Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Barack Obama (JAP) loses focus during first debate with Mitt Romney (JAS)
— Well, here we go, the first debate sketch of this election season. The political satire in this election season doesn’t seem to be all that remembered among SNL fans, especially compared to the election season that preceded this (the 2008 one). However, I recall this season’s second Obama/Romney debate sketch being solid, and I recall absolutely LOVING this season’s VP debate sketch between Jason’s Joe Biden and Taran’s Paul Ryan, which airs in the following episode.
— Much like in the 2008 election season, SNL brings Chris Parnell back to reprise his Jim Lehrer impression.
— Jay continues his streak of having the lead or co-lead role in every cold opening so far this season.
— A funny split-screen shot of Jason’s stone-faced Mitt Romney staring coldly at Jay’s President Obama.
— A laugh from Jay’s Obama having a “whatever”-type reaction to being told Jason’s Romney claimed to have killed Osama Bin Laden.
— The conceit of us hearing Jay-as-Obama’s various inner thoughts is a somewhat interesting and unique angle for a presidential debate sketch, and an okay spoof of how uncharacteristically distracted and uninterested Obama acted at the real debate. This isn’t exactly biting political satire, nor is it memorable in regards to SNL’s presidential debate sketches over the years, but it’s decent enough.
— A fairly funny turn with us now hearing Chris-as-Lehrer’s inner thoughts.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— This season’s new theme music is being played at a faster tempo tonight than it was in this season’s previous episodes. This faster tempo will remain for the rest of this theme song’s run (2012-2014).
MONOLOGUE
host plays In Memoriam reel of the people he’s killed in the movies
— At the end of Daniel Craig’s entrance, after the camera shows the usual brief shot of the host from behind while we see the audience applauding, we get a change of pace tonight with the camera showing a brief side shot of Daniel from the angle of the floor seats (screencap below).
This new camera angle shot becomes a regular thing at the beginning of hosts’ monologues for the remainder of the 2012 half of this season, then stops for some unknown reason in the 2013 half of this season.
— A fun concept of showing an In Memoriam reel for characters that Daniel killed in his movies. The result is only average, though.
— I like Daniel’s side comment asking to Shazam the song that’s playing during the In Memoriam reel.
— The “The Dog Who Saw Too Much” bit was a decent ending of the In Memoriam reel.
STARS: ***
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
unlike the other construction workers, (host) isn’t very good at catcalls
— Pretty funny delivery from Kenan during his catcalls throughout this sketch.
— The premise isn’t all that great, but Daniel’s execution of it is decent and likable.
— A funny sleazy “If You See Something, Say Something” reference from Bobby.
— A big laugh during the flashback scene where Bill’s character gets shot out of nowhere by the woman he catcalled.
STARS: ***
BOND 50
DVD collection has forgotten, unsexy Bond girls like Diane Keaton (VAB)
— Fun premise, and a decent excuse for the female cast to do celebrity impressions.
— A solid Diane Keaton scene with Vanessa.
— For some reason, I had no memory of the portion with Vanessa’s Molly Ringwald, even though I remember everything else in this.
— A lot of funny fictional Bond movie titles.
— Kate is stealing this whole thing with her respective scenes as Jodie Foster and Ellen DeGeneres, the latter scene of which is particularly funny.
STARS: ***½
THREE DAYS LATER: A LOOK BACK AT THE OBAMA DEBATE DISASTER
Rachel Maddow (CES) & MSNBC pundits assess Obama’s weak debate showing
— Cecily takes over the Rachel Maddow impression that the no-longer-on-the-show Abby Elliott used to do. I’m finding Cecily’s Maddow impression to be much better than Abby’s. Cecily’s nailing both the facial mannerisms and the voice well enough.
— Speaking of taking over former cast members’ impressions, we get Jason playing Chris Matthews. Feels odd seeing Jason in this role. Also, this doesn’t end up being the only time this season where Jason takes over an impression that Darrell Hammond used to frequently do. In what I’m sure a lot of SNL fans don’t remember (hell, I myself didn’t remember it until just now), Jason plays Donald Trump in a sketch later this season. I kid you not.
