Natasha Lyonne/Japanese Breakfast (5.21.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This is a finale that was made for the Twitter stans and the Twitter stans only. Yes, Kate, Aidy and Pete did get the lovely goodbyes they deserved on air (Kyle is also leaving and he could've got something too but it's not like he was one of the cast members whose presence on the show required a big blowout send off) but other than that this episode seemed wildly unfocused and uneven. Natasha Lyonne showed endless promise as a host which is a shame since she only got to be used very sparingly throughout the show. I fully understand this wasn’t going to be a regular finale where the host was reasonably in focus but I still expected the show to use her more than they did. The only reason any other cast members got on was mostly due to one of the pretapes I'll get to later but still kudos to JAJ at least for managing to have a stand out night. 

Before we go any further, I want to say that I don't want to sound like I'm being too hard on Kate, Aidy, Kyle or Pete on their last shows or anything just because their goodbyes didn’t hit me as hard emotionally as some of you who may be reading this. I do feel the show has been misusing their talents so much in recent years that I'm less sad to see them leave SNL and more just relieved to see them finally get the opportunity to move on and pursue bigger and better things full time. It's more that this season in general has left me burnt out with the way it concluded after starting out with such promise in the beginning. Anyway, let’s get down to it.

Colleen Raffertys' Final Close Encounter - Wow...interesting choice to have this as the actual cold open. I wish I could have more of a reaction to this beyond how impressed I was that they closed this season with a non-political cold open (although that establishing Pentagon shot was an impressive fakeout) but these always kinda washed over me. Still, I guess this was to be expected tonight seeing as we finally got hard confirmation that two performers in this scene will not be returning in the fall and these characters certainly have their fans. This sketch seemed to have been written a bit differently than the others though (while still suffering from an acute version of palpable Debbie Downer syndrome courtesy of Aidy). I did like Natasha's line (who is an interesting fit for this sketch) about the Pentagon being her favorite shape and Kate's lines about her "wonderwear" and Yankee Stadium lines. I especially liked how the ending tried to bring some closure to this characters' storyline (the whole sketch felt oddly subdued up to that point). Incidentally, it's nice for me that we get some official confirmation that this characters full name is actually "Colleen Rafferty" as I just remembered I went to high school with a girl who had that exact name and I am genuinely curious what she has been up to all these years later. B+

Monologue - Natasha is the second female host in a row to bring an odd low-key energy to her monologue. Thankfully, Natasha bought something fresh, worthwhile and non-frustrating to her monologue. It felt different than pretty much any other SNL monologue I have seen because it as catered to Natashas' life and career as they could pull off (nice of her to show us the origin of her Twitter profile pic, btw) and written in a way that only she could deliver. She kept this entertaining enough to justify this monologues' seemingly longer than normal length. The half-expected Maya and Fred cameos went better than they had any right to (especially Fred given both their history together and just...Freds' history with women in general) and I officially declare Maya Rudolph the winner of the Natasha Lyonne impression-off. The one thing I am still left wondering is if the real Natasha's "I also wish I was Harry Styles" comment a reference to a possible reference to Styles originally being booked as this episodes host but having to drop out last minute due to the concert he was putting on elsewhere in New York last night or just a reference to the show simply being aware of that pocket of Twitter pretty much praying through the knees for Harry to have been in both Natashas' and Japanese Breakfast places tonight? B+

Voters For Stupidity - At first, I liked how this was just going for sheer gleeful silliness but it got muddled a bit by its own surprise political "message" at the end and I was suddenly a bit soured on it. This started out well with a series of rapid fire gags (some of my favorites included Cecilys' unnecessary voice box/stained glass window joke/bubble blowing, Kenans facial expressions and cat/horse drawing and the use of JAJ in his role in general) but after a certain point it just felt all for nothing. C-

Yankee Stadium, 1951 - As soon as Natasha uttered the word "methamphetamine", this felt less different than the original sketches we've been getting in this era. Still, it was worth watching to see just her absolutely swing for the fences (if you'll forgive the expression). I also liked the continued use of JAJ in non-impression roles. Otherwise, it reminded me too much of the BBC soccer announcer sketch from Idris Elbas' 2019 episode. That wasn't necessarily a bad sketch but I just don't like being reminded too much of a previous sketch when i'm expecting something different and original. B-

