Dua Lipa (05.04.2024)

Okay, here's my review. This was an episode that showed slow but steady signs of promise early on but as soon as Update stared, it just as slowly and steadily began to roll down a hill. Thankfully, there was less "desperate naked pandering" in the air than their was last month with Ryan Gosling but it would appear that all the residual "good vibes" from both his and Wiigs episodes have long since evaporated. Dua Lipa proved herself to be a capable and charming host. She sure knew how to use her stage and screen presence when the show wasn't afraid to use her. This episode felt different, just not different in terms of this season. They seemed to have been trying something different with the writing but there were still some things there that kind of annoyed me near the end. I think we can agree that this was far from the worst of the season so far but some might call me generous for even calling it "middle of the road" for this season. The cast wasn't too imbalanced tonight. There was far less Bowen than I expected but far more Kenan, Mikey & Ego. Strangely, Chloe Fineman appeared exactly as much as I thought she would while Chloe Troast seemed to be shut out nearly entirely (I'm sure that was one of the things that annoyed me). Michelle Longfellow, Sarah Sherman, Devon Walker, Marcello Hernandez, JAJ and Andrew Dismukes all had quietly strong nights. They almost flew under the radar there like Punkie and Heidi actually did. Anyway, let's just get right to it, shall we?

NYC Community Affairs - Hmm...normally a cold open with no recurring impressions built around a fictional local news program is a promising sign. The fact that it was also based around the current college protests makes me extremely nervous. Kenan as the cautiously proud "your kids can protest but mine better have her butt in those African American studies classes (zoom or otherwise) I paid for instead of at the protests" dad is a safe enough take. I just hope that for the shows' sake that certain pockets of Twitter/X can at least see the forest for the trees on this one. Maybe this isn't the take the show (or it's audience) necessarily NEEDS right now but it's a take they deserve (and a take I personally can put up with for now at least, mercifully abrupt sketch ending and all). C-

Monologue - Thankfully, Dua Lipa seems able to exude some quiet confidence early on. I wasn’t crazy that she had to pull in Dismukes, Yang and Gardner to make up for what (also thankfully) little energy she had to make the show pop right out the gate. Still, I'm glad Dua was able to shut down a jammed in political joke from Heidi as quickly as I was hoping she would. Yep, she sure got in, got her laughs and got out of there without letting anything linger to long (or giving us anything that personal for that matter). C+

Young Spicy Sessions - I actually remember liking this when they did it during last years' Ana De Armas episode so this was a smart choice for a recurring sketch. I wasn’t crazy about the implied domestic abuse or subtle homophobia but everything that came after that made up for it. I guess if they were gonna comment on the Drake/Kendrick beef this would be the best way to subtly go about it. Overall, not the worst way to open the show but not the best version of this particular sketch I've seen. C+

The Anomalous Man - It's nice to see the show let Sarah gradually get more and more "squirmy". Sure, there was no gore but they're finally letting Sarah be Sarah as diluted as this still feels by her standards. I'm not complaining about this by any means at all. This was brilliantly executed. I also liked how slowly the main "gag" of this was revealed. It may have felt a little anticlimactic (the use of 2010s era cellphones in 1890s Lomdon felt a bit cheap, they could've executed that differently...I mean, what is this, Holmes & Watson?) but it was certainly well scripted and well acted on Dua, Sarah and Ms. Finemans' parts. JAJ turned in a compelling performance early on, too. A-

Good Morning Greenville - Oh, I guess we're not discussing the Drake/Kendrick beef that "subtly" after all. Still, this was a quietly strong sketch in the same vein as Chappelles' "potato hole" sketch from last season. This is a nice companion piece to that one. I like the way Devon played off the clueless twangy silliness of Mikey, Heidi & Dua (who actually might have turned in her best performance here). Devons extended "naaaaaahhhh" was my first genuine laugh of the show so far and I liked the "technical difficulties/Black or not black" line. It's nice to see something that's clearly based on a real pop culture thing that does more than just explain said thing to you without any real "take" or joke. B+

