Will Ferrell/King Princess

Okay, here's my review. I honestly didn't find this episode as horribly bad as most people in the internet did. The overall energy in studio 8H is way up from the previous two episodes and those plus Ferrell's episode from last season taught me to keep my expectations fairly low. The worst things I can say about it were that it was too heavy on cameos (which given the news of the week was to be expected, I suppose) and the episode overall was wildly uneven but still, the highs were much higher than they had been in previous weeks. Everyone got some airtime among all the cameos except for Pete (who was mysteriously absent) and Ego (which is sad for her but at least the she was in one of the two dress cuts that got posted online). Anyway, let's just get right to it since there is a lot to unpack here.

Trump & Sondland By The Chopper - Well, this wasn't what I was expecting. I guess THIS week's impeachment hearing wasn't as much of a slog as the previous weeks was? I was really too busy to catch much of it anyway. I'm surprised they didn't give us what they had on this week's Democratic debate right up front in the cold open. I guess THAT was boring compared to new impeachment developments? Mostly, I was just a little disappointed that they decided the week Ferrell hosted had to be one of the weeks Baldwin had to make a cameo just to play Trump (although I did like his "you have to tell me if you're a cop" line). What disappointed me even more was that they appeared to be giving us a carbon copy of the underwhelming Trump cold open that they did in last season's also just as underwhelming Don Cheadle episode but with a helicopter added in. Thankfully, they decided to cut this one short and get on with the rest of the show once they introduced Ferrell as Ambassador Sondland (not the political impression I was expecting from him, by the way). It's also cool to see they didn't break the streak of Ferrell appearing in the cold open of every episode he has hosted this far because he really breathed some much needed life into this despite how he seemed to blow his very first line. His performance kinda reminded me of his appearance as Dubya in that third Weekend Update Thursday special from '08 where he tried to get everyone to think of him when they voted for McCain. C+

Monologue - My expectations were pretty low here. Ferrell's usually just as great a host as you'd expect him to be but historically, monologues have proven to be his weak spot. To his credit though, his previous monologue from January 2018 was perhaps his strongest so far (it'll grow on ya) and I didn't find as much fault with his 2009 monologue as some SNL fans on message boards did at the time. Still, even though this can be said for literally any host at least you never know what to expect from him here (and that is pretty exciting for SNL fans to think about when Ferrell or almost any other beloved alumni hosts). One thing I actually did expect is that Ferrell wouldn't be acknowledging his new five timer status as much as previous five time hosts have in the past. I couldn't picture Ferrell being taken back to the lounge and presented with his own smoking jacket because it seems a little square and corny for him.  That's not necessarily true for other hosts but Ferrell's comedic sensibilities have always been a bit more "out there" than someone who would just want to make that cheap callback and call it a night. Hell, that opening host bumper of him was as much as I was expecting them to actually reference it. I wasn't totally crazy about what we got presented with instead but I at least wouldn't have preferred that to this. I wanted to like this monologue more just for the sheer level of commitment to such a silly dumb premise and the unexpectedness of a Ryan Reynolds cameo (compared to the short laundry list of people I totally WAS expecting to see cameo). I mean, I'm not sure what Reynolds even has to promote right now either. Still, while this was a little longer than I would have liked it to have been I did get a bit more into it once Ferrell started imitating Tracy Morgan and then the real deal himself showed up. Plus, I did like his "in da house" and Backstreet Boys references followed by his straight up admission that "the monologue is terrible". C+

Heinz Relax - This was a premise I could get behind. Even though literally no one has ketchup with their Thanksgiving dinner and this this ad could've been done at literally any other time of year besides Thanksgiving, this was executed perfectly and was kept to the perfect length for what it was. B-

MSNBC Democratic Debate - Oh, I guess they DID find this just barely interesting enough to tackle this week. That's good because it's still pretty obvious that the writers have a lot more fun writing about the Democratic primary than they did about the current administration. Still, this sketch kinda felt like it was meandering all over the place. I mean, they literally spent more time just introducing each cast member and who they are impersonating than your average Celebrity Family Feud does. I can totally see why though as I actually did watch the real Dem debate and their seemed to be only one substantial moment of substance they felt the need to address so again, they were just reduced to giving us the same basic "take" on each candidate that they did in the season premiere. Kate's Warren, Redds' Booker and Bowen's leader of the #YangGang were just kinda there (although the latter two had funny lines). Seeing Larry's Bernie again was nice but he has had better material in the past. It's a bit disappointing to realize his funniest line in a sketch was a Billy Joel "Movin' Out" reference. Seeing Woody's Biden again was also nice. They haven't changed much of their take on him, but it didn't feel like they needed to since the audience is still getting used to it. I liked the Harold and Kumar reference and the "I can win the election in 2016" line. I could've done without Fred's Bloomberg, though. I know he's a candidate and I know Fred's impression of him is fairly accurate but it's still an impression I never cared for. Colin still does a competent Mayor Pete. They obviously know he's not that short in real life but they should know that that's not a good way to jokes about his relative youth compared to the other candidates. It was actually smart of them to essentially have Cecily and Melissa switch roles. Melissa is more believable in the Rachel Maddow. The voice she uses is pretty much just her own, but the characterization of Maddow obviously came more naturally to Melissa than it ever did to Cecily. Speaking of which, I'm glad to see the show has a fairly accurate dark take on Tulsi Gabbard as "the villain". Sure, they may have gone a little easy on her but the writer's heads seemed to be in the right place on this one. They seem at least vaguely aware of how big of a right of center war hawk Tulsi is (and how wildly out of place she seems running as a Democrat given her record) and Cecily sells that much better than Melissa could've. Seeing Maya's Kamala again was nice, but they seemed to take a step backward with their take on her. It came off lame that she went from being a "smooth talking lady lawyer" to a try hard "how do you do fellow kids" one woman meme factory but I did like the "cool aunt" fake out. Honestly, Will as Tom Steyer was my most genuine laugh in this whole piece. I would've cast Beck or Kyle in the role but I guess since Delaney is still running but not pulling high enough to be in the debates this is how they have to use Ferrell. The impression wasn't dead on, but I love how well he captured the whole "deer in headlights/in way over his head" vibe that he gives off. B-

