded some time to Kyle and to Melissa to do one of her more obscure impressions. For some reason, the biggest laugh I got out of this whole thing was Chris nervously presenting Emma a denim jacket with a red number four hastily spray painted onto it. C+

Even More Inspirational Posters - Well, I'm not exactly thrilled to see this again. I wasn't a fan of it last time Emma hosted and I'm a little disappointed that this is the only recurring character she can do right now since the cast and writers that gave us "Les Jeunes Des Paris" is long since gone. Still, this had its moments. For one thing, I do appreciate how they gave Emma's character(s) far less of a one track mind than last time. Plus, I chuckled at Becks' growly Hoganesque wrestler voice and Mikey's "Lil Percocet" character kept trying to tie his dumbass lyrics (no pun intended) back to actual historical events. The only thing that threw me for a loop is why Kenan and Ego had to be in a knockoff Black Panther poster instead of an actual one. C-

Fashion Coward - This was a creative and well explored premise that had it's funny moments. To me the funniest part was when the extra features of the "fitting room" were explained. I'm guessing this is something that Aidy cowrote with either Bowen Yang or one of the female writers. This seemed to me to fall in line with Aidys' established viewpoints on fashion in general and also kind of reminded me of her Update commentary from last season where she talked about always fearing she wasn't accommodating enough to people. If any of the people who helped write "Chonk" from a year and a half ago are still in staff, they probably helped write this, too. B-

[UPDATE: Twitter once again proved only some, not all of my suspicions were correct as Anna Drezen has confirmed that she, Yang and Allison Gates cowrote this].

The View XII - Ok, I automatically like this much more than I liked the Wiig era view parodies the show was doing a decade ago (and I'd at least place them at the same level as the original Fey-written View parodies the show did two decades ago). It's always nice to see Leslie's Whoopie. Cecily turned in a good performance although I couldn't tell if she was trying an actual Abby Huntsman impression or if she was just doing a generic dim Southern housewife voice. I remember when her dad John Huntsman appeared on one of Seth's Updates during his failed presidential primary run and he didn't quite come across as a Southern gent to me. Also, is Cecily meaning to portray a real life pregnancy that Abby is going through? Melissa and Aidy turned pretty solid performances (and since a good chunk of my Twitter feed has just turned into leftists dunking on the likes of Ana Navarro and ESPECIALLY Meghan McCain pretty hard I guess the time has come once again for SNL to once again parody The View). My one complaint is that the Paul Rudd/Stephen Miller comparison joke has been done to death on Twitter. I probably would've liked this better if Kate and Emma switched roles. I guess for her Joy Behar impression Kate was going for a much more sedate version of Howard Wallowitzs' mom on "The Big Bang Theory" (which Behar apparently does the voice over for in absentia) but she just came off sounding too much like she was just doing her odd modern day Gulliani impression. I'm not sure what Emma was going for but I'm sure Jenny McCarthy isn't that sedate in real life either. Also, I just realized how Emma has now participated in parodies of "The View" in both her first and most recent episodes as host. B-

Hobbies - If they're going to keep doing rap videos on the show, I'm glad they're letting other cast members besides Pete, Chris, Kenan and Leslie be front and center in them. This was very cute and I like anything that gives Melissa a chance to shine. It pretty much mirrored most of the things Melissa has been posting across social media lately. I wonder if Emma and Melissa are mutual followers of each other on social media and they bonded over this type of stuff so hard they decided to write a rap about it? B-

Meet You In The "Ladies Room" - This was pretty much an exact cross between the Oran "Juice" Jones parody from last season's Donald Glover/Childish Gambino episode and that "Best Of Klymaxx" fake ad from the 2003 Halle Berry/Britney Spears episode. In fact, just when I thought this sketch might be based on the latter, the ending faux album cover graphic confirms my suspicions and reveals we just bore witness to a performance from fictional girl group "Orgasmyxxx". I did wonder if this, like the former, was based on another specific obscure '80s music video that Cecily was a fan of and wanted to parody but was waiting for just the right host to come along for. Then, I found myself scrolling through Twitter for some reason before finishing up this review and one of the hosts of the new "SNL Nerds" podcast posted a YouTube link to the actual Klymaxx video "Meeting In The Ladies Room". So yeah, this video is a barely changed shot-for-shot remake of that one and the original is quite possibly the most aggressively early-bird 80s thing you may ever see. Unsurprisingly, Kenan was the funniest part of this sketch coming in to be the voice of reason and put everyones' nonsense into perspective. Man, he really has been the "glue" of the cast lately, huh? B-