— While Jason isn’t exactly dethroning Darrell as SNL’s most accurate Chris Matthews impersonator, I’m absolutely loving Jason’s impression. His performance and delivery are SLAYING me in this.
— Kate gets a laugh from her “gloating” as S.E. Cupp.
— Some funny insane theories from Kenan’s Al Sharpton throughout this sketch.
STARS: ***½
LONG ISLAND MEDIUM
Theresa Caputo (KAM) reads fellow Italian-Americans
— A funny exaggerated crying outburst from Taran.
— We get our very first onscreen interaction between Kate and Aidy, who would later go on to be inseparable castmates. Their interaction here is very brief, though.
— Another standout Kate McKinnon performance. She’s been killing it these past two episodes.
— I love Cecily’s mere facial expressions and demeanor as a supermarket customer who accepts Kate’s Theresa Caputo just randomly coming up to her and immediately giving her a psychic prediction.
— Bobby steals the supermarket scene with his perfectly-delivered “Hey, f(*bleep*)k you!”
STARS: ***½
MARS MISSION
Mars-bound, baby-talking Kirby (BOM) goes on about missing his kitty cat
— Oh, I forgot all about this “I miss my little kitty cat” character of Bobby’s. From what I remember, I pretty much hated these sketches when they originally aired, but I get the feeling I’ll have a bit of a different reaction during these re-watches.
— So far, such an odd, one-note character from Bobby, and I can see why I and certain others were annoyed by him, but in my current viewing, I’m finding Bobby’s portrayal of this character to be somewhat entertaining and strangely endearing in the way that only Bobby can make it. Also, I’m oddly getting a bit of a Chris Farley vibe from Bobby’s characterization and look here.
— Daniel is rather stumbly with his lines throughout this sketch.
— Bobby’s emotional screaming outburst (another Farley-esque trait) when thinking his cat got destroyed in the duffel bag is making me simultaneously laugh and, strangely, almost shed a sad tear. Bobby is such a lovable performer in general that he has the strange ability to tap into my emotions sometimes.
— For some reason, the fact that Bobby, while still under the impression that his cat got destroyed, yells “I hate this trip! I hate it so much!” is cracking me up.
— An actual cute ending.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Madness”
WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM groups those affected by presidential debate into Winners & Losers
political football Big Bird (Caroll Spinney) reacts to recent attention
unrepentant Ecce Homo defacer Cecilia Gimenez (KAM) wants her money
— Another edition of the Winners/Losers segment, a segment that’s usually hit-and-miss.
— Seth manages to work his spot-on Hugh Grant impression from back in the day into one portion of tonight’s Winners/Losers segment.
— Tonight’s overall Winners/Losers was easily the best edition of that segment. Seth had a lot of great quips in tonight’s edition.
— A noteworthy moment right now, as we get a Big Bird appearance on SNL, in response to Mitt Romney’s infamous “Don’t get me wrong, I like PBS, I like Big Bird” remark at that week’s presidential debate. Seeing Big Bird on SNL feels special, and actually warms my heart.
— This Big Bird commentary has a lot of tame, lighthearted humor, but that’s very understandable for this particular character (obviously, SNL’s not going to have him do dirty late-night-worthy humor or make a politically-divisive statement in regards to Mitt Romney), and he’s making it lovably charming instead of corny or cringeworthy.
— After having her breakout SNL moment in her very first Update commentary just one episode prior, Kate already appears in her second Update commentary.
— Kate’s solid night continues, as she’s cracking me up all throughout her Update commentary tonight. And the goofiness and looseness of her performance is coming off fresh in this early stage of her SNL tenure. As I said in my last episode review, the stage presence Kate has is very impressive for someone so new on SNL.
STARS: ***½
A SORRY LOT WE ARE
sad sack working-class Brits commiserate at the pub
— A promising idea of such a British-centric sketch. Good casting of Bill in this, as he always nails British-centric roles.
— A decent spoof of depressing British tropes.
