SNL Scorecard: Scarlett Johansson / Bad Bunny
- Daniel Woodiwiss
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
Saturday Night Live finally dropped the curtain on its history-making, star-studded, wildly eventful-and-yet-totally same 50th season this past weekend. After a season that saw a number of first-time hosts, and more than one instance of pulling back an old favorite from previous decades, for the last show, SNL went back to a familiar face as host, the same well they went to with the pre-and-post election episodes, as well as the Christmas episode. Scarlett Johansson is quietly one of the all-time vets of this program, having now hosted a whopping 7 times; she is, of course, also married to Weekend Update co-anchor and SNL head writer Colin Jost, a fact that no doubt played some part in her being tabbed for the finale but fortunately was not referenced to nearly as obnoxious extent as it could have been.
In my penultimate Scorecard, I soft-launched a Liverpool F.C. allegory for the 50th season of SNL, and as I sit here writing this final scorecard of the year on a day in which newly-crowned champions Liverpool once again sleepwalked through a meaningless match, I see no reason to stray from it this week. In case you missed last week, and don't feel like reading through pages of Premier League content to understand the metaphor, essentially I was comparing these last few weeks of "post-SNL50 celebration" episodes to the remaining matches in the Premier League season Liverpool have had to play since clinching the title some 4 weeks ago. The team's just going through the motions at this point, not in a bad or painful way, but in a happy, vibey, but kinda hungover kind of way.
That trend held very true all the way to the end in this last episode of SNL50, a season finale that felt much less like a traditional sendoff spectacular, and more like a cast and familiar host having a good time and basically being ready for summer vacation to begin. For a host so well-known and so comfortable with the mechanisms of the show, Johansson surprisingly played what felt like a fairly minor role on the night in all but a couple sketches, even in her own monologue. The same was true of last week, as you might recall, but there's a world of difference between ScarJo and Walton Goggins, both in terms of their experience on this unique program and in the type of comedic energy they might bring. Where Walton seemed like he might just be out of place at SNL, Scarlett seemed to just be the consummate "I'm down for whatever, guys! Just put me where you need me! No presh!" host. That's about the only truly interesting dynamic from this episode, truth be told. While much can be recapped and relived over and over from this exciting season, this episode fit in the same mold as many in the calendar year of 2025: a good time overall, one or two real standout moments, generally pretty uneven night of comedy.
One last time in case you forgot- I know my rankings can seem a little arbitrary, and truthfully there have been times where even I will look back at scorecards and think "Now, why did I rate (x) an 8.5, if (x) from this other episode was only a 7...?". So, both to hopefully clear up my scoring system for any curious readers, but also really to help keep myself consistent, here is the rubric to reference:
10/10: Perfect, no notes
8-9.5/10: Very funny-to-hilarious, definite rewatch
6-7.5/10: Pretty funny-to-funny, but won't necessarily be a rewatch
4-5.5/10: Not BAD, but not particularly funny or memorable
1-3.5/10: Terrible/poor taste, to simply bad/unfunny
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 20th and final episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
"Please Don't Destroy - First Class": 8/10
It’s funny, the reason I missed this episode live was because I was at a bachelor party, a party I was late to because of a catastrophic day of travel, which started off with delays for my first flight through? You guessed it, Newark. I ended up going through Chicago instead when a gate agent, attempting to help me rebook a new flight, quietly advised me, “Honestly, man? Between you and me, I’d avoid Newark altogether.” So yeah, this sketch felt particularly close to home. Anyway, it was great! A solid finish to the season from the PDD trio, who featured far less this year than I would have hoped. My only real complaint was this went on a touch too long; as delightful as Bad Bunny was in his cameo, I’m not sure we really needed the whole last stanza with his air traffic controller character— besides, it was obvious from the style of the song that an appearance from him was inevitable, so there’s wasn’t a ton of excitement in the reveal.
The Good
“Weekend Update": 8/10
Che and Jost finished off a very good season for them on a strong note in this Weekend Update segment. It wasn’t their best array of jokes, but only because they’ve had some truly standout weeks; this was a solid bit. (And, another bevy of flight jokes, including Newark! Sure glad I watched this episode after my air travel fiasco…) Still, there’s no question the highlights of this Update were in the special segments. First, another riotous appearance from Ego Nwodim as “Miss Eggy,” who proved she didn’t need a viral FDC-defying moment from the audience to tap into something special with this character. And second, the welcome return (and, if rumors of the co-anchors’ departure are to be believed, the last?) of the infamous “joke swap.” It was always going to be hard to match the hilarious level set by this Christmas episode’s swap— perhaps their best ever —and I don’t think this one quite did, but the quick cameo by ScarJo as a nod to that one and Che’s callback joke for Colin angling for Lorne Michaels’ job were really nice touches.
“Trump Middle East Trip Cold Open": 7.5/10
In case you didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as I did, I will acknowledge two things about the SNL Trump sketches in this era: one, JAJ’s impression is slipping ever-so-slightly. He seems more focused on accurately catching his gravelly aging voice, and things like his “r” sounds don’t sound like Trump at all. And two, the writing is very often minimal. But neither of those things, particularly the latter, matter all that much when he’s allowed to just riff in character, which is the thing that elevates his Trump impersonation over so many others’. He was on fire in this one in his interplay with the crowd and the camera, and while the intentional breaking of the fourth wall could have been cringe-inducing, his was hilarious and felt particularly on the nose in a good, “We get it” kind of way, rather than a “do YOU guys get it??? Guys??” way, if that makes sense.