Treece Hendersons' (Possible) Farewell Performance - Aside from this being an oddly fitting choice of farewell sketch for Kyle Mooney, I don't think we really needed to see this again. I didn’t mind seeing Chloe or Natasha dragged and dropped into this template at all and I didn’t mind seeing this hit all the same beats that these odd Kenan sketches usually always hit but still, my night could’ve done without it. C-

Places We'll Go - Wow, I loved the real low-key "theater of the mind" approach to this with Dismukes' narration but I feel like there could've been a few cuts made to keep this from feeling too telegraphed and "samey". Still, I understand how both the sheer size of this cast and the nature and timing of this piece necessitated it being a full cast showcase. This felt like it succeeded where the Zoe Kravitz wedding toast sketch with Kyle and Cecily failed. B+

Update once again had Che come out swinging with Jost only catching up with those Liz Cheney/Florida student jokes (and he just HAD to follow those up with those Trump/Segal/Swift jokes that HAD to have been cut from some dress rehearsal from 2016, right?). I would’ve rather seen Alexs' Guy Who Just Bought A Boat than Kate's Dr. Weknowdis (even though it's the more appropriate choice for tonight and the exact thing I thought Jost was setting us up for) but the only things I took away from it were Alexs' "this is the worst thing that happened in Germany" joke and Josts' sudden "people are visibly ill" joke. I understand that this is Aidys' last show, too but it feels way too soon for her and Bowen to bring back their "trend forecasters" since they were just on last month. Still, I genuinely did like the "time/greeting" trends and the "future trends" was a sweet way to end this (but if they were gonna bring back Che being "out" I would’ve appreciated it more with some more definite confirmation that this WAS going to be his last Update). Speaking of, Pete's official goodbye was perhaps my favorite of the entire night. I was thinking about which of his season finale commentaries I liked better between this one and the last one and I think I liked this one better because with this being the confirmation of Pete's last episode, the tone of it felt more sincere. I especially liked how he called out FOX News blatant hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance over the Crenshaw matter. As much as the Oscars slap is a beyond tired topic I like how subtle Pete's Trojan horse like segue into it was and his Lorne impression was a nice addition. Honesty, the only thing I didn’t like about this commentary is that it ended Update and thus deprived us of our possibly final joke swap ever but it might be more Alex's fault that we didn't get one. B-

9:15 To 5:10 - I liked this as a showcase for Heidi and Ego and eventually I got on board with the whole noisy, senseless, unrelenting chaos vibe this went for (in spite of Fred's presence in what one could say is a sketch seemingly designed to make its performers break) but I imagine the people that hated the Benedict Cumberbatch fainting couch sketch are really gonna hate this! Still, it felt less "old variety show camp for the sake of camp" and more "Tim And Eric try their hand at directing local Branson dinner theater". My only other real complaint is that the writers seemed unable to settle on wanting this to be a parody of "9 To 5" or "Weekend At Bernies'". They made a real mistake giving us a shot of Natasha in a mustache and suspenders during the commercial break. They were really setting us up to be disappointed based on that. C+

Grey Adult Pigtails - Hmm...from the opening shot of Melissa, Chloe and Sarah I was expecting more of a "long overdue passing of the torch moment" than just an Aidy & Kate two hander advertisement. Still, it was short and it was the last of these we will ever be seeing. Heidi and Natasha fit the vibe of this sketch well. Weird sketch for Kyle of all people to go out on, though (and Aidy and Kate now that I think about it given the lack of emotional significance this seemed to convey but then again, something was obviously just cut...probably the Pete/Eminem "Forgot About Lorne" video that was put up on IG/YouTube which while uncomfortably reverent toward Lorne and kinda soured by Marshall's cameo was better than a lot of what made it to air and hearing about the original cold open from dress made me realize they cut a lot of the wrong stuff from this episode which was another thing this one had going against it). Honestly, Japanese Breakfast was the big highlight of this for me given her being the absolute last of this season's musical guests I would ever expect to appear in a sketch and absolutely killing it in her part. B-

Now, for my final rankings of Season 47 of SNL.