— Ugh, Fred’s appearance as a guy who’s eager to see the “poofter convention” is cringeworthy. And SNL’s casting of Fred in this particular homoerotic role is sadly so on-brand for him in his later seasons.
— Aidy gets the most noteworthy role she’s had up to this point of her SNL tenure, and that’s still not saying much. (It takes a while this season before Aidy starts getting really good parts that showcase her talents well. She definitely has a slower start than her two fellow newbies Cecily and Tim.) I remember, when this originally aired, I was bothered by the fact that the first noteworthy role SNL gave to their very first plus-sized female cast member was a disgusting, unappealing character, which was exactly the type of role that I remember I and some other online SNL fans were worried SNL would typecast Aidy in when we first learned of her hiring and found out she’s plus-sized. In my current viewing of this sketch, I’m not bothered anymore by the decision to cast Aidy in this role, probably because I’m now aware that Aidy doesn’t go on to be typecast in disgusting roles. Aidy’s making this amusing enough, and in fact, I’m not even finding this character all that disgusting in my current viewing, which may be a testament to Aidy’s likability as a performer.
STARS: ***
LOVING COUPLE
at a dinner party, (host)’s girlfriend Regine (FRA) is sensual & smug
— Uggggggghhhhh. Not only is this Fred’s second drag role of tonight’s episode alone, but it’s the debut of a character of his who I absolutely DESPISE. (*Insert my typical, overdone rant here about how Fred has gotten so unbearably annoying in his later seasons and should’ve left years ago*)
— I’m also tired seeing Fred spoof pretentious people like this. He did that so much better in his earlier seasons when he was in his prime.
— Oh god at all of the “Watch her face while I (insert sensual action here)” bits throughout this sketch, which are just an excuse for Fred to mug in the most exaggerated, hammiest way possible.
— I finally got one laugh in this sketch, when the camera did a cutaway to Bill’s stone-faced angry look in response to Fred’s Regine refusing the drink Bill’s giving her, because “I wanted it then, not now.”
— Oh, now this sketch somehow gets even MORE unwatchable, with Fred now spreading his legs apart and letting us see up his skirt.
— Our first of what I recall many instances this season of Fred and Bill causing each other to break, basically becoming SNL’s new-age Fallon & Sanz. However, it turns out Bill is actually doing an okay job in his attempt to keep a straight face here. It’s mostly Fred who’s breaking at this moment.
— And now, after starting to break, Fred has gotten too loose in his performance and has taken to practically screaming the remainder of his lines in an exaggerated manner. (*groan*)
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Panic Station”
LOW-INFORMATION VOTERS OF AMERICA
— Rerun from 9/22/12…which was just ONE EPISODE AGO. Is this the first time in SNL history where a commercial was re-aired just one episode after its debut? Even that Will Forte/Amy Poehler-starring Morgan Stanley commercial from season 31, which was re-aired an insane amount of times in the first half of that season, wasn’t re-aired in the episode that followed its debut. I get the feeling I did once review an episode that re-aired a commercial just one episode after its debut, but I’m blanking on it right now.
GOODNIGHTS
— Such a sweet visual of an eager, starstruck Bobby slowly giving Big Bird a hearty hug.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode. So much so, that the episode feels forgettable. There wasn’t a single segment that I gave a rating over three-and-a-half stars to. On the other hand, there was only one segment I gave a rating below three stars to, so I can’t complain too much. At least this season continues its impressive streak of having episodes that contain almost no bad segments. I recall online SNL fans considering Daniel Craig to be a dud of a host in this episode, but I never understood that, as I had no problems with him as a host, aside from his stumbliness in the Mars Mission sketch. He was an adequate host, though nothing memorable. I’m a little curious to see how he does in his season 45 hosting stint, which aired during my ongoing hiatus from watching new episodes.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Long Island Medium
Bond 50
Three Days Later: A Look Back At The Obama Debate Disaster
Weekend Update
First Presidential Debate
Monologue
A Sorry Lot We Are
Mars Mission
Construction Workers
Loving Couple
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Christina Applegate