Okay, here's my review. This was certainly an uneven show, but that's to be expected when the show is both a) coming back from a nearly month long holiday break and b) still figuring out what their approach to topical/political humor under a new presidential administration (that thankfully delivers on its promise to be drastically different from the previous one so far). John Krasinski was exactly what one would expect from him as a performer. He was dependable but I get the impression that either he didn't want to stray too far out of character or the writers didn't know how to play to his specific strengths as an actor. I'd say he's a Paul Rudd level host in that he may have blended in with the cast a little too well for his own good. He may not be as upstaged as easily thought but this is his first time hosting and were in an time where cameo heavy episodes really aren't ideal for logistical reasons so we haven't seen any bigger personalities come along and wash him off screen yet. Good to see the entire cast of 20 people get both live and pretaped airtime (now that Aidy has returned from filming what we now know is Shrills' final season). Anyway, not every sketch in this episode left a ton for me to unpack but let's get right down to the things that did, shall we?
What Still Works? - Well, I'm glad to see such an unconventional cold open for this era even though not all of it worked for me. This definitely felt like the type of post monologue pre musical performance/Update sketch the show would do between seasons 16 and 21...but as a cold open today. Cecily was possibly the last person I expected to play Marjorie Taylor Greene (I thought for sure that would be a Kate role but I guess she decided she'd rather play herself in a reveal I saw coming from two towns over) but I liked the subtle, restrained madness Cecily bought to the role and she had good material. I may be a little biased since as a Coloradan a very sick part of me was hoping to see Heidi play Lauren Boebert (no, I don't live in her district, thank god) but I guess MTG is always going to be the bigger, crazier target. I guess I can take some small comfort in the fact of the two Qanon shills we actually elected to congress the one from my fucking state will at least be the SECOND craziest (but definitely still seems to have the more troubling police record). Pete had some funny lines as a vessel for the shows' non-Update GameStop stock commentary. Mikey and Alex as Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg worked for me but a part of me was disappointed not to see some confirmation that the show was confident in Moffats' Biden that we saw a brief glimpse of last month before the show went on another long holiday break (but if Moffat just flat out doesn't want to play Biden I can understand that but that makes me wonder what else the show is going to have to resort to). Kenans' OJ seemed a little too tacked on for me but maybe that's because I was blissfully unaware of OJ having received the vaccine. Still, Kenans' OJ might have been a better ending to this than Jon Krasinski as Tom Brady. All in all, I liked seeing Kate taking the comedic premise of "working out her own fears and anxieties about the world on camera" off of Update and into an actual sketch that had more promise than it actually delivered on and I'm starting to suspect wasn't the original cold open in dress rehearsal. B-
Monologue - Jon came off likable here. I did like the Paw Patrol analogy but I didn't like how reminiscent of Steve Carrells' last monologue this was. I did like how Ego and Kenan really uplifted the material even though I'm not too crazy about how we seemed to be returning to the trend of cast members playing "audience members" instead of writers. I don't wonder if Jon saying "obviously not enough" line was adlibbed or scripted as Ego made it seem like he was about to step on her next line. I didn't even terribly mind the kiss between Pete and Jon given how it was set up. C+
Blue Georgia - This felt a little too low key for its own good. It didn't seem to go anywhere beyond just "good ol' down home Southern folk suddenly start acting like performatively liberal elites who even manage to politely kick out a MAGA hat guy". The ending where Melissa points out that no one is wearing masks barely made sense but at least they gave that to Melissa as her only line and she nailed the hell out of it. D+
The Loser - To me, this seemed like sort of an inversion of the wrestling prepare from Jonah Hills' 2016 episode. I did end up liking this a lot better due to the rapid fire pacing and escalation of Andrew's general direness. It does practically scream "Day and Seidell" writing wise, though. Honestly, it was John's strongest performance all night. B-
The Dividend - I liked this at first for the increasingly creepy reveals but after a while it felt kinda stagnant. The reveal I liked the least was that this wasn't entirely about the stock market situation since it made me feel silly for having that expectation for them to subvert. I did like how it felt like another inverted twist on the Matt Shat formula (maybe with a little of that game show sketch from Amy Schumers' last episode mixed in making this the first of two sketches tonight that were reminiscent of that one). B+
