SNL Scorecard: Emma Stone/BTS
Emma Stone has made such a name for herself as one of the best up-and-coming actresses out there, with an Oscar win for La La Land and nominations for Birdman and The Favourite, that it's easy to forget that her breakthrough came in comedic roles such as Superbad and particularly Easy A. She has been a natural in her 3 prior appearances on SNL, all of her gigs demonstrating ease on the stage and producing memorable skits.
All of this is why this weekend's show feels like a disappointment. It was not without its highlights, but, especially in the wake of solid recent episodes, and with the versatile Stone there to aid in continuing any sort of positive momentum, it felt as if the writing backslid in a major way this week.
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 18th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
“Hobby Song”: 7/10
I’m not sure what I expected from this episode, but a Melissa Villaseñor rap feat. Emma Stone was not among them. Fortunately, it was a welcome surprise. I don’t know what I loved the most, Melissa’s initial entrance, her declaration that she’s “going to rap now,” or that one of her favorite hobbies is smelling books.
The Good
“Weekend Update": 7/10
The energy and sharp wit of last week both tailed off a bit this week, and while Aidy Bryant, Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner’s appearances were enjoyable, I’m still just riding the high off of Alex Moffat’s film critic last time out. That said, still a solid outing on the whole.
“The Actress": 6.5/10
I have often wondered what sort of acting chops it takes to get “roles” in porn videos. Thankfully, we finally have an answer, via Emma Stone’s best performance of the night. The earnestness with which she played the actress who played Deidre was inspiring.
"Dorm Room Posters": 6.5/10
This was low-key my favorite sketch last time Stone hosted, but I’m always reticent to seeing funny skits be made into sequels. This wasn’t the worst redux of an SNL skit by any means, as Stone’s character was once again the WORST, in a hilarious way. This time its only crime was that it just went on a bit too long.
“The View: Jenny McCarthy on Vaccines": 6/10
Leslie Jones’ Whoopi Goldberg is remarkably good, and I think all the View correspondents were given funny lines. I would have liked a little more “Joy Behar” and “Meghan McCain” and a little less “Jenni McCarthy.”
“Ladies Room": 6/10
I really don’t know what this was. And it wasn’t particularly funny. But what great set design, and it sure was a lot of fun if nothing else.
“Jail Cell Cold Open": 6/10
A fairly apolitical cold open is a rare and joyful thing. I kind of wish the joke would have stayed with Kate McKinnon’s Lori Loughlin bit, which was considerably funnier than any of the ensuing appearances. Michael Keaton was a strange choice to play Julian Assange, especially with no trace of an accent, but it sure was fun to see him there.
“Royal Baby Video": 5.5/10
Day’s Prince Harry and Bryant’s James Corden are distractingly bad, but on the whole this was at least fun, if not particularly memorable.
The...Less-Good
“Monologue”: 5/10
I appreciate the idea to go in a different direction than just the usual monologue format, and Kyle Mooney’s Oprah ‘impression’ was great, but other than that, this felt a little flat. Granted, when Emma Stone has already thrice hosted and isn’t really promoting anything at the moment, it’s probably hard to come up with ideas.
“Fashion Coward”: 4/10
I laughed a few times, but this just felt more mean than anything, no?
“Chalmers Reserve Event Wine": 4/10
The Chalmers, former reality TV stars, are now making a wine that’s really bad. Other than some Italian accents from Stone and Mooney, that’s pretty much all there is to this skit.
Musical Performances
BTS: 7.5/10
If you haven't heard of BTS yet, you have been making a deliberate effort to stay off the Internet and avoid any sort of pop culture media, because the K-pop group has taken the World by storm. In many ways, this performance was probably the closest equivalent we have to The Beatles appearing on Ed Sullivan: a worldwide sensation with loyal, enraptured fans making an appearance on a prominent American television program, to a crowd of skeptical adults. As someone who watched them live for the first time Saturday night, count me in the camp of "I don't get it." But regardless of my personal music taste, there was no denying their energy or wildly impressive choreography, even if the vocals seemed poorly-acclimated to this unforgiving stage.
OVERALL SCORE: 5.92 (Comedy Only score: 5.77)
Heading into the two-week layoff before the final stretch of the season's episodes, here are the standings for Season 44:
1. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark, Jr. - 6.68
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus - 6.58
3. Liev Schreiber/Li'l Wayne - 6.54
4. Claire Foy/Anderson.Paak - 6.46
5. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett - 6.46
6. Kit Harington/Sara Bareilles - 6.25
7. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon - 6.08
8. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala - 6.04
9. Halsey - 6.00
10. Awkwafina/Travis Scott - 5.92
11. Emma Stone/BTS - 5.92
12. Jason Momoa/Mumford And Sons - 5.91
13. Idris Elba/Khalid - 5.88
14. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers - 5.86
15. Steve Carell/Ella Mai - 5.81
16. James McAvoy/Meek Mill - 5.73
17. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet - 5.73
18. Adam Driver/Kanye West - 5.55