SNL Scorecard: Pedro Pascal / Coldplay
I often discuss, even bemoan, Saturday Night Live's slow starts to the calendar year. For most of the time that I've watched this show, they've begun with a hodgepodge of actors and/or singers gearing up for their awards campaigns, and the energy from cast, crew, and writers alike has been lackluster, likely due to holiday hangover. This year, though, SNL isn't screwing around; eschewing the typical formula to trot out rising Oscar/Golden Globe contenders, they've opted for celebrities that are beloveds of the Internet, perhaps in an attempt to generate hype via social media rather than more traditional channels. If that's their strategy, you can't argue it's a bad one. The intense excitement surrounding Aubrey Plaza's hosting gig, was turned up a horny notch with Michael B. Jordan last week, and this week both dynamics reached a fever pitch with Pedro Pascal, of Last Of Us and Mandalorian fame.
To this episode specifically: what an absolute delight it was. To be honest, I don't know if the writing actually kicked up a serious notch from previous weeks. I trust it did, but more importantly I think it highlighted the importance of a. a host who's not only down for any role, but is having the time of their lives, and b. an enthusiastic, easy-to-please studio audience. The cast clearly fed off of both and the result was an episode that was easily the silliest, wildest, most fun we've had this season.
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 12th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
"Waking Up": 8.5/10
My sketch of the night is a perfect example of how no matter how dumb or random a sketch idea is, it can be hilarious if everyone fully commits and the crowd is on board. I mean, this was such a weird, dumb bit and yet, Pedro’s wide-eyed commitment to his character, as well as Heidi Gardner’s flustered wife and Bowen Yang the oblivious doctor, made the interpersonal dynamics so funny. The crowd’s energy added that much more juice to it; it also doesn’t hurt that Pascal broke at a hilarious time.
The Good
“Weekend Update": 8.5/10
The co-anchors came out of the gates strong with the 'balloon' jokes, and didn’t look back. Che and Jost were back in great form this Update, with snappy one-liners from start to finish. And unlike last week, the guests only added to, rather than stall, the momentum they created. Featured player Michael Longfellow’s jaded, nihilist Puxatawney Phil was a delightful surprise, and James Austin Johnson and Devon Walker’s British rappers were the perfect energetic, silly vibe to end Update on. I've been muttering "I'm allergic to dairy" and making knife sounds to myself nonstop these past few days.
“Lisa From Temecula": 8/10
A ridiculous 10-to-1 sketch, starring Ego Nwodim doing the MOST, and featuring the host and cast breaking multiple times? Yes please.
"Wing Pit": 8/10
It feels like it had been a while since we got a good fake ad, and this was a great one. I love that the joke progressed past being just a parody of our society’s tendency for over-indulgence, into taking an extremely intense, dark turn.
"Fancam Assembly": 7.5/10
Oftentimes when SNL tries to parody the younger generations, it’s just cringy and unfunny. This was an example of how to do it well: juxtapose them with an older adult who perfectly depicts the confusion the older generation. I also feel like Pedro’s teacher character probably represents the SNL cast. I’ve always wondered how they react to the random cast member fancams that pop up on social media. The Sarah Paulson cameo at the end wasn’t totally necessary, but was still fun.
“The Big Hollywood Quiz": 7.5/10
For the first time in a long time— maybe all season? — we got a relatively normal sketch out of the gates. At first, I thought the premise felt really random, before I realized it was making a very good point, both about the ridiculous amount of content and (as a result, maybe?) the changing of the guard in popular figures and popular shows. Bowen’s peppy game show host played off the others’ bemusement perfectly.
"Spy Balloon Cold Open": 7.5/10
Against all odds, we’ve now had two straight weeks with a legitimately clever and funny cold open! To be fair, this was pretty easy material; the whole balloon kerfuffle was nothing but hilarious to most people, myself included. Still, they did a good job at poking fun at the silliness of the whole ordeal, and it was fun to see Bowen channel some of his Iceberg energy. The sketch ended a little sloppily, but all in all, this very possibly was the best cold open we’ll see all season.
“HBO Mario Kart Trailer": 7/10
This felt a lot like David Harbour’s “Grouch” sketch back in 2019, taking a concept from a popular show or film (in this case, Last Of Us instead of Joker) and applying the same edge to a more innocent source material. This one, unlike the Grouch sketch, got less funny once the joke was clear, but it was still fun on the whole. Plus, the crowd sure seemed to dig it.
“Protective Mom": 7/10
This was a lot of fun, and nice that Marcello got to play in a Hispanic-based sketch with a Chilean man one week after Michael B. Jordan’s awful attempt at a Dominican accent. The joke ran somewhat thin, but ended on a strong note, and it was a really enjoyable sketch on the whole.
“Monologue": 6.5/10
Just like Aubrey and Michael before him, Pedro seemed a little nervous! As we saw throughout the episode, though, he’s got so much natural charisma, the monologue stage must just be very unforgiving; it makes me respect those who come out and crush their intro even more. Still, any sort of nerves he might have had didn’t affect the monologue much at all; it was very enjoyable, with funny references to big shows. It also ended on a really touching note, which I’ll admit I’m a simp for.
"Italian Waiters": 6.5/10
It was pretty funny that this sketch was the second consecutive one that featured Pedro Pascal using a different foreign accent, and then immediately preceded the 10-to-1 sketch that used basically the same set. Anyways, this was the weakest sketch of the night, but on such a good night, that still didn't mean it wasn't really funny. Even if it ended on a sort of weak note, Sarah Sherman did a great job playing the butt of the jokes.
Musical Performances
Coldplay: 7/10
If you know me, you know I’ve made no secret of my love for Coldplay over the years. But, if you’ve been following my pre-Grammys content, you’ll know I also made no secret of my dislike of their latest album. So while I will always be happy to see them on my screen, my excitement was tempered by the fact that they would be most likely performing tracks off the awful Music of the Spheres.
As it turns out, that wasn’t totally true! Their first performance was actually of a song they co-wrote with (and for) Jin, of BTS fame. Up until the climax that his vocals didn’t really have the strength for, Chris Martin sounded great, and the song had a pretty good sound. Still, the surface-level lyricism was even more pronounced on that intimate stage, and the weird appearance of and mini-choreography with the aliens was more distracting than anything. And as for their second performance: want to know a good way to make me forget about how bad their last album was? Well, surrounding yourself with a gospel choir and Jacob Collier, while segueing into one of your old classics goes a long way. Snuck in the middle of “Fix You,” also, was a sweet but touching tribute to the host and his late mother.
OVERALL SCORE: 7.46 ('Comedy Only' score: 7.50)
As we enter the first mini-hiatus of 2023, here's where the episodes of Season 48 stand-- keep in mind the episode's overall score factors in the musical performance, so what I considered the funniest isn't necessarily the top-rated overall, etc.:
Pedro Pascal/Coldplay - 7.46
Dave Chappelle/Black Star - 7.39
Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar - 7.14
Brendan Gleeson/WILLOW - 7.09
Austin Butler/Lizzo - 6.96
Aubrey Plaza/Sam Smith - 6.88
Keke Palmer/SZA - 6.75
Steve Martin & Martin Short/Brandi Carlile - 6.73
Michael B. Jordan/Li'l Baby - 6.69
Megan Thee Stallion - 6.25
Jack Harlow - 6.17
Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy - 5.75
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