Update was pretty fun tonight. Che and Jost had some strong jokes and some that felt like they had been done before but they clearly both had the time of their lives telling them all. For some reason, the only joke that didn't quite land with me was the Kim & Kanye one. Somehow, when I heard Che utter the phrase "spring break" I knew we were going to see Aidys' seventh grade travel expert from Jason Momoas' episode again. This still has its charms but it wasn't that different from her first outing. Mikey and Heidi's Instagram couple is another "take it or leave it" bit for me but as grating as it was in some parts, I gotta admit it was entertaining how the REALLY heightened the drama this time around. I guess this week's guest commentaries were picked based on what they thought would be the most palatable to the BTS fans. B-

Royal Baby Shower - I didn't know the royals were in enough of the headlines to warrant another one of these sketches, but OK. I definitely liked this much better than the previous installment from last season's finale. Beck, Ego, Cecily and Alex were pretty funny in it. Always nice to see Aidys' portrayal of James Corden (however brief). Even in a brief walk on, Pete would never have been my first choice to play Ringo Starr. Chris as 21 Savage seemed to be another reference thrown in to appease the BTS fans. Emma and Kenans' parts didn't do much for me. I'm still baffled as to why they just haven't given Melissa a chance to play Meghan Markle yet. B-

The Actress - Okay yeah, this just SCREAMS "Julio Torres wrote this". Emma was also in "Wells For Boys" which he also wrote so it makes perfect sense that she would want to work with him again if he is still working on the show. She and Beck played off each other well and for some reason it got funnier to me in the ending moments after she had fully realized the character of "Deirdre". B-

[UPDATE: Torres didn't just write this, he cowrote it with Bowen Yang and they somehow got an actual gay Male porn star to be in it. After Seka and Stormy, I suppose this was the next logical progression]

Chalmers Reserve Event Wine - I guess whoever wrote this must have just watched the "Shawn Mundavi Vineyards" sketch from John Goodman's 1999 episode because this was a way more outlandish millennial version of that. Kyle really sprinted away with this. Emma was coming up quite close to him at full speed. B-

Goodnights - Just a heads up, if you do go to omaze.com/girlpower as Emma suggested, you are taken to a site where you get to enter into a sweepstakes to win a chance to be seated VIP with her and the girls from HAIM at an upcoming Spice Girls reunion concert in London.

Now, just for fun and since she is almost a five time now, here are my rankings of all of Emma's hosting stints so far...

1. Emma Stone/Coldplay (11.12.2011)
2. Emma Stone/BTS (4.13.2019)
3. Emma Stone/Kings Of Leon (10.23.2010)
4. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes (12.3.2016)

Now, here are my updated rankings for this current season so far...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
2. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
3. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
4. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
5. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
6. Adam Driver/Kanye West
7. Emma Stone/BTS
8. Idris Elba/Khalid
9. Halsey
10. Kit Harrington/Sara Bareilles
11. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala
12. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
13. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
14. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
15. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
16. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
17. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
18. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