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)
8. Lizzo (4.16.2022)
9. Natasha Lyonne/Japanese Breakfast (5.21.2022)
10. Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.14.2022)
11. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
12. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
13. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
14. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
15. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
15. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
17. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
18. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
19. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)
20. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
21. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, it's obvious we've truly come to the end of an era for SNL once and for all. At this point, we have the rest of the summer to wait for news of any further cast member departures than what we just got. There's a chance we might get some new additions as well, but with the cast size still as large as it is, I think that would be truly unnecessary. More cast members would still make it almost impossible for underused newer players to get airtime. I mean, it would be intriguing but the promise of the show being left in its most capable and creative hands (with its own featured players moving on up) is enough to make me want to keep this blog going into next year (or at least just not want to announce MY immediate retirement from SNL review blogging this year). See you all next year!

Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.22.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was the most frustrating episode of the season for me. If you're reading this because you clicked on the link to it I shared in our Twitter group chat or in the That Week In SNL Discord server, there's a good chance you probably thought this episode was better than I did...and that's fine. I wanted to like this episode more too, but while it wasn’t necessarily in my bottom five of the season, it was the most jarringly uneven episode I've seen in a long time. If I'm being honest, I feel like I just had set my expectations too high. A lot of people in the same online SNL fan community were hyping up Selena for how great of a host she would be because she has such a great sense of humor and comedic timing (especially with her real dry, droll, sarcastic delivery) and I trusted their judgement because they made it abundantly clear that they'd all seen way more of her on "Wizards Of Waverly Place" than I did (I was always more of a "Hannah Montanna" guy anyway) and I have seen her new show "Only Murders In The Building" getting rave reviews. Plus, we've always seen hosts who rose to fame as teen pop stars (especially ones who rode the Disney/Nickelodeon trains to fame) always bring a high level of youthful energy to the show. Unfortunately, she seemed to bring very little if that fun, upbeat pop star energy and pretty much nothing but dry, sarcastic delivery in pretty much every single role. I believe my dear friend and fellow SNL Network podcast contributor Nicole Rovine put it best when she said simply that "Selena didn’t bring the range". Still, Selena Gomez does seem like a lovely person in real life who got along and worked very well with the cast during her first time hosting (and I know she's faced some personal health struggles of her own in the past few years) so I'm not gonna hold anything against her just for being a different type of performer than I expected her to be on a sketch comedy show. There were some great sketches I truly liked and some where something about the writing just rubbed me the wrong way. One thing I really did like about this episode was how it made excellent use of some of the more underrated newer cast members I like seeing (unfortunately not Alex or Aristotle who were completely shut out of the show again or Dismukes who unfortunately was out with Covid and Pete who's still pretty much a departed cast member who's still in the credits for some reason). Let me get to breaking this episode down so I can explain exactly what I mean by that.

MSNBC Depp v. Heard Cuckoo Trial - Well, this might strictly just be a "me" thing but seeing as this something I have actively tried to avoid as many details about as possible...it took everything I had in me not to immediately "nope" out of this cold open. I was kinda put off by Kyle being put into the role of Johnny Depp (there's NO WAY that role could’ve gone to Aristotle, huh?) but seeing as Kyle played a villain type role in his show "S.M.A.S.H" on Netflix that was basically just a parody of late 80s/early 90s 21 Jump Street era Depp, I completely understand why they put him in thst role. I've never been more thankful in my life that Lorne hired Ego Nwodim, Melissa Villaseñor, Chris Redd and Kenan Thompson than I've been while typing this sentence into my phone as this aired. Man, thay felt longer than it actually was, didn’t it? Anyway, I appreciated that they let each of those cast members I just mentioned do their obligatory group LFNY via video screen from the next stage over. That was a nice touch in what, to me at least, was hands down, the absolute worst cold open of the season. D-

Monologue - Selena seemed a little more low energy than I was expecting (especially when I was hoping she would use this monologue to get this episode off to a better start than that dreadful cold open did) but I did like how she delivered that string of Steve/Marty/Miley jokes. I wasn't crazy about them bringing the "married cast members hit on the hot female host" template out of mothballs but I liked that "Jeff" Austin Johnson got to get in on it just so he could have an excuse to play himself in something (and I liked what Punkue bought to this as telegraphed as it felt). C+