Thanksgiving, 1600s - Even though this sketch eventually acknowledged it's own inherently problematic nature (even performers as ethically ambiguous as Fred, Maya and Melissa would likely get "cancelled" for playing native American roles let alone someone as white as Ferrell) and it repeated a couple of the same heavy handed jokes a few too many times, it was nice to see the moldy old "bigoted older Male relative goes off on race related issues at Thanksgiving" trope inverted and applied to a situation where it would actually be appropriate and warranted. I also like how the ending was treated with the utmost serious as well. C-

Teen Party - I could tell exactly where this was going as soon as Mikey said "school" but I still enjoyed it for what it was. It belabored its' point a bit but I got more into it once it just became a deep dive into the psyche of Ferrell's character and Heidi showed up. For the most part, it was executed flawlessly. B-

Horny For Pizza - I heard this was cut from last week's dress rehearsal with Harry Styles. I actually listened to the SNL Standby Line podcast and it played out exactly the way they summarized it, but they made it seemed like much more of a "look at me" Kate showcase than it actually was. I do like how they worked Ferrell into this. It seemed like his part just seemed tacked on, but I just went back and listened to the last episode of the Standby Line podcast again and apparently they rewrote this sketch just a little so that Will had the emotional breakdown that Kate was supposed to have. That was a smart move. That really made this sketch for me. B+

Update was pretty uneven but was still mostly enjoyable. Jost and Che frontloaded their segment with some solid material on Nunes,  Sondland and Bloomberg (at least it was good to see them have SOME investment in the impeachment hearings this week) but some of the jokes in the back half (particularly the Julia Roberts/Harriet Tubman/Mayor Pete/Meth & Cocaine/nazi auction jokes) felt so much like they were putting a hat on a hat that they shouldn't have even been addressed on Update as the stories themselves were outlandish jokes with their own punchlines. Plus, David Spade almost did the exact same vagina museum joke on his Comedy Central show that Che closed with. I'm not sure we needed to see Guy Who Just Bought A Boat again as I don't know where else Alex can take this character (unlike his Eric Trump) but I did like his "fighting over Cs" joke and I was surprised to see just how dirty NBC can allow this show to get even at midnight eastern time. I did appreciate the assist from Ryan Reynolds and his "winter's fap" jokes, though. Even though I was expecting Ferrell, Reynolds was actually a better fit for this sketch. C+

Wizard Of Oz Alternate Ending - Even though Wizard of Oz parodies seem incredibly hack in 2019, this angle didn't seem like it was done to death. It also seemed to belabor the point much like the monologue did, but at least it didn't go on as long. Plus, it was a nice way to work in Bowen and Chloe (especially since the latter got inexplicably shut out of last week's show entirely) and it was nice to see Kenans' Reese De'What again (even though he hits literally all the same beats as this character every time he appears). C-

People For The Ethical Treatment Of Puppets - Unlike in the monologue, this was an example of how doubling down on the same one joke can actually make a sketch work. This actually did get funnier the more gravely serious it got. Ferrell going for the Vaseline really sold it (even though it almost undid the whole sketch). B+

Now, for my updated rankings of all of Ferrell's hosting stints...

1. Will Ferrell/Green Day (5.16.2009)
2. Will Ferrell/Queens Of The Stone Age (5.14.2005)
3. Will Ferrell/King Princess (11.23.2019)
4. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton (1.27.2018)
5. Will Ferrell/Usher (5.12.2012)

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

1. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
2. Chance The Rapper
3. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
4. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
5. Will Ferrell/King Princess
6. Harry Styles
7. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Well, this was an episode that obviously hit the rest of you much harder than it did me. In two weeks J.Lo hosts for her third time, but this will be the first time she is not pulling double duty. I'm.not excited for this one, but I do know not to expect the worst. She didn't blow anyone away in the same way that other mega pop stars turned hosts like Timberlake did but she has proved her self to be a dependable host before (which is odd considering that while, yes, she was on In Living Color she was only on as a dancer and NEVER as a sketch performer). See you after Thanksgiving!