“Monologue": 7.5/10
SNL walks a fine line whenever they get self-referential, but they really nailed this one. A simple musical number that incorporated the entire cast, was peppered with funny lines, and struck an emotional chord for the cast and crew involved in this famous season. ScarJo did a great job kicking it all off and was a good sport to let the monologue be about something and someone(s) besides her.
"TV Press Junket": 7/10
This was the most involved the host was in any sketch on the night, and it’s no surprise: you can tell this was cathartic for Scarlett, who channeled a lot of cynical energy into the gossipy reporters who pepper female cast members with difficult questions while lobbing softballs to the male cutie in the cast. This wasn’t a novel concept for the show— in fact, they’ve done this exact premise before, I think to slightly funnier effect —but it was still quite good, especially as the questions got increasingly rapid-fire (and ridiculous) down the stretch.
"Local News Stories": 7/10
Solid first sketch out of the gate. I love me some pun humor, and I also love me some “new guy/gal drastically misread the tone” humor. This ran out of steam ever so slightly near the end, but I think they effectively maxed out as much humor as they were going to from this idea.
“Couples at the Bar": 6.5/10
This was a ton of fun, and a very original idea for a sketch involving both host and musical guest. I just can’t help but feel like it had the potential to be a lot funnier, if it weren't for some timing errors, and I think maybe the jokes should have been a little more fleshed out rather than just repeating the same idea over and over. It did end on a good joke, though, which is more than can be said for most of the night’s sketches.
“Bowen's Still Straight": 6/10
This was one of the best sketches of the night the first time they trotted out this concept, with Sydney Sweeney as host, but felt a little more run of the mill this time. It wasn’t any less enjoyable this time, especially with Colin Jost’s cheery cuckold cameo and the added twist of multiple SNL ladies being involved this time. But once the concept was known from the start this time, it just doesn’t play as hilarious.
The... Less-Good
“Victorian Ladies at Lunch": 5.5/10
I don’t know what the point was in this one, other than to say “wouldn’t it be funny if Victorian-era ladies ate a bunch of gross stuff and made toilet jokes?,” and have Andrew Dismukes laugh uproariously as only a wealthy Englishman could. And for that reason, especially as the last sketch of Season 50, I almost love it. Almost.
“Intimacy Coordinators": 5/10
I am…deeply confused by what this sketch was. It felt like two writers had competing ideas for which direction it should go in, and also felt like the host played a demonstrably minor role in it. It was an incredibly bizarre finish, and in general wouldn’t be unfair to call it a total mess. So why does it get as generous a score as a 5 from me? Because I’d be lying if I said I didn’t laugh at most of Mikey Day’s and Kenan’s lines, juvenile as they might have been. If you’re given weak material, might as well make the most of it.
“Mike Myers Elevator Ride": 3.5/10
What a bizarre time for this sketch. Kanye West is, of course, not deserving of any sympathy at this point, so I won’t say this was in poor taste but it’s not exactly bold comedy, or “punching up,” to clown on Kanye in the year 2025. It felt like maybe this was a favor to Mike Myers, as “reward” for coming in and doing a bad Elon Musk impression periodically? I don’t know. Whatever the reason behind it, one thing it was not was funny, save for a couple individual moments.
Musical Performances
Bad Bunny (feat. RaiNao): 8/10
I was fairly late to the Bad Bunny train, but with his album Un verano sin ti, one of my favorites of 2022, I fully bought into the hype, and became a fan. I still haven’t reached “Stan” levels, though; i.e. I haven’t yet listened to his newest release Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and thus went into his live performances blind— and excited to see —as to what he might perform.
The answer was first, a performance of the short but spunky “NUEVAYoL“. It was a high-energy, if not captivating performance, with a set design that harkened back to the famous “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper” picture, and included multiple shoutouts to “Nueva York!!”
The stage design on the second performance, of “PERFuMITO NUEVO” was next-level, though; taking place in what appeared to be a bar bathroom, Bad Bunny appeared in a stall after a heartfelt introduction from guest vocalist RaiNao. His vocals felt pretty muted in this instance, but RaiNao shone in her guest appearance, and Bunny’s commitment to performance made this an impressive TV spectacle. Overall a short but sweet, impressive set by the global superstar.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.63 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.50)
At the end of SNL's historic 50th season, here’s where the episodes 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.:
Jon Hamm/Lizzo - 7.55
Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks - 7.46
Lady Gaga - 7.41
Martin Short/Hozier - 7.39
Dave Chappelle/GloRilla - 7.38
Nate Bargatze/Coldplay - 7.27
Charli xcx - 7.21
Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish - 7.18
Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile - 7.17
John Mulaney/Chappell Roan - 7.11
Timothée Chalamet - 6.96
Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire - 6.80
Quinta Brunson/Benson Boone - 6.71
Scarlett Johansson/Bad Bunny - 6.63
Shane Gillis/Tate McRae - 6.59
Bill Burr/Mk.gee - 6.58
Jean Smart/Jelly Roll - 6.55
Paul Mescal/Shaboozey - 6.38
Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen - 6.27
Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams - 5.50
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