SNL Scorecard: Sydney Sweeney / Kacey Musgraves

As Saturday Night Live has done so often in the last few seasons-- even in this young calendar, in fact --the prestigious show tabbed a first-time host to helm this past weekend's episode. And as was the case with Jacob Elordi and Ayo Edebiri in recent weeks, they went with a young star who is generating a WHOLE lot of buzz these days: Sydney Sweeney!

Sweeney's rise has been pretty rapid, but even if you haven't seen her in much yet, you would have to be chronically offline to have not heard of her by now; she's not just the object of every man and boy on the Internet's desires, she's a full-blown movie star! Small guest roles on acclaimed shows like The Handmaid's Tale and Sharp Objects several years ago gave way to more starring roles on Emmy-winning programs like Euphoria and The White Lotus. Similarly in the movie world, a series of small supporting roles (most notably in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Hollywood) have led to multiple star turns in the last two years, most recently in the rom-com Anyone But You and soon to be in the horror thriller she's producing herself, Immaculate. And definitely not, as the host would tell us, in Marvel's universally-panned Madame Web.

You'll notice there wasn't a whole lot of comedy in there- that fact made this episode a pretty huge unknown for me. Sweeney doesn't seem to shy away from the spotlight, per se, but neither does she seem desperate to chase it, and also seems fairly at ease at all times, and as such, there wasn't much of a sense that anyone knew how she would acclimate to the live broadcasted comedy program. There also was a widespread fear, one I shared, that SNL would do what they unfortunately have done all too often, and just fill the night with lazy jokes about how attractive the host was.

I would say neither fear fully came to fruition, thankfully; the host acquitted herself well, and save for one sketch, the writers did a pretty good job staying away from "Get it?!?! Hot blonde!!!! Boobs!!!!!" jokes. That said, neither of these facts led to a good episode, unfortunately. On a night where the writing was some of the weakest we've had in a while, and the energy level generally just seemed low, highlights were few and far between.

One note 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 13th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Bowen's Straight": 8/10

This was quietly subversive! A hilarious sketch, to be sure, but also a perfect kissoff by Bowen Yang to his homophobic Internet haters. I kind of love that the only man on the night that got to play-act being intimate with Syndey Sweeney was the only openly gay cast member.

The Good

“Weekend Update": 7.5/10

The quality of Che's and Jost's jokes dipped a little bit in the middle, but this Update was sandwiched by a phenomenal start and end to the segment. First, a volleying bevy of hilarious Mitch McConnell riffs at the outset, and then at the end, a hysterical cameo from Ego Nwodim, whose "pregnant sting ray" finally gave Michael Che the good-natured ribbing that his co-host Colin so often has to suffer through.

“Airbnb Design Commercial": 7/10

This was actually just okay, but it had a couple of the funniest moments of the night, and I'm already a believer in Chloe Troast Supremacy, so it ranks on the higher end of the episode for me.

“Monologue": 7/10

I touched on this in the introduction, but having hardly seen Sydney Sweeney in anything myself, and really only seeing bits and pieces from interviews of hers, I feel like I didn’t have enough of a grasp on her personality— which, ironically, she referenced being a problem at the start of the monologue  —to know how she’d fare in this format. As it turns out, not bad! She definitely seemed a little nervous and rushed, but her comedic timing was solid, and this was one of the better-written monologues of the season. The closing joke was a great gag, too.

"Please Don't Destroy - Gone Too Soon": 6.5/10

This was a slow burn for sure, much different than the quick-firing, witty out the gate sketches we’re used to from Please Don’t Destroy. For most of the sketch I was worried this would just be a boring series of immature jokes— and in fairness, it’s far from the most clever bit they’ve done, but it won me over gradually. The overly dramatic acting and increasingly aggressive jazz coupled with the fake tweets were killing me.

"Big Bench": 6/10

I enjoyed the commitment to total chaos this early in the episode. This wasn’t laugh out loud funny, save for a few moments, but I appreciated them going in an unhinged direction. And I did laugh each time at Andrew Dismukes’ character very much knowing his role.

“Detectives": 6/10

This felt like a sketch painstakingly lifted from Twitter punchlines. I grew into it over time, especially with the added bonus of Kenan’s token comment. But I do still wish the joke had evolved beyond a re-enactment of the kind of “Man, I swear teen girls in situationships do better detective work than the police!” dad joke you see online once a week.

The... Less-Good

“Loud Table": 5.5/10

Not bad, but you could tell they just sort of threw this on at the last minute because they had a few minutes to spare. Similarly to the previous sketch, it felt like the only real jokes here were half-realized Twitter sentiments.

"Hooters": 5/10

I figured a sketch about Sweeney's looks and body was inevitable; I'm just glad it was isolated to one, and that one at least aired later in the show rather than right out the gates. This had a number of funny moments, but overall was predictable and forgettable.

“Air Bud": 5/10

The reveal was hilarious, and the dog adorable, but this one just went on too long. We got the joke that Sydney's character was treating Air Bud like a normal high schooler, and then it just...didn't really go anywhere else.

“Makeup Artists": 4/10

I laughed a couple times, mostly due to Sarah Sherman, but I think one of the YouTube comments put it best when they teased "'Shoooooot'...they forgot to write a punchline." Also, what on earth was going on with Sydney's accent in this one?

“Inside Politics Cold Open": 3.5/10

Oof. Perhaps there was a funny premise behind the sketch, but they forgot to actually bring the funny. Other than literally only the chyron that ran during Ego Nwodim’s part, there weren’t any laughs in here. Also, I definitely don’t mind teasing Democrats’ bizarre denial that Joe is very old, perhaps even too old to be president, but this is me getting out ahead of it and saying if they make the same mistake print media does and ignore the fact that Trump is just as old and senile.

Musical Performances

Kacey Musgraves: 8.5/10

Unlike the night's host, musical guest Kacey Musgraves is no stranger to the SNL stage. This was actually the Country queen's 4th appearance, each time as a musical guest alone, although she has made the occasional cameo in a sketch. It's almost surprising that she hasn't been asked to host yet, because the artist is nearly as adored for her hilarious, no-fucks-given personality as she is for her songwriting. Fun fact: it wouldn't be a stretch to say that it was this very singer on this very show that sparked my renewed appreciation of good Country music. I knew nothing about Musgraves, and largely still rejected all things country, and then I heard her perform "Slow Burn" on the Studio 8H stage and was mesmerized. That performance alone sparked my Kacey fandom, and from her I have come to learn more respected, creative, GOOD country artists that have helped broaden my music taste.

Her two-song set would have stood out anyway, I think, and part of me wishes that it could have been yet another great aspect of a great episode, instead of what it really was, which was the unquestionable highlight of a lackluster episode. Still, what a highlight it was. Neither lead single "Deeper Well," from the upcoming album of the same name, or its follow-up "Too Good To Be True" were too demanding of a track. But both were just some sweet, sweet balm for the soul; Kacey gave us two beautiful performances of two beautiful songs, a rare instance of an SNL live performance actually hitting me even harder than the recorded version of a track.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.12 ('Comedy Only' score: 5.92)