SNL Season 43: Gal Gadot

 

SNL kept its opening stretch moving along with Wonder Woman's Gal Gadot. Onto the review

 

Jason Aldean Cold Open: A fitting cold open for what had been a rough week in the music world. Jason Aldean offered an opening statement remembering the victims from the Las Vegas shooting, and followed that with a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", who we also lost this past week. SNL pulls off these moments really well. (10) 

Monologue: A fairly run of the mill monologue. It was nice seeing Leslie Jones decked out in wonder woman garb interacting with Gadot. (6.9)

E! New Lineup (ad): This overstayed its welcome a bit, but had some great moments, especially Gadot as Kendall Jenner asking her phone which sister she was. You could totally envision E! coming up with all of these show ideas. (7.3)

First Date: This sketch worked to its main punchline......that OJ is now on the dating scene. At first you're wondering why the wait staff is acting antagonizing, and why things seem awkward. SNL does these kind of sketches well, building to the main point. (8)

The Chosen One (short): (7)

Mirage: (7.5)

Safelite (ad): (8.3)

(Sam Smith): (5)

Weekend Update: Once again, the main political bits of the week were centered in Update. Jost and Che are really developing a good chemistry. They each made some good points on gun control (Che especially).

Kate McKinnon appeared as the "notorious" Supreme Court Justice RBG. She usually hits the same points, but there's just something about this character that's delightful.

Pete Davidson returned, discussing his mental health. I thought he dealt with it pretty well, not going overboard and using it as a bit to appear on the show more. (7.5)

The Maid and The Mice: (5.5)

Espionage: (6.7)

(Sam Smith): (5.5)

Themyscria: Kate and Aidy Bryant should team up more in sketches. There were perfect here. Part of me feels like this was just an avenue to get Gadot and Kate to make out (jk, but it was the main landing point of this sketch). (7.4)

The Naomi Show: (6.5)

This was a pretty okay show overall. Nothing really tanked, but only a few parts really stood out. It seemed like the material wasn't quite there this week. (7.08)

Ryan Gosling: 7.63

Gal Gadot: 7.08