January 20, 2018 – Jessica Chastain / Troye Sivan (S43 E11)

Cold Opening – Press Conference

• Good to see a more traditional cold open that isn’t padded with wall-to-wall checklist/meme moments for maximum YouTube profit.
• I see that this was around the time regarding Trump’s relationship with his personal White House Physician.
• Aidy’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders impression always cracks me up, and her facial expressions & lines early on here are good for few chuckles.
• Good & contained performance from Beck as Trump’s personal doctor, Ronny Jackson, and it is nice as well to see him starring front-and-center in the cold open in a role that isn’t Mike Pence.
• Good meta bit with Pete playing himself as a White House correspondent. Too bad it didn’t get much of a response from the studio audience, which is IIRC, is pretty low-energy throughout most of the night.
• A good cold opening & an especially contained, well-written one.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• Are we really going to dedicate this entire monologue to sing about the second Women’s March that took place earlier that day? Talk about a time capsule (once again this season).
• Pretty low-energy, but decent monologue so far, and the audience seems a bit too quiet, but they’re probably here for the musical guest. Much like how the audience was very quiet during the Emma Stone & BTS episode next season.
• Weird how Leslie’s whole bit barely got any response, as well as the mention of Trump.
• At least Melissa gets a good laugh out of me with the line about her being dressed-up to catch a husband, and then leaving the stage to find one.

Rating: ***

Car Hunk

• Our annual bachelor sketch.
• Good to see Alex playing the bachelor’s role this time, continuing the solid airtime he’s been having this season.
• As usual, some good laughs from the various contestants’ lines & characterizations.
• Cecily’s using the same characterization & cadence in this role that she used in many others (you know the one).
• Good straight man reactions from Alex throughout the sketch.
• The part with Kate & the squirrel made me laugh.
• Overall, maybe the funniest of these installments to me, even though I do recall liking the one with J.J. Watt as well.

Rating: ***1/2

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

• Ah, our very first solo Chris Redd showcase!
• A very spot-on, catchy, and fun recreation of the iconic theme song from the original show, and Chris is absolutely perfect for this pretape.
• Hell yeah, a Method Man cameo!
• Great casting of Kenan as Uncle Phil, and he’s doing a great job here, just as good of a job as in his portrayal of Carl Winslow.
• I’m loving the increasing darkness to this short so far, and Chris’ performance is simply perfect.
• Speaking of perfect, Jessica is perfectly cast the typical tough, no-nonsense FBI lady.
• Strong twist with Jessica’s character working for the Yakuza.
• Akira Yoshimura! He’s very convincing here as a ruthless, powerful Asian crime lord.
• Great sequence with the shootout & Uncle Phil’s & Jessica’s character’s deaths.
• A fantastic, incredibly dark ending to an absolute SNL masterpiece. Outstanding.

Rating: *****

Google Talks

• Man, the show is on a freakin’ roll tonight as we now get a very famous & popular sketch from this season. A huge favorite of mine.
• Very clever camera work at the beginning of the sketch, which is so well-done before the reveal of this sketch’s main conceit.
• Classic reveal of Mikey’s Bart Simpson lookalike character which gets a great audience reaction. Terrific makeup work on him as well.
• This is a staggeringly dumb idea for a sketch, but it is both pulled off well, and very well-written for it to work out. And the topic of bullying is enhancing it as well.
• Jessica is doing a solid job with her role here, especially her characterization & cadence. The obliviousness that she possesses is well-performed, and raises the absurdist escalations here quite well.
• A huge laugh from the “Ay, Caramba!” meme about Mikey’s character.
• I LOVED the whole absurdist bit with a Nelson impersonator (or was it him?) doing his trademark & iconic laugh in response to a joke from Alex’s character. Great callback to an earlier part in the sketch.
• Great reveal that Mikey’s character is named Burt Sampson.
• I’m loving the hints that this IS probably Maggie from The Simpsons that’s calling. This sketch is such a perfect example of pulling off both dumb & absurdist humor perfectly.
• A fantastic sketch overall. Just as priceless & very creative as I remember it being.