Well, that was fun. In three weeks, Adam Sandler makes his hosting debut 25 years after leaving the show. As Sandler has never hosted before and has gone on record as saying he may never host, this is truly a momentous occasion for the show. Even they realize this as they chose to announce it on social media last week in the hopes that Sandler will be a huge ratings draw for the first week of sweeps month. I've heard people have been saying that Sandler doesn't have a movie to promote but he does have an upcoming tour. My theory is that he finally had a change of heart because he realized that he needed to get some more practice performing for a real live audience before he heads back out on the road. Personally, I'm the most interested in seeing how Sandler will fit in with the shoes sensibilities now given that he and his sense of humor is now several generations removed from SNL. That being said, we'll probably be getting a monologue that's mostly just cameos from his early '90s castmates (Spade, Rock, Meadows, Nealon, possibly Carvey or Mkke Meyers, Schneider might still be a bit of a long shot at this point, it's tough to say) if he doesn't just do another goofy Update-style guitar song. Hell, he could probably do both of those things if he wanted to. As for recurring bits and characters from his era, he may have to stick ones he can do solo here since a lot if his most beloved sketches he did alongside Chris Farley. A lot of people seem to be predicting we'll see Operaman on Update and I think that's what we'll end up getting but I'd really like to see Operaman get his own standalone sketch (like the cold open if the Shannen Doherty/Cyprus Hill episode from 1993 or his cameo in SNL40) so we can see Cajun Man on Update (to make up for Cajun Man getting cut from dress at the Brittany Murphy/Nelly episode from 2002 when Sandler previously cameoed to debut a new version of the Hanukkah song). Those are pretty much the only characters he can bring back right now. We'll probably get one of those two and the rest of the show will likely turn out like Will Ferrell's episode from last season where Sandler just ends up going through the motions and trying to fit in with the current cast and writers more modern sensibilities. Still, it should be a fun week for them regardless. Say what you will about Sandler's humor, most people who've worked with him have said he's a nice guy to be around and he treats everyone well. Let's just hope I'm wrong about some of these things and this episode turns out to be much more enjoyable than I am making it out to be right now. See you in May!

Kit Harrington/Sara Bareilles (4.6.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This certainly turned out to be an interesting episode. They mostly seemed to keep the topical, political and recurring material to an absolute bare minimum in favor of original writing. They took a lot of chances with sketches tonight. Some of them paid off and some of them didn't but nothing was a total disaster. Kit Harrington was a very professional host. He didn't blow me away or anything but he was a decent fit for the show and I wouldn't mind seeing him host again if he has a decent post GoT movie to promote. The cast seemed pretty evenly balanced as far as airtime but Melissa only appeared in one thing (but at least she stood out in it). It was a pretty straightforward show to review so, let's get right into it.

Biden 2020 Campaign Headquarters - While even the implication of a Jason Sudekis cameo is exciting, this was pretty underwhelming. I mean, I'm glad we got to see him instead of Alec or DeNiro again this week but there wasn't much to laugh at here besides the Mario Batali/Lou Rawls/Dirty Dancing/ZZ Top shout outside. Plus, Leslie's part felt a little predictable. Hell, if she didn't walk in this would have felt just like a rejected cold open from season 38. Also, even though it should be expected that the show would go with this angle on Biden now at least it's nice to see them take some responsibility for their recent past and do something to counter the loveable goofball image of "Uncle Joe" that they (along with The Onion) helped cultivate that made America gloss over Bidens' many now glaring faults. C+

Monologue - This got the show off to a better, more energetic start. Kit did a great job poking fun at the non-GoT portions of his resume and Pete, the show's writers along with Kits' real life costars changing things up a bit were fun (although part of me still wishes we were seeing Emilia Clarke hosting tonight). Kits' wife, Rose Leslie was funny here. I liked how she played against my expectation that she would just ask Kit about that time he had sex with Emilia. B+

2019 Nephew Pageant - This somehow felt like a different and original premise and yet it fell in line with the infrequent "obscure, esoteric and narrowly pageant/awards show" trope that SNL has been going back to every so often fow the past 30 or so years. Aidys' singing and Kit, Mikey and Chris' characters (as well as the odd factoids presented on the right hand side graphic) were the funniest parts of this. Kudos to Kit for really disappearing into his part. B+

Game Of Thrones Spinoff Showcase - Well, the "obligatory host sketch" left a lot to unpack tonight. Heidi and Kits' parts were fun. The Daria/Arya parody was the highlight for me. I find it odd seeing Cecily and Kyle play the apparently real couple from the show that Bobby and Vanessa played in an Update piece from season 40 (especially since Kyle had to wear extra makeup for his part). Kudos to whoever remembered that Mikey and Pete got their start on MTVs' Wild'n' Out (besides them, of course) and the Ice-T/Mariska Hargitay cameos were fun. Those were the only things that stood out to me as someone who hasn't watched the show enough to get ALL these references. C+