NOW That's What I Call The Stars Of TV Shows Singing The Theme Songs Of Their Shows - This actually turned out to be the stronger of the two pretapes of the night. It was an fun twist on the old "impression parade" trope. I liked how Chloe really set up this piece with her Nicole Kidman and help bring it on home with her Kim Cattrall. It's nice to see she can contribute to an impression parade without dominating the whole thing. I did like how Melissa's Anya Taylor Joy and Pete's Nicholas Braun impressions didn't require you to know anything about "The Queens' Gambit" or "Succession" to appreciate (in fact, the less you knew about those shows, the better). Pete may have been the funniest part of this. Beck and Alex turned fun impressions and Jon as himself was probably the ideal way they could've ended this. The only bad thing I can say about this it went on a bit longer than it should've. I honestly could've done without Cecilys' Julie Andrew's, Kate's Gillian Scully Thatcher and Kyle's Baby Yoda. Kyle's characterization of Baby Yoda only really works fleshed out on Update (and even then it barely works) but I did appreciate the green screen effect. B+
Covid Bubble Meeting - I liked this because it felt like the first topical sketch of the night that the whoever wrote it genuinely wanted to write and the cast genuinely had fun performing this. Plus, given what a dark day January 6th turned out to be I was wondering how the show would even attempt to address the insurrection. Good thing they had an entire month to process the events and figure out the most appropriate way to address them. Honestly, the only bad thing about this sketch was the glare on Cecilys' photo. B+
Update was allright. Once again, Che got all the better jokes. Beck's Mike Lindell commentary was the real highlight. Nice to see that Beck has improved his impression and made it more distinctly Minnesotan. It's always nice to see Bowen and Kyle get big impersonation type roles on the show but a lot of this may have been lost on me since I can't say I've seen the new Netflix show that Fran Leibowitz (I though she died recently. Anyone know who I might have been confusing her with?) and Martin Scorsese did together. Kyle's Scorcese may not work (it reminded me too much of his Howie Mandell) and I may not be able to judge Bowens' Fran Leibowitz but I really liked their energy, though. I normally really like Cecily but I'm not exactly the biggest Cathy-Anne fan. As scattershot as this felt, it still was appropriate for this character to do a Capitol seige commentary. B-
Supermarket Sweep, 1992 - I'm getting less and less into these super niche sketches where Kate, Aidy, Alison Gates and Anna Drezen just let the audience in on their inside jokes but at least they gave us something different here by sending this one back in time. Maybe they wanted to do this as a shout out to Leslie? Chris, Ego, Lauren and Andrew had some good lines though. C+
Subway Board Meeting - This sketch lacked way too much focus for its own good. Andrew was wasted in a real nothing role but hey, at least he's getting airtime. It didn't even mention the real bread and tuna related reasons Subway was in the news again. Honestly, Kenan and Becks' performances were the only thing this had going for it. D+
Russian Ratatouille - Again, I liked this more for the escalations as it's literally the only thing it had going for it. Especially the reveal that even Pete's Not!Remy had a tiny cockroach under his own hat. Pete's ending I could take or leave though. C+
Now, for my updated rankings for this season…
1. Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (12.12.2020)
2. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
3. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
4. Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa (12.19.2020)
5. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)
6. John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly (1.30.2021)
7. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
8. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
9. Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen (12.5.20)
10. Bill Burr/Jack White (10.10.20)
Well, after that episode I'm just glad I ended up having as much to say about it as I did. Next week, Dan Levy makes his hosting debut coming off the massive Emmy sweep of his just ended series Schitt$ Creek. Now, I haven't seen much of Schitt$ Creek so I don't know what to expect from Dan Levy as a performer but since I've heard plenty of great things about his show I'm going to remain optimistic. As an SCTV fan, I honestly wouldn't mind if Dans' father Eugene or their mutual costar Catherine could show up for a cameo but given everything else going on in the world right now, I'm not going to get my hopes up too high on that one. See you then!