Rating: *****

What Even Matters Anymore

• Tonight’s episode’s theme of heavy & draining political material returns since vanishing after the monologue in full-force, I see.
• Ok, I get what this sketch is trying with its premise, but this is SKETCH COMEDY show for crying out loud, and the draining material featured in this sketch is weary. I’m not saying that SNL shouldn’t do more serious, dramatic pieces, but it should do them in a way that doesn’t feel draining & simply for pushing political agenda without any actual jokes or points being made.
• The audience itself seems to agree with me, judging by how eerily quiet they feel compared to the usual easy-to-please SNL audiences during the sketch.
• Solid performance by Jessica & good assistance by the cast, but this is going nowhere interesting beside just stating how tired we are from real-life politics.

Rating: **

Musical Performance – “My My My!”

• Jesse Nathan: Neat visuals.
• Not loving Troye’s vocals, nor this beat.
• This chorus as a whole is just okay.
• You know, the more I listen to this prechorus, the more I realize that this is also weakly put together.
• Is there a fan on stage? That’s the only explanation I can come up with for his hair and shirt both blowing back.
• Speaking of fans, you can hear some of his fans screaming at one point during the bridge. I personally don’t like it when this sort of thing happens on SNL.
• Overall, blah.

Rating: **

Weekend Update

• As if tonight’s episode hasn’t drained me yet with enough Trump Fatigue, we now get Colin & Michael spending full minutes talking about Trump over and over and over and over…
• Didn’t care for the Republicans’ accomplishment joke, as it was basically a rewrite of an older joke regarding the Democrats. Lazy much?
• Ok, as a LOTR fanatic, I did like that Gandalf joke.
• The theme of draining political fatigue tonight continues as Cecily shows up as freakin’ Stormy Daniels behind the desk. Better yet, we’ll get the real deal later in the season in a funeral dirge of a cold opening.
• No laughs from me so far into this commentary, despite Cecily committing to the material.
• Really? Stormy Daniels as our savior? Nothing at all against the real person, but is this what the writers & Cecily came up with? This reeks of both fatigue from Trump & utter desperation for laughs.
• Overall, not a single laugh from me. Update is starting to get really rough.
• Didn’t care for the fat joke about Chris Christie. We are still doing this high-school-level of comedy in 2018?
• Good to see Alex & Mikey behind the desk again this season, especially the former so soon.
• Man, they did both Prince William & Alex dirty with that makeup & wig combo.
• This commentary, while is featuring the typical fun interactions between Alex & Mikey, is yet another time capsule, which hasn’t aged quite well.
• Ugh. The debut of Kate’s short-lived and now-forgotten Robert Mueller impression, which is yet another in the long list of nightmare-fueled & prosthetics-heavy impressions that Kate will continue to do throughout the Trump presidency.
• This commentary is feeling way too long & rambling. Not to mention that aged like shit, much like the entire Mueller saga on SNL.
• My GOD. This smug, sassy, and overconfident portrayal of Robert Mueller is FUCKING TORTURE. Make it stop NOW, SNL!
• An overall very rough Update edition, with three unfunny, poorly-written, and very badly aged commentaries. Aside from few good jokes & mild chuckles from the Alex & Mikey commentary, this is probably one of the very few times that I’ll give a Jost/Che Update a score as low as the one that I’ll give it right now.

Rating: **

Amazon Headquarters

• Casting Kyle as Jeff Bezos may seem odd at first, but is strangely fitting. This is also, by the way, Kyle’s second & FINAL appearance all night long.
• A good & fun conceit to this sketch.
• Good to see the return of Alex’s great Casey Affleck impression.
• A Paula Deen bit? In 2018? Were the writer(s) of this sketch stuck in 2013?
• The debut of Chris’ Cory Booker impression, which is already coming off solid & fun.
• A lethargic sketch so far, despite occasional laughs here & there.
• Mikey’s Pibull is absolutely PRICELESS & is killing with me and the audience. Bringing the energy level very high up that it will make me bump up this sketch by a full star.