Frank Sinatra/Micheal Jackson Cover Band - I liked this a lot more for its premise than its actual execution. It was a little troubling that this sketch had to drag with little buildup so much that the biggest laughs I got were Kate's brief moonwalk-on and the casual reveal that Leslie's character was a complete stranger to Beck and Heidi's couple. This felt like an exact cross between Fred Armisens' Danish Frank Sinatra play from season 35 and that sketch from the season 25 finale where Jackie Chan played an Elvis impersonator. B-

EarthWar 3 - This definitely has Day and Seidells' fingerprints all over it. It's interesting to see them transition from live sketches to pretaped ones. That definitely helped this one play much better. Ego and Chris were strong additions to this. I also liked how this ended at just the right moment before it started to meander. C-

Update was very largely hit and miss tonight. Namely, the commentaries were hits and most of the jokes were misses except for Ches' comments about the FBI and gays still in Wisconsin. Honestly, those were the only two moments where he seemed the least out of it. Jost had sone pretty unremarkable material but he at least appeared to have a lot of fun with it so, good for him. Alexs' LSD macrodosing movie critic was the funniest part of the entire show. I loved how it was a very writer oriented piece that hot way lore absurd as it went along. Kenans' Charles Barkely was also very funny in a similar way. It really reminded me of why he is well loved as a performer on this show. I'm guessing this may be another subtle hint that he really is leaving this May. He must've wanted to do this impression one last time and needed to take any reason he could to get it on the air. B+

Male Burlesque - Well, I liked the basic premise of this slightly more than I liked the fact that this sketch apparently felt the need to keep over explaining itself. Kate and Melissa's characters were by far the funniest and most interesting things about this. The rest of this just seemed to be blatant eye candy for Kits' female fans (one or two of which I suspect wrote this to begin with) C+

A Day In The Life Of Theresa May - I'm sure Sara's fans are pleased to see she not only got to be in a sketch, but it was a sketch based around her singing what I assume is one of the songs from her Broadway musical "Waitress". That and including Kit as an out-of-nowhere Churchill were nice touches. I would've found this more enjoyable as a whole had it not been for the confusing shift in the middle from low-key emotion to going for big broad laughs and then right back to the low-key sadness again. Also, I think making this last the entire length of the song itself hurt this because it felt way too long. C-

Graphics Department Battle - I still don't quite know how to feel about this sketch as the bulk of it didn't quite land with me. At first, this seemed like a mid-to-late-2000s era sketch oddly stuck out of time, but then it revealed the only real joke it had. It pretty much hammered home who Beck, Kit and Kyle's characters were for quite a large chunk of its runtime but it really picked up when they revealed the multiple copies of Mikey's boss character masturbating under the stairs. Kudos to Kit and Cecily for being so committed to their characters. C+

Rectal Exam - This sketch was pretty much all over the place. At first, it seemed like it was going to be a bit of a meet-cute between Kit and Cecily. Then, it was revealed that Leslie was going to be operating on Kit with long, ridiculous nails and it lingered on that point for a bit. Then, some broad physical humor to give this sketch a boost before the "Undercover Boss" twist was revealed followed by the further twist that Kit was actually proud of his employees. I wasn't crazy about the premise of this, but I sure liked how unpredictable this sketch really felt throughout. Also, I couldn't help but notice that this and the monologue were the only two live segments Pete was in throughout the whole show. Did it really take the length of the entire middle of the show to remove his makeup? C+

Now for my updated rankings of the entire season so far...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
2. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
3. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
4. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
5. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
6. Adam Driver/Kanye West
7. Idris Elba/Khalid
8. Halsey
9. Kit Harrington/Sara Bareilles
9. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala
10. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
11. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
12. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
13. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
14. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
15. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
16. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

Well, that show was quite a pleasant surprise. Next week, Emma Stone hosts for her fourth time. We know she should be a fun host and definitely a chipper and committed one even when a sketch isn't working due to her being such a fan of the show. Let's just hope she has the writing to back her up and make her look good. I sure hope this actually makes up for her last episode in 2016 being such a dud. See you then!