SNL Scorecard: Halsey
Elephant in the room: this is way late. My apologies. I did not, as you might expect, get thrown into some Michigan February-induced blizzard stupor and forget which day it was. Rather, last weekend was so packed full of Grammys excitement, and the past week was filled with work, social time, and vital research of the current college basketball landscape. All this to say, I owe you now 2 SNL Scorecards, and those Scorecards, I will deliver. This I promise you. Given how this might already be outdated, though, I'm going to make it a point to keep each skit breakdown to one or two sentences.
Halsey was a strange choice as host, and I'll admit, not one that I was overly excited about. As a musical guest, it made sense, because the 24-year old singer has been everywhere on the radio the last year or two. But apart from a 10-second stint in Oscar-nominated A Star Is Born, the artist has not, to my knowledge, acted in any film or TV show, and did not even make an appearance in a skit in either of her previous musical gust gigs on SNL.
Oftentimes, though, it's best to have low expectations, and this was another example. Halsey as a host was a pleasant surprise, proving very able and fairly versatile. I was impressed with her acting ability, but particularly her comedic timing. The episode on the whole wasn't great, but a. was far from the worst of the season, and b. had low points that were more a result of the writing than the host herself.
Here's the (very brief) sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 12th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
“State Meeting”: 7.5/10
SNL tackled the Virginia Governor's blackface scandal throughout the night, but none more effectively than in this one. The characters' obliviousness is played so well that you should probably check yourself if you DON'T share Kenan's rage.
The Good
“Riverdale": 6.5/10
The joke itself may have been somewhat immature, but this was both the best acting job Pete Davidson has done to date, and probably the best '10-to-1' sketch of the season.
“Parents Call": 6.5/10
Another kind of character Saturday Night Live seems to always get right is the lovably infuriating family member, parents in particular. This skit put that realistic frustration on full humorous display. [Slight points off for Mikey Day pronouncing "leg" as "layg"... shudder.]
"Black History Presentation": 6.5/10
A genuine, touching tribute to Black History Month by SNL's black cast members gets interrupted by addendums from Beck and Kyle. The most important part of this sketch was the honest presentation, but for some reason, I get so much sadistic joy from Beck and Kyle's well-meaning but ultimately horrible characters in skits like these.
“Them Trumps: State of the Union": 6/10
The joke/central point here didn't feel as fresh as the first time it was rolled out this season, but still both funny and effective this time around.
“Maurice": 6/10
Man, Kenan was on fire that night. This skit was another in which Thompson delighted, this time as a family patriarch whose new line of work makes his wife proud and his children horrified.
“Weekend Update": 6/10
Not the strongest outing from Che and Jost, who have begun to set the bar higher for themselves in the last year or so. That said, great guest appearances, particularly the welcome return of Guy Who Just Bought A Boat and the debut of Melissa Villaseñor's Lady Gaga, left this Update with more good moments than bad.
“Valentine's Song": 5.5/10
Halsey, Kate McKinnon. and Aidy serenade us about the various family figures and bosses that get in their heads on the most romantic day of the year. Funny, but it felt like there should have been a little more to this one.
The... Less Good
“Meet the Press Cold Open”: 5/10
I get what this skit was going for with the ridiculousness of covering the Bezos story ad nauseum, and this was not the worst Cold Open by any means. Still, it was a rather choppy start to the episode.
“Women of Congress": 4.5/10
I enjoyed most of the various Congresswomen's intros, but this was a whole lot of buildup for no real punchline.
"Monologue": 4/10
Did you know Halsey's real name is Ashley Frangipane, and she's from New Jersey originally? Other than that, there's not a whole lot here.
Musical Performances
Halsey: 8/10
Look, I am not a big fan of Halsey's music, but any singer that can pull off a powerful stripped-down acoustic version of her hit song, then later perform an up-tempo song while painting a picture has my respect.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.00 (Comedy Only score: 5.82)