Rating: ***

Taco Math

• A good sketch concept, one that feels old-school in a way.
• Solid night for Mikey, with several lead roles so far into the night.
• Jessica & Heidi are doing a good job with their oblivious characters, and in a way that doesn’t feel forced or over-the-top.
• Solid escalation with Mikey’s frustrated reactions, this classic trope of comedy with a simple notion being easily misunderstood by others is quite difficult to pull off properly without coming off unfunny. This sketch is a good example of pulling it off well.
• Funny walk-on from Aidy.
• A solid ending to a pretty good sketch that felt like a palate-cleanser after a draining game show sketch & particularly brutal Update edition.

Rating: ***1/2

Doctor’s Office

• I’m not sure that I needed the return of this character.
• Good dramatic acting from Jessica, as expected, but she’s being wasted in one of these repetitive & creatively bankrupt recurring character’s sketches, which are so one-note & boring.
• At least Chad feels a bit more engaged than usual here. Still not saying much to me.
• A weak ending for a weak installment. The lack of payoff in particular was a letdown & major waste of Jessica’s talents.

Rating: **

Musical Performance – “The Good Side”

• Jesse Nathan: Ooh, I like the visuals at the start.
• Looks like we’re getting a guitar ballad. I’m so goddamn sick of musical guests adhering to this rule.
• Troye’s vocals still aren’t doing much for me.
• What’s this instrument being played during the instrumental after the chorus?
• The more this song goes on, the more I’m losing interest. I appreciate the psychedelic feel of it, but the lyrics and vocals aren’t doing much for me.
• Okay, now the instrumental is getting more and more trippy. I dig that.
• Oof, Troye’s “everything” during the bridge was off-key.
• Now we’re getting vocoder during the third chorus. I actually love the sound of vocoders in general, but I don’t like how the vocals generated by the vocoder are mixed in with Troye’s normal voice.
• Ah, okay, we’re now hearing the vocoder by itself. I dig that.
• Not loving Troye’s vocalizations at the end.
• Overall, despite the visual element and the nice instrumental, the performance had too many things going against it, not helped by Troye’s presence. Maybe I would’ve liked this song more if someone other than him was singing the vocals. But as it stands, I guess I’m not a Troye Sivan fan.

Rating: **1/2

Movie Set

• Kenan’s The Jeffersons acting couch, Gerard, returns for the third & final time (as of 2022).
• So, Kenan’s Gerard character was an acting coach on the show for one day in the first installment, and five seasons in the second installment, and now he was a former guest star? Why not keep the character’s history consistent? Unless, this is supposedly part of the “joke”?
• I see that Luke’s talents continue to be completely wasted ONCE AGAIN this season.
• Much like last time, not a SINGLE fucking laugh is to be heard from me throughout this unfunny & desperate mug-off between the characters. I feel so bad for Jessica especially, whose talents are completely wasted in this dreadful sketch.
• Jessica’s mugging is barely getting laughs from the audience, making me feel even more sorry for her.
• Awful ending.
• Overall, wow, this installment was somehow even worse than the first two, which is quite the accomplishment. What a fucking wretched sketch. Good riddance to this character!

Rating: *

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Google Talks

Taco Math

Car Hunk

Amazon Headquarters

Press Confernece

Monologue

What Even Matters Anymore

Doctor’s Office

Weekend Update

Movie Set

Final Thoughts:-

• A fatigued episode, and one of the more average ones from the entire season. Despite containing two of the finest sketches from this year (Fresh Prince & Google Talks) and some other good sketches throughout, it was about halfway into this episode that it just became too drained with politics & forgot how to do proper comedy, as the rest of the pieces after “What Even Matters Anymore” didn’t rise above being “pretty good” and the night ended with a particularly painful dud. Jessica Chastain was a very solid & game host who provided strong performances all night long and tried her best even with the weaker material that she was given at times.

Up Next:-

• SNL legend Will Ferrell returns with musical guest Chris Stapleton.