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/
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/
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!
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