This week brought Martin Freeman and Charli XCX in one of the stronger shows of the season. Freeman had real presence (unlike James Franco last week). Onto the review
The cold open was Charlie Rose (Taran Killam) talking to the pair of psychologists who helped with the CIA torture program. It turned out that they also worked on other things...self checkouts and that Cars for kids jingle. Being a longtime online radio listener, that "Cars for kids" jingle really is torture. Bobby Moynihan and Kyle Mooney really had chemistry as the psychologists. Overall, a decent open.
Martin Freeman's monologue was a straight up monologue. No singing, no questions from the audience. Thank God. Yes, his monologue was basically an "I'm British and quirky" kind of monologue, but it worked for him. Kate McKinnon and Killam appeared as Maggie Smith (in her Downton Abbey PJs) and Alan Rickman, respectively.
The first of a lot of shorts/features was "Sump'n Clause" (Kenan Thompson). If you've been bad, don't worry...everybody gets sump'n. It was quite a catchy tune, but it did go on for a bit much. We would see Kenan singing again in one of the most bizarre/fantastic skits of the season.
Our first sketch was about a Wedding between Leslie Jones and Freeman....with a lot of objections. This was a little odd at first, but it really built on itself. Vanessa Bayer was great as Freeman's wife. "Why are you throwing our marriage away?". Killam was also brilliant as Freeman's doctor....talking about his....well....reconstructed "late stage jenga tower penis". And McKinnon closed it out as a random old lady/psychic. What really sold this sketch though was Freeman's closing line on his need for chocolate. So all in all, a pretty out there sketch (but as stated, not the most bizarre one of the night), but it worked.
Next up was a short, and it may be the best thing of the season. With "the Hobbit" trilogy winding down, Bilbo needs to work....so naturally we got The Office: Middle Earth. The production value of this was brilliant meshing the two together. Killam as Gollum was unrecognizable, so props to the make-up crew. I would totally watch multiple seasons of this.
We went from that, to the stereotypical local news program sketch with "Right Side of the Bed". Cecily Strong and Killam had good chemistry here, and Freeman held it together, needing to dance for every promo. That, along with the fact that these type of shows (in Connecticut at least) exist made this somewhat work and mildly amusing (but without much of a point).
Another short followed that, with the "Christmas Mass Spectacular". Think the underground festival shorts of past seasons (with Nasim Pedrad), but with church. This actually was pretty realistic on most who are two a day church goers (Christmas/Easter). And that made this work.
Weekend Update was pretty solid as it seemed Michael Che was back on the right path. Che was especially solid with a hit on Dick Cheney and the torture report.
Sasheer Zamata got a chance to be a guest on Update, talking about the diversity issues with Google/Apple and technology (emojis). Zamata actually made a point here (although she did seem a little nervous, which is acceptable being her 1st appearance on Update).
Cecily Strong brought in another long-named character to Update..."The 1-Dimensional female character from a male driven comedy". It was pretty dry and solid humor (if not done before).
And we saw Bayer bring back "Jacob" to discuss Hanukkah. "Jacob" and Che had some pretty good chemistry here, adding to the character.
Next up was an "Assembly Line" sketch between Killam and Freeman, much like one of those Abbott and Costello routines. It didn't really bring anything new to the element, but it wasn't terrible. It just wasn't that memorable.
And now, the "Pine River Lodge" skit. This may be one of the most underrated skits of the season. It starts off looking like a cousin to "What's Up With That", with Kenan playing a similar character, and Freeman as Fred Armisen's old Sax-man character, but then it actually had a plot. Freeman was worried about "Roman" (Killam). It builds and turns out that Killam stole something precious of Kenan's. The reveal here was great. Is there anything that Taran Killam can't do?
The "10 to 1" sketch was a waterbed commercial featuring Freeman and Aidy Bryant as his wife and the company mascot. Bryant really made this work with her singing jingle and just general over-the top nature of her character.
This was an incredibly solid show. Martin Freeman could easily be a SNL regular. He just has that British style of humor. A Benedict Cumberbatch cameo would have been great, but it would have just been an added bonus. Also, Taran Killam is really becoming the MVP of the cast. He's starting to get into the same air as the likes of Bill Hader and Darrell Hammond. Overall, If not for the Bill Hader show (and the incredible Jan Hooks tribute), this would be the top SNL of the season.
Avg. Score: 7.56 (each segment was scored out of 10, and averaged, including the musical act).
Bill Hader - 8.06
Martin Freeman - 7.56
Chris Pratt - 7.50
Chris Pratt - 7.50
Woody Harrelson - 7.42
Sarah Silverman - 7.15
Sarah Silverman - 7.15
James Franco - 7.07
Jim Carrey - 7.01
Cameron Diaz - 6.81
Chris Rock - 6.52
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