SNL wrapped up another run of 3 shows in a row with alumni Kristen Wiig. Onto the review
Donald Trump Prepares Cold Open: Alec Baldwin returned as Trump. Who knows how long he'll stay on as that role. They mocked the rocky transition team with this cold open, as Trump appears wildly unprepared, searching google for how to defeat ISIS. This predictably drew the ire of Donald Trump on twitter, meaning SNL is doing something right. The humorous/scary thing is, who knows how much of this cold open was actually truthful. (7.5)
Monologue: Kristen sings a non-factual song about Thanksgiving, with help from Steve Martin and Will Forte. This was just sort of there, and didn't go anywhere. (6)
The Bubble (short): An advertisement for non-Trump voters to live in a literal bubble to "save themselves", this actually hit at a lot of different levels. In a Brooklyn-esque area, its shows voters looking to pay up to go into their own echo chamber. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it displayed a message of not just retreating into surrender, but in continuing to be active in the coming months and years. (8.1)
Secret Word: Of all the recurring characters for Kristen, they had to pick this one...ugh. (5.5)
Anderson Cooper 360: This was so great, and pretty close to the truth. We see Anderson Cooper and a typical panel including Dana Bash, David Axelrod, Kayleigh Mcenany, among others. They basically just cycle through Trump story after story, repeating the same lines on how its worse than the last without going into any further detail. It really showed how pundit driven coverage works, especially during this election cycle. The twist comes that they were robots malfunctioning. (8.6)
Target (Commercial): SNL has done a few thanksgiving-esque ads like this about going back home, but they just keep working. Here we see Cecily Strong moping in a target parking lot. The voice-over really makes this work. (8)
QVC Auditions: (5.8)
(The xx): (5.5)
Weekend Update: Update was merely average this week. They rolled out the punches for some of the early cabinet picks and appointments, though had a big swing and a miss on a joke about how tinder being more inclusive was why Democrats lost. Just a tired and lazy joke.
Pete Davidson talked about Donald Trump, and it was fairly forgettable in the long run.
For some reason they keep forcing Willie (Kenan Thompson) on us. This character is fairly hit or miss. (6.7)
Thanksgiving Parade: This sketch was very well done and quite creative. Beck Bennett hosts a family to his nice apartment to watch the parade outside. We then see a variety of balloons, from a clown to Raggedy Ann creeping up on them from outside. This premise could make for a pretty decent horror movie now that I think about it. (7)
Whiskers R We: A common late show recurring sketch, these just always seem to work. Kate and Kristen had a lot of chemistry here. (8.3)
(The xx): (6.8)
Surprise Lady - Thanksgiving: Aunt Sue is a very underrated Kristen Wiig in my opinion. Here she tries to contain herself as Pete Davidson plays a solider making a surprise return home for the holiday. Its just how Kristen builds up this frantic and manic character trying to keep everything in, yet in the same way letting it all out. (8.4)
More of a middle the road episode, especially coming off of Dave Chappelle's episode, but this was a pleasant episode nonetheless. This was certainly better than the last Wiig hosted episode, which whiffed pretty badly. Luckily we didn't get Gilly....though it would have been nice to see the Target lady. (7.09)
Dave Chappelle: 8.83
Tom Hanks: 8.03
Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74
Margot Robbie: 7.38
Kristen Wiig: 7.09
Emily Blunt: 7.07
Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60
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