Bratz Come To Life - Boy, the people who hated the Six Flags and Black Eyed Peas sketches in Lizzos' episode last month are REALLY gonna hate this sketch, right? Anyway, I wanted to like this sketch more for casting Sarah in such a big straight role (even a straight one) and for the way Bowens' chatacter was written but...once the Bratz dolls started to express their interest in Kyle's dad character tye whole sketch started to feel too unstructured and too unfocused for me. Also, anyone else get reminded of that sketch from the season 40 premiere where Chris Pratt, Taran Killam and Ariana Grande played Kyle's He-Man/Thundercats action figures who came to life? Still, for all this sketches' flaws I have to admit that it holds up better on rewatch. C-

Old Enough: Longterm Boyfriends - I didn’t think I would like this at first given that I hadn't seen the specific show it was parodying (and I wasn't too crazy about the specific twist they had on it) but the writing and performances behind it were what really sold me on it. This was honestly both Selena and Mikeys' strongest performances in the entire show. I loved his chance encounter with Kenan on the street and Heidi talking him through his emotional breakdown in the middle of Sephora. Speaking of which, when Kaleena Steakle said on the SNL Network Hot Take show that Sephoras' actually are that overwhelming to shop at, that comment (and this whole sketch) reminded me of when I recently went to my local Kohls' to get some new clothes and noticed that they were about to open a brand new Sephora in the middle of Kohls. Yes, literally in the center of the whole building. This means that people who are just shopping at a Kohl's now have to constantly be meandering around in a circle to find what they want because everything is centered around an entire unrelated building housed within this store. That's how bad Sephora must be. I've never shopped in one myself, but I've still had an unrelated shopping experience made that much more annoying by one. B+

A Peek At Pico - For all of this sketches MAD TV vibes, it was the first sketch the whole night that really put me at ease. Melissa finally got a lead role and Selena finally played a character that wasn't just "herself". It gave me a brief feeling that the show was on the right track to not disappoint me completely (however short that feeling was). Mikey (who is having an unusually strong night tonight...which should tell you pretty much all you need to know about this show in particular) and Heidi did a grear job playing off of them and Chris Redd pretty easily walked away with this. Thankfully, this had a few different elements to it to keep it from feeling too low key and "samey". B-

A Storm Within - Kenan did pretty much all the heavy lifting in this. Cecily and Selena were just there to make sure this premise wasn’t stretched impossibly thin and build upon the absurdly specific setting he just detailed. Bowen was there to give this a solid ending. Mikey and Melissa's parts seemed wholly unnecessary. Still, everyone involved did a fine job. B-

American Inventors - The fact that they used this as the vehicle for the obligatory pretaped Steve Martin cameo was the best thing this had going for it. The use of photoshopped '70s era Steve in fake magazines and photos of Frank Sinatra hitting the town to lend his character some authenticity was a nice touch. Aidy was pretty solid when she wasn't either farting or getting hit by lightning. I liked the idea of her being the muse behind all the classic novelty gag toys but I wish they'd done more with that instead of just letting it get as repetitive as it did. I liked Selenas' narration (especially the "between her and God" line). This was one of many pieces tonight where I liked the idea more than the execution because it didn’t have enough variation to it. C+

Update left me without much to say for the first 3/4ths of it. Che had the lion's share of better material as usual but I did like the Trump IRS/Pussy Riot/Wordle Fetus/Ukrainian Orchestra/Pregnant Chimp jokes from Colin. I'm usually not as down on Kyle's Baby Yoda as some but at this point even I have to agree its run its course. It's nice to see them put this on air after it got cut from Lizzos show (and give those of us who saw the clip of it from her episode she posted some context for Kyle's "cult leader" look) but not even giving us Selena as Baby Groot (considering the escalation of their feud is usually my favorite part of these) pretty much left us with nothing. Sarah Sherman provided us with the sole highlight of the entire show. While I'm still not crazy about the fact that punishing Jost while kissing up to Che seems to be all she is allowed to do as herself on Update, I really do appreciate the fact that she employed some wild format breaking to do so here. While I loved every minute of this, this really peaked with the way both Sarah and Jost played off that unexpected blooper. B+

