“Grab 'em by the pussy”
Cold Open: Vice Presidential Debate
4 Stars
Before we get to the Trump of it all, we get a quick fake-out with a Vice Presidential debate where Mikey and Beck play Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. It's moderated by SNL's first Hispanic cast member Melissa playing an Asian woman (because...baby steps). This is quickly interrupted by news coverage of Trump's Access Hollywood tapes where he famously said "Grab 'em by the pussy". This, of course, was supposed to thwart his campaign but we all know how that turned out. Alec is still good here as he "apple-o-gizes" and claims to not only grab it but bop it, twist it, and pull it. The Hilary section was a little too long as she gloats and criticizes women who are still supporting Trump, which is only interesting in hindsight.
Lin-Manuel Miranda Monologue
5 Stars
Hamilton star and creator Lin-Manuel sings "My Shot" with altered lyrics about how excited he is to be hosting. He travels backstage to see pictures of past hosts like Miley Cyrus, Amy Schumer, Tracy Morgan, and "this piece of sh..." referring to a picture of Trump. His lyrics of "never gonna be President" were hilarious at the time but, once again, hindsight. Still, this was everything I want from a monologue. It had energy up the wazoo and included a Lorne cameo (even he can't get Hamilton tickets).
Pine Ridge Campground
3 Stars
Cecily and Lin-Manuel sing songs around a campfire with Kyle and Vanessa (who was completely absent from the season premiere). Kyle and Vanessa play siblings who hold hands and kiss, they sing 'Footloose' off-key, and do terrible impressions. Their annoying behavior gets a bit repetitive and I kept wanting it to go further but at the same time I laughed every time they did the same damn thing. It was also good to see Vanessa, who since she wasn't in the last episode I forgot she was part of the cast this season. She and Kyle always had a fun chemistry, going back to one of Kyle's first shorts in his first season. Something the show never fully capitalized on.
Crucible Cast Party
4 Stars
Things are off the chain at the cast party for a high school production of The Crucible. As a theater kid, this hit all the right notes for me. Showing up in your character shoes, still wearing your old age makeup, watching the DVD of the show you were just in, forming a massage train. A bunch of horny kids who have no idea how to approach the opposite sex. It hit home for me.
Substitute Teacher
2 Stars
Lin-Manuel plays a substitute teacher who wants to inspire his class by speaking on their level. He uses rap to teach Shakespeare. The students are not impressed as they've apparently seen this act before from other substitutes. This sketch dragged for me and the punchline of Lin-Manuel screaming "I'm trying to touch ALL these students" was a little weak. Leslie's screaming as the principal was fun. I didn't understand why the audience started cheering at Lin-Manuel's entrance. Did they forget he was hosting? When I watched this originally (and I had no frame of reference for Hamilton) I assumed he was playing a character he's played before and this was just recognition applause. Now that I know that's not the case, I'm just confused why the audience applauds someone they've already seen in 2 sketches and a monologue.
A Day Off
3 Stars
Kellyanne Conway keeps getting interrupted on her day off to deflect a new Trump controversy. Weird in retrospect. Remember when we felt sympathy for the people working for Trump? Like, these were just good people caught up in a big mess. I'm gonna try and keep politics out of this but it's real hard to like a sketch that asks me to sympathize with a piece of shit.
Twenty One Pilots
“Heathens”
Weekend Update
Pete Davidson talks about taking Propecia and how it lowers your sex drive. This had nothing to do with anything and felt like a waste of time.
But a bigger waste of time was the appearance of Denise McDonough and Doreen Troilo. Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey get waaaaaaay too much applause playing female undecided voters from Pennsylvania who brought hoagies. Things get meta when Tina accuses Jimmy of loving Trump. Jimmy got flack for tussling Trump's hair when he was a guest on The Tonight Show instead of asking hard-hitting questions. Because we all know Jimmy Fallon is basically Anderson Cooper, right? Things get dark in retrospect when they talk about how the Access Hollywood tapes didn't bother them because when you're a star, the rules are different. Oooooh boy, just gonna skip past that.
The Music Man
1 Star
The Wells Fargo wagon is a coming down the street and it's brought bad business loans. This was based on something about Wells Fargo at the time but I have no interest in looking it up. I can say, without any context, that I hated all of this. Everyone seems to be mugging up a storm as if they think this is really funny or terribly unfunny and they're trying to save it. Biggest surprise was the appearance of Bobby, who I forgot was part of this season despite two appearances in the season premiere (one pre-filmed and one a quick cameo). He doesn't do much in this sketch and he only makes one more appearance later in the night as a soldier in the 10-1 sketch.
Diego Calls His Mom
4 Stars
An immigrant calls his mom to tell her all about America. Marshmallow salad and big mounds of yellow food. Not the funniest sketch but it's very well shot and a nice change of tone for the show.
Stranger Things
2 Stars
A sneak peek at season 2 of Stranger Things where we finally meet the black kid's parents. What follows is a lot of trifling in stereotypes. They're afraid of cops and monsters and don't put up with any guff from their children. Melissa's brief role as Winona Ryder was really the only time I perked up.
Twenty One Pilots return with “Ride”
Melania Moments
4 Stars
Melania has a dream that her replacement has just been born and she must vanquish her. Not for Melania's sake but for hers. Again, dicey because we're insinuating that she's not complicit at all for her husband's actions. She's just an innocent being dragged into this hoopla. But it's short and well shot like the last installment.
A Degree Of Valor
4 Stars
Not the first sketch to star a dying soldier making odd requests but it's still a good one. Pete gets shot and asks his commanding officer to go to his house and get rid of his butt plug, his notebook full of boogie woogie songs, and all photos of him looking sassy.
FINAL ANALYSIS
"Now we’re eating jazz"
Average
3.3 Stars
MVP
Melissa Villaseñor
Vice Presidential Debate, Crucible Cast Party, Substitute Teacher, A Day Off, The Music Man, Stranger Things
Best Sketch
Crucible Cast Party
Worst Sketch
The Music Man
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
When you got a good beginning and good ending, you can dick around in the middle and it doesn't matter as much. Between Crucible Cast Party and the 10-1 sketch there's not much I could really recommend but I came away enjoying this episode. Diego Calls His Mom is good but probably works better on its own rather than sandwiched between two weak sketches. I liked the cold open, monologue, first two sketches, and the last sketch of the night. You can probably start dozing off after Crucible Cast Party and if you wake up in time, enjoy the last sketch.
Host Analysis
Outside of his monologue he was unmemorable but not in a bad way. He basically blended in with the cast, which is good. I doubt I'll remember that some of the better sketches of the night came from this episode.
Final Thoughts
Only The Music Man brought the episode down. Everything else was either good or fine. But I can't stress enough how important that opening was. The cold open and Lin-Manuel's monologue brought such a good vibe to the show that I accepted anything lackluster that came afterwards.
Up Next
Emily Blunt and Bruno Mars
Awesome seeing you cover this SNL era; cannot wait to hear your takes as we go through it.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely HATE that Tina/Jimmy Update commentary, and it also doesn’t help that I find both to be very overrated cast members and Update anchors (especially Jimmy). It all just felt like Jimmy trying to save his image after his di*k-sucking Trump interview not too long before the season began; much like this season's political takes (which you’ve been rightfully calling out) this commentary aged even worse nowadays. It was terrible to begin with which tells you a lot.
Lin-Manuel I felt was a strong host, who blended perfectly and seemed tailor-made for SNL, which makes sense given his theatre career. I remain quite surprised he never hosted again, aside from a cameo a few seasons later.