INTRO TO REVIEW: Unfortunately couldn't get this review out earlier, but it's happening now! I did rewatch these segments prior to this review, so I've got about three viewings of each sketch in. Amy's episode will be posted either earlier tonight or tomorrow!
To introduce my format quickly: If you've seen Stooge's One SNL A Day Project, it's basically that. Segment title, a list of my thoughts, and a rating at the end. Occasionally, I will offer my very amateur and needless thoughts on how a sketch could possibly improve. Enjoy!
COLD OPEN: Military Meeting
- Absolutely love to see Jeremy Culhane opening up the season. He's the only one of the new 5 featured players that I'm familiar with, and it's been lovely to see everyone be so excited for him to premiere. And he's pretty solid with his delivery here.
- Colin as Secretary of War, Peter Hegseth. It makes good use of his Harvard-graduate look and charm, and the novelty of seeing him doing a character is always a delight.
- I think I'm a fan of Colin's performance here more than most of the other review bloggers. You'll see I'm a bigger fan of flatter performances than most when we get to a certain featured player next episode
- The expected JAJ Trump. As practically everyone else has said, his impression is much too kind to the real man. I did get a few laughs, but it's definitely not what I want to see over and over once again this season.
- A very energetic, solo LFNY to kick off the night.
RATING: 6/10
(Of course, I would've loved to see no Trump tonight. I think the writing for Hegseth was, as is usual with SNL's political sketches recently, just not funnier than what it's parodying. I mean, they were harder on Obama, and that's Obama! Just a universal wish for SNL to be stop being toothless in today's political climate.)
MONOLOGUE: Bad Bunny
- I know some people find Bad Bunny unfunny because of his stilted delivery, and frankly, I think that's idiotic. This is a funny guy, and I can absolutely understand the difficulty with speaking the awful language that is English.
- Nothing to really say about this monologue, for the most part.
- A good laugh from Bad Bunny commenting, after speaking Spanish for an extended time, "And if you didn't understand that, you have four months to learn."
RATING: 5/10
Sketch: Jeopardy!
- I mean Jesus Christ. With the killer reputation basically every other Jeopardy! sketch holds, it's almost embarrassing to see something so tepid and amateur.
- I did get a single laugh from this sketch, of course provided by Kenan going through Bad Bunny's thought process, before BB replies "No, that wasn't it at all."
- Overall, an awful lead-off sketch to start the premiere, and just so embarrassingly lazy.
RATING: 2/10
(Aside from literally just not using this premise, I would've loved some sort of escalation. Unfortunately, once you start escalating, you quickly run into the trap of the sketch just being Celebrity Jeopardy without the celebrities. There's just no salvaging such a freshman idea. This is the kind of thing I would've written as a sketch idea in the 9th grade.)
PRE-TAPE: ChatGPTIO
- A relatable premise for me, rather than just a bit of a silly one that I'm sure it is for most SNL reviewers.
- I am, personally, a big fan of Marcello. As much as his performances can boil down to yelling things in an exaggerated accent, he has enough charisma that it works for me 90% of the time.
- Marcello's performance here is elevating the lines, especially a particularly angry, "You don't!" in response to being asked how to make vegan bread.
- Funny moment with Bad Bunny.
- While I would've loved a more biting attack on ChatGPT (SNL is usually very happy to make fun of the wacky things millenials and Gen Z are into), this was funny and relatable for me as a Mexican.
RATING: 6/10
SKETCH: The Donor
- Funny reveal of Bad Bunny's appearance.
- I'm getting a few laughs from the premise here, but it's not nearly as funny as I think it could be.
- Another funny appearance reveal, this time from Kenan.
- And a third funny reveal, this time a walk-on from Marcello. Though, this one definitely wasn't as funny as I think the writer's thought it'd be.
- Yeah, overall, while I did get a few chuckles, this sketch really didn't do much for me.
RATING: 4/10
SKETCH: K-Pop Demon Hunters
- Another restaurant set! How easy would it have been to just set this sketch literally anywhere else?