The Three Daughters - Hmm, I wanted to like the idea of a hard subversion of the sketch trope of "Kate plays the strange odd woman out when a male cast member has to obviously choose both the female host and the prettiest female cast member over her" but...I feel like if they didn’t stretch this too thin, then having fucking Mikey Day of all people be the one to break this down for us (without the second layer of genuine self awareness that would require HIM to display) was the biggest thing this had going against it. It had a sweet ending but Kate revealing an exposed bubble blowing ass kinda ruined it for me (but it at least explained why Selena seemed to be low key breaking). If the show is signaling that we're not going to be seeing these types of sketches anymore because Kate is finally leaving, this may be the subtlest hint we'll get. C+

Intuition - This seemed oddly placed considering it was right after a totally different sketch that also explored themes of expectation, paranoia and self doubt but Punkie and Chris Redd were the best things about it. I also kinda liked the wild overreactions to it too. Is it just me or did anyone else think Selena might have just been playing herself by just revealing she had dated a lot of "basketball players and celebs"? - C+

Guidance Counselors - An absurd campy vanity sketch led by Ego, Bowen and Selena may have been just the thing the show needed at this point (hell, it was definitely the thing that Selena needed to be in given the acting style she chose for this show...and the fact that she does make ONE HELL of a frigging model, can we all agree on that). Some may have thought it was too short for it's own good but I'm still glad it didn’t go on for too much longer than it did. C+

Baby Monitors - I wanted to like this more for just the Bowen/Sarah pairing but it just didn’t go anywhere interesting enough for me. I did like the fairly meta ending and how everyone involved pretty much threw themselves into it, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. I really didn’t care for Post Malones' cameo and I thought Selenas' line about how she had never had a drink in her life felt like it belonged in a totally different sketch. C-

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

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)

2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)

3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)

4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)

5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)

6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)

7. Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)

8. Lizzo (4.16.2022)

9. Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.14.2022)

10. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)

11. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)

12. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)

13. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)

14. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)

15. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)

16. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)

17. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)

18. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)

19. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)

20. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, maybe this show just suffered from what I like to call the "second of three May shows" curse but that's two shows in a row that made me seriously consider whether or not I still want to blog about SNL next season. Fortunately, I have plans to do a write-up of next week's season finale with host Natasha Lyonne and musical guest Japanese Breakfast. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this is the season finale because that sounds more like a lineup SNL could only give us in January or April. Still, Natasha is a beloved comedic actress who surely will not underwhelm as much or defy the high expectations I have set myself to have for her (don't worry though, I'm sure Selenas' episode will grow on me over time). Plus, a less high profile female host should easily blend in sketch wise with any female cast members we expect to be departing this season or dominating the show going into the next one and not steal focus from them. See you then!

Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)

Okay, here's my review. Benedict Cumberbatch certainly made up for how, shall we say...awkward and forgettable his November 2016 episode of SNL turned out to be (as low of a bar as that is to clear). He was an instantly likable and committed performer who elevated a lot of sketches he was the focus of (even if a lot of then were familiar if not flat out repeated premises) and certainly made the most of his second chance at hosting SNL. Everyone in the cast (besides Pete who I legitimately wonder if he's just already left the show without telling anyone) got some screentime tonight (even if they had zero lines or only appeared in pretapes). Anyway, let’s get right to it, shall we?

Musings On Abortion Circa 1235 A.D. - Well, I'm glad they chose to cast Dismukes, Redd and JAJ to play off Benedict Cumberbatch in this cold open that's such an abstract take on a current political topic that it almost distracts you from the fact that it's political. Hell, since Cumberbatch was in it I even found myself wondering if this was even the cold open at dress? Cecily was a fine addition but I could've done without Kate's part personally, but up until she came in this was steadily becoming just absurd enough to get me on board and get some laughs out of me. I especially liked Dismukes and JAJs' definition of "birth control". C+

Monologue - I liked that Cumberbatch gave us another personal monologue with a self effacing touch here after giving us a rather sloppy self promoting musical number on his 2016 episode. Given how his whole first episode in general turned out, I'm starting to think HE may not have been the problem there. B-

Mother's Day Present - Well, I was much more impressed with the fact that they finally broke their "post monologue game show sketch streak" than I was with the fact that they reheated a sketch from Regina Kings' episode last February without a different enough take on that premise. I did like how much more absurdly specific and abstract in bringing down Aidys' character instead of just beating the one joke of her being perceived as a raging alcoholic into the cold, cold ground. B-