Sunny Angels - Ok, I see we've moved on to very clumsily referencing/parodying "Challengers" with a whole mess of details that don't serve the sketch well in any way. I see Bowen recycled the script for that Bratz sketch with Selena Gomez (or maybe Dismukes let him borrow and touch up his script from that Beanie Babies sketch he did with Lizzo?) and...turned it into something...slightly different this time. Fantastic. Dua and Marcello gave it their all but I don't think anyone could've saved this one. C-

Penne Ala Vodka - Thankfully, this taped which helped its pacing greatly and was almost blackout short. I say this because if it went on any longer it might have turned away from "Christmas Church" and "Graduation Commencement" into "Big Dumb Hat" or "Big Dumb Cups" which I did not need to see again. C+

Update was all over the place. Che may have been right about this episode being real rough for him. I did like his Stallone memoir joke as well as Colins "Trump/can't pay you" and MTG/Mike Johnson jokes. I also liked how he bought real.joke swap energy to that "Trump/anti-white racism" joke. Marcello really sold the Kristi Noems' other dog commentary in only the way he could have. Too bad it felt like something originally written for Dismukes. I appreciate how much Chloe F threw herself into her Kyle Mooney as Jojo Siwa impression (that I'm just now remembering she got an early version of it on the air during one of the Covid era SNL At Home specials that unceremoniously ended her first season) but the actual content if this was largely lost on me (as I imagine it was for a lot of you old enough to watch SNL like it's actually still relevant anymore). I was at first intrigued to see Jerry Seinfeld himself actually admit to having done "too much press" but the fact that that was literally all he "admitted" to was borderline infuriating. Oh well, I guess I'm the idiot for expecting Seinfeld to even WANT to be self reflective at all. C+

OBGYN/Fat Daddy - I admire that SNL tried to sneak in a rather ambitious, low key scatalogical almost Forte-esque premise on us (see Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend circa 2008) but this didn't quite land with me. I dunno, I just feel something was missing in the execution though. Weirdly, this felt like something JAJ/Dismukes could improved had they been in it. This almost seemed tailor made for them and yet they were nowhere to be seen here. I did appreciate seeing Punkie break immediately upon entering the scene. I wanted to appreciate the spinning newspaper ending just for the "SNL In Hot Water For Finger Lickin' Bad Sketch" subheadline. I mean, I WANTED to but SNL has a bad history with acknowledging it's own weaknesses and not doing a damn thing to strengthen them. Also, did anyone else notice that this was the second sketch tonight where Ego played a pregnant woman? She hasn't been...hiding something from everyone up until this point, has she? C-

Teeny Tiny Statement Pin - I actually did chuckle at the "vague statement pins" and the sight gag of Marcello wearing special goggles to read Bowens' pin super close up. Otherwise, this was a real nothing filler sketch to me. It almost felt like they threw this together just to use that Met Gala set they had or to show off that they had access to one of those 360 red carpet cameras. I dunno, maybe I was just so damn burnt out on this episode by this point that I missed the poignancy that others saw in this but I really don't have much else to say about it at all. C-

Family Flooring Jingle - So, it's a reprise of these JAJ/Dismukes jingle singers from last season's Jenna Ortega episode. Okay, nice to see they're still the best part of this sketch but unfortunately Bowen still seems like he is actively fighting against them to sabotage this for some reason. Also, if Dua Lipa is gonna keep trying American accents she should stick to Southern ones and stay away from Eastern ones. The fact that they made this a bit tighter than the first sketch and ended is with Dua singing (just to put her back in her comfort zone a little) benefitted this sketch. C+

Now, for my updated ranking of season 49...

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)

2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.09.2023)

3. Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)

4. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)

5. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)

6. Dua Lipa (05.04.2024)

7. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)

8. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)

9. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.02.2023)

10. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)

11. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)

12. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)

13. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)

14. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)

15. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)

16. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (01.27.2024)

17. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)

18. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

Well, that certainly was the most recent episode of SNL of there ever was one. Next week, Maya Rudolph hosts for her third time. Her last episode was one I don't think anyone was crazy about either but she has proven herself as somewhat of a stabilizing presence on the show recently and she's certainly not the host I am least excited about of the three closing out the season this month. See you then!