SNL Scorecard: Kristen Wiig / Dua Lipa
With Saturday's show, Season 46 of Saturday Night Live has officially reached Christmas Break, and its de facto midway point, and regardless of the quality, everyone involved with the show deserves a huge amount of recognition for making it work to date. Putting on a show each week is an unbelievable undertaking in normal times, but doing so with limited audiences and amidst constant recognition of and adherence to COVID safety protocol... well, that's downright miraculous.
And the good news is, after a quite rocky first several episodes, this season has turned out to be pretty good quality after all! We had a 4-week stretch of episodes with only "Good" sketches, and though that run will sadly come to an end this week due to a couple clunky skits, the highs of Kristen Wiig's episode were as good as any other from this season. Just like last year's 'Christmas episode,' this weekend's show utilized a beloved SNL vet and one of the year's biggest Pop sensations to generate a really solid episode, one that blended familiar faces with some delightful, original holiday-related content.
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 9th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
“U.S.O. Performance”: 7.5/10
I had some guesses for what this episode might contain. This may shock you, but “Kristen Wiig and Bowen Yang play WWII personnel who break into a choreographed club track while Dua Lipa grinds on Bowen” was not, in fact, among my guesses. But what a delightful Christmas surprise this was! This was quite clearly directly from the mind of Bowen Yang, and we are all the better for it. And how about that cameo from Dua? It was a small sample size, sure, but she’s got some comedic acting chops.
The Good
“A Teacher": 7.5/10
Confession: I have seen most of A Teacher. It started as a random binge with a friend, then reached the “eh, I’ve come this far already, might as well finish it” benchmark. And honestly, it is both more interesting and holistic than I would have anticipated from its intentionally steamy advertising. But the main thing that bothered me about it was always the inexplicably fast escalation of the student-teacher relationship, and I found this particular take, and its parting message, a WHOLE lot more refreshing. Ego Nwodim was just terrific here...I’m so glad she seems to have found a foothold in this show.
“Monologue": 7/10
This monologue was just vintage Kristen Wiig. It had been a while since we’d seen the former SNL star, both on the stage she used to own and out in Hollywood. But this was a perfect reminder of the versatile, quirky humor she so brilliantly employed during her tenure: lighthearted, easygoing interactions with the audience and then a “Christmas song” (with the assistance of two other SNL greats) that devolves into absurdity.
"Christmas Morning": 7/10
This seemingly good-natured rap takes a sad turn, and I am here for it. As is often the case around with holiday content on SNL, they did a perfect job of making humor out of a very real phenomenon, and Wiig was terrific as the put-upon mother. With a slightly stronger ending, this probably could have been the sketch of the night.
“Weekend Update": 7/10
I’ve lamented the clear, albeit insubstantial, drop-off in Weekend Update since the Thanksgiving break, but right in time for the last show, they got back to, or at least close to, their pre-break form. Some jokes still didn’t totally work, but most were good, and the guest appearances from Kenan, Chris Redd and Heidi Gardner were all terrific. And as is almost always the case, the undisputed highlight was Michael Che and Colin Jost’s ‘joke swap,” with the final joke being the absolute crown jewel.
“Secret Word Holiday Edition": 6.5/10
My brother and I talked before the show about how as legendary as Wiig is, unlike a lot of SNL alums (such as Eddie Murphy, host of last year’s Christmas episode), she didn’t have any characters that felt necessary to return to the Studio 8H stage, so we were curious to see whether there would be any recurring bits. An answer to that came pretty early, as this old bit was the first post-monologue sketch, and if a character of hers was to come back, I’m glad it was this one. It was far from the best rendition of Secret Word; I love Kenan, but this was really missing Bill Hader’s gameshow host, and as funny as Kate McKinnon’s fatalist Austrian comedienne was, it seemed to throw the humor’s timing off a little. But I will never not love Mindy Elise Gracin, and her references to her less-than-successful Broadway performances.
“Home For Christmas": 6/10
Unlike the “Secret Word” sketch, this was a Kristen Wiig character I actively hoped they wouldn’t bring back. It’s not because I didn’t love Sue, the overexcited friend who can’t keep a secret. It’s just that it was never going to be as funny when the entire audience was in on the joke before it happened. That was the case here; still a funny, enjoyable sketch, but not memorable, and likely took up space that could have been better used by a cut-for-time bit (such as this one).
“Pence Gets The Vaccine Cold Open”: 5.5/10
Although the end of 2020 looks considerably different than the beginning, SNL at least stayed consistent in one thing throughout the year: mediocre political cold opens. Fortunately, on the spectrum of forgettable cold opens, this at least registered on the more positive side. Not one I’m going to rewatch any time soon, but with a few good laughs to boot. And mercifully, we have an end not only to Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump, but Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden, with cast member (!!!) Alex Moffatt taking up the impression of the president-elect.
The...Less-Good
“Home Alone 2”: 5/10
Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen any of the Home Alone movies (I know, I know, sue me), but I was sort of lost on the premise of this one. The ridiculous conclusion saved it from being a total dud in my eyes— I am always a fan of unnecessary fake gore and Kristen Wiig nearly breaking —but on the whole, this was not memorable.
“The Grinch”: 4.5/10
Even though it was pretty clear from the start where this sketch was headed, and it wasn’t a totally new concept for SNL, it still felt like it had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, that was never fully realized and thus this fell a little flat. It’s hard to put my finger on what exactly was wrong, other than the writing itself was just not particularly funny.
Musical Performances
Dua Lipa: 8.5/10
Disclaimer: with her release of Future Nostalgia back in March, Dua Lipa turned me from casual appreciator to instant full-on stan. I loved just about everything about that album, and the more #DuaContent I’ve consumed, the more I’ve loved her as well. So it was always going to be difficult for me to be totally objective on this one.
That said, I’ll do my best: objectively, I think her singing voice— or more accurately, her intonation —on both songs wasn’t as dead-on as it usually is. It was not bad, mind you, but she was coming in a little sharp on both songs, which is not uncommon on the notoriously unforgiving stage. All this being said, she still sounded quite good, and between a terrific song selection, better-than-usual choreography, and a delightfully weird jellyfish-inspired headpiece, her set was great on the whole, and easily one of the best, if not the best, of the season.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.55 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.35)
As we enter Christmas Break, here are how the episodes of Season 46 stand:
John Mulaney/The Strokes - 6.85
Bill Burr/Jack White - 6.72
Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa - 6.55
Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters - 6.50
Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen - 6.41
Timothée Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - 6.32
Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion - 5.90
Issa Rae/Justin Bieber - 5.82
Adele/H.E.R. - 5.67
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