- I am much more online than the 40 year old men who usually have these blogs, so I'm happy to say I'm familiar with K-Pop Demon Hunters, even if I've never actually sat down and watched the movie.
- This premise just is not working for me. It's like they knew they had to reference the movie, so they just picked some generic premise they could put the skin of K-Pop Demon Hunters over.
- Oh, yeah, obviously cameos from the voices of the main characters. A novelty I'm sure I'd be more excited about if I'd actually seen the movie. I'm sure this will be the most watched segment on YouTube.
RATING: 3/10
Musical Performance: Doja Cat, "AAAHH MEN!"
- N/A
WEEKEND UPDATE:
- Again, unlike most of my fellow SNL review bloggers, I am not advocating for Colin and Che to leave the Update desk. I mean, they continue to consistently be the most-watched segment of any episode, they still have killer chemistry, their jokes work for me---really, I don't see them stopping anytime soon, unless Colin and Che suddenly feel burnt out or get some other offer that's more attractive for them.
- Solid jokes tonight.
- Kam Patterson first appearance being on Update, something I predicted a few days before the episode's premiere.
- Kam has a bit of a eh delivery, but that's never really bothered me. His jokes aren't anything strong, but he's still coming off likable enough.
- Yeah, nothing special.
- Bowen as Dobby the House Elf. I'm sure this will stay non-political.
- No way! It's political! I do love to see some insults being thrown at Joanne Rowling, though, but I can't forgive this commentary for just being unfunny.
RATING: 5/10 (to be clear, for me, a Weekend Update 5 is like a sketch 7/10)
SKETCH: Inventing Spanish
- Some good laughs during this sketch, but nothing really to write home about.
- A Benito del Toro cameo, that's neat to see.
- A few more laughs, but again, this sketch isn't doing much for me.
RATING: 5/10
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Doja Cat, "Gorgeous"
- N/A
SKETCH: Parent-Teacher Conference
- Ashley Padilla in a leading role!
- Marcello is getting some laughs out of me.
- Ashley is absolutely killing it in this sketch. You can tell she's just so natural in sketch comedy, unlike a lot of the stand-ups that SNL tends to hire now for some reason.
- Love Ashley trying to explain the increasingly insulting drawings as just kindness and childish imagination.
- Overall, yeah, definitely the best sketch so far. SNL, I beg, please, put Ashley in everything.
RATING: 7.5/10
SKETCH: The Kid From Number Eight
- I jumped when this sketch started. I have so many fond memories from watching El Chavo de Ocho, and I knew immediately this was written with a lot of love.
- The performances here are spot-on and top notch, everyone is absolutely perfect here.
- The purposefully cheesy slapstick is absolutely doing it for me.
- Of course it ends with everyone crying, and somehow even that was impersonated absolutely perfectly.
- While I didn't have much to say, yeah, this was my favorite sketch of the night. Even if it did just feel like An Episode Of El Chavo de Ocho, I loved it regardless.
RATING: 9/10
OVERALL THOUGHTS: Save for the a couple of sketches, this night was horrid. Sketches were either boring and tepid or just forgettable, and Weekend Update had two slogs of commentaries. Of course, we have one of my new favorites, The Kid From Number Eight, but that's about it.
Ashley really stood out in this episode, and Marcello especially got a lot of screentime. You can tell SNL is taking a hit from losing two of their star female performers, and its a shame they only have writers familiar with Chloe Fineman now.
Bad Bunny is a charismatic and likeable guy, but I just really don't think he's a good fit for SNL. Still, I like him enough as a host that I don't think I'd be too upset if he was asked back again.
And, as a final note, I damn near forgot Tommy Brennan was introduced this episode, but that's to be expected with a cast this size and five new featured players. Interestingly, the only cast member not in this episode was Jane, who only showed up for goodnights. No comment on that.
Luckily, I know things pick up in the next episode. See you then!
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