Blue Bunny Focus Group - I was hoping for something similar to the Harry Styles Sara Lee sketch but it looks like we got someone similar to the Donald Glover/Rachel Brosnahan Barbie Instagram sketches written by someone who'd just seen Power Of The Dog recently funneled through a Sam Eliott impression Benedict Cumberbatch told the writers he wanted to work into the show on Monday. I appreciate his and Heidi's increasing committment to the point where they got me on board with this as much as Ego, Mikey, Melissa and Kenan did. C+

Just Like You - Hmm, a slightly unexpected twist on the old "family holiday quick cut flashback" short we've seen countless times in the past six years. This one, in particular, seems to be a companion piece to the one Emma Thompson did three years ago just with the roles reversed. Kate and Benedict actually made me laugh in their flashback scenes. Cecily and Chloe acted their present day parts pretty well. The casting of Strong amd Fineman as mother and daughter seemed inevitable, didn’t it? C+

Georgia Chain Gang - The level of acting was what sold the very straight forward premise of "man freely and openly admits to snitching on his fellow prisoners" to me. Benedict anchored this sketch well and it didn't hurt that they also cast Kenan, Chris, Alex and JAJ (in another increasingly less rare non-impression role) either. B+

Update was a pleasant surprise. Once again, Che had the better Roe V Wade opening rant but I admire Jost for really going there with his "mother's day/adam and eve/good luck, cancer" jokes as I did Che for his "afro-latino/Jackie Robinson/220 Carat Diamond" jokes (although I feel like his Alabama cave drawing joke was too much of a non-sequitir) I wasn't sure I would like Kate as ACB but the sheer silliness of it got me. B+

Landsdowne House - Once again, we get another sketch with a thin premise that is saved by its acting. To me, it was a slightly better take on the Mt Everest sketch from Mr. Show. Benedict and Alex really shined here. Mikey and Cecily do what Mikey and Cecily always do. In fact, this sketchs' placement in the show disproved my theory that Cecily showed up late enough in the week to only be able to be used in the cold open and pretapes. C+

ReKline from Kohler - This honestly might have been my favorite piece of the entire night as it was the most unabashedly ridiculous (yet also restrained just the right amount considering it was...y'know, LITERAL toilet humor). The use of an old, all-but-forgotten Fat Joe/Remy Ma track from 2004/out of nowhere was what really made this for me. Honestly, the only criticism I have of this was that I was disappointed that this was Sarah's first appearance of the night byt something tells me she might have had a hand in writing this. A+

Reflection Denied Live At Chuck E. Cheese - Nice to see that a dense '80s synthpop based sketch co-anchored by Benedict Cumberbatch and Bowen Yang has exactly as much promise as I thought it would! I also liked the interaction between Chloe and Cecily. Melissa, Alex, Kenan and Aristotle (oh...so, he IS still in the cast...I see) were great additions as well. This could've been edited down a bit (I'm not even sure what I would cut anyway) but overall not bad. B-

The Understudy - This was an enjoyable use of Chloe even if it was just a clothesline for her to hang her unseen impressions of her (white) female castmates (and Liz Olsen...who seems like one of those celebrities who barely gives a cast member like Chloe anything to work with) off of. I'm sure the Marvel/Multiverse fans were pleased by that one but it didn't do a whole lot for me. Still, this has honestly connected with me more than anything Chloe has did on the show so far. I have to admit though, I don't agree with Heidi's assessment of Chloes' impression of her being her "worst one" as I feel it's a close second to Chloes' impression of Melissa. I liked the idea of Punkie being Chloes' understudy but I think a better joke would be having Aristotle be Chloes' understudy (which would also explain his dire lack of airtime). B+

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

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)
8. Lizzo (4.16.2022)
9. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
10. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
11. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
12. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
13. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
14. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
15. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
16. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
17. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)
18. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
19. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was certainly a decent way to start off tye beginning and the end if this season. Next week, Selena Gomez makes her hosting debut (at a point where it doesn't feel too soon or too overdue) bringing with her some all-but-confirmed camros from her new co-stsrs Steve Martin and Martin Short. That should be a fun show! See you then!