April 13, 2019 – Emma Stone / BTS (S44 E18)

by Matt

JAIL CELL
Julian Assange (Michael Keaton) & other celebrities share a cell

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— The weird MSNBC/Lockup opening graphic to this sketch feels really unnecessary.
— The obligatory nod towards the Lori Laughlin controversies going on at the time. Although the writing is pretty par for the course with how these cold opens tend to go, I like the other prisoners’ deconstruction of how insane it is for her to spend $500,000 to get her daughter into USC of all places, among other strange personal choices Laughlin made. Maybe that’s just the rush of getting a cold open that’s aiming to poke fun at pop culture more than politics… at least so far.
— Garry Richardson cameo! A small role here but I appreciate that he gets a laugh-line.
— The version I’m watching clearly must be from dress, because I recall during the live airing, the camera cut oddly to Pete as Michael Avenatti before he walks into the scene, causing the audience to scream out for him. Speaking of: Pete as Michael Avenatti. Why is the cold open extending its focus and muddling what its conceit is?
— And now Michael Keaton’s appearing as Julian Assange. As much as I adore his last hosting stint, he certainly doesn’t need to be here, nor is he adding anything to the cold open aside from doing that stupid little thing these political celebrity cameos do where they make a winking reference to the actor’s career (De Niro doing Meet the Parents, Matthew Broderick doing Ferris Bueller, or in this case, Michael paraphrasing from Batman). Further proof this is the dress recording of the cold open, though: Keaton absolutely BOMBED with the audience from the live show, which I recall being insanely tough across the rest of the episode. We’ll see how things continue.
— Woof at Michael’s “WikiLeaks” pun.
— Melissa marginally saves this with her brief walk-on as 6ix9ine, but overall, despite a decent start to the cold open, this thing fell apart as soon as the show took it as an opportunity to round up as many stray news stories as possible across the past week. This just felt overwrought.
STARS: ** 

MONOLOGUE
castmembers scramble to make host feel special during her 4th SNL gig

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— First thing about this monologue, Emma Stone “tests the sound levels” by announcing BTS as the musical guest, causing the audience to scream louder than an audience has probably ever screamed during SNL. Man, what a bad omen for the sort of crowd we’re dealing with tonight.
— A fun premise to this monologue, with Emma Stone trying to downplay her excitement that the cast could be planning something to commemorate her fourth time hosting, then dragging cast members on-stage who try tricking her into believing they’d done anything so she’s not disappointed.
— Decent use of Melissa, wheeling her out to do some on-the-spot impressions. (Ash Ketchum, though… not the most relevant.)
— I absolutely love the ending, with Emma getting excited that Kyle is on the show tonight. (She even continues that excitement by reaffirming that he’s here in the middle of the commercial break segue.) It does feel like a bit of a jab at how undervalued he is by the show at this point in his tenure, but Kyle sells it with that brand of awkward excitement that he’s so good at.
STARS: ***

POSTERS
Krissy Knox & other poster models get highschooler interested in history

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— A questionable sequel to a sketch from Emma’s last hosting gig.
— Ego getting to do her fun, African accent for the first time.
— The choice of Emma using a “long, fat garden hose” isn’t anywhere as fun as her hot dog from the last installment.
— The twist of Emma playing her original character’s twin sister isn’t working any more for me than this sketch was before. It also feels like this sketch is milking Emma’s mannerisms far more than the last one did, and it’s revealing how thin the characterization is.
— Meh, the exact same ending as before. I enjoyed the original, but there was no reason to bring this one back. It epitomizes the biggest problem with this current era’s efforts to establish recurring sketches: the writing tends to be a lot more concept-driven, meaning that bringing a character back almost always means that the scenario that they were originally involved in gets rehashed near-identically without distinct, new variables to suggest any sort of development. What’s the point of seeing the same sketch again, no matter how good the first one was?
STARS: *½

FASHION COWARD
Fashion Coward is the clothing store for inhibited, unadventurous women

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— A solid, relatable premise to this fake commercial, taking the form of a clothing store for women afraid of taking risks with their fashion sense. If there’s anything that I feel deserves a lot of praise of the current writing staff, it’s that they’re incredibly good at working with humor that’s universal to some specific, niche aspect of life and filling it with absurd but on-point details.
— I love Cecily’s description of their products as “clothes that suggest the general idea of a person.”
— Cecily detailing the traumatic nature of a Kohl’s fitting room (“where your mother said something so harmful it seared off the top layer of your brain”) has always been one of my personal highlights for this sketch.
— I also love the detail of the fitting rooms emitting a knock-out gas if a customer takes too long to make a decision, followed by them being carried out by a “big, strong man” who ambivalently picks out the rest of their clothes.
— “Fashion Coward: it’s just Ann Taylor.” Perfect out.
STARS: ****½

THE VIEW
anti-vaxxer Jenny McCarthy (host) rejoins the bellicose panel

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— One of two sketches this season where SNL briefly revives its parodies of The View. 
— Something that’s worth commenting on is how nice it is that we can finally have a sketch centered around The View where every panelist is played by a woman instead of including male cast members in drag. I recall Whoopi in particular singling out how long overdue it was that she could be played by another woman, Leslie, rather than Kenan.
— Aidy’s Meghan McCain is my favorite part of these sketches (and notably, Meghan McCain’s least favorite). I love her introducing herself as “the princess of Arizona,” which sets the precedent perfectly on how obnoxious McCain is.
— A funny turn with the intense staredown between Kate’s Joy Behar and Aidy.
— Leslie’s Whoopi: “We are not gonna do this. This is The View, we are five best friends with nothing in common.”
— Emma-as-Jenny McCarthy’s anti-vax comedy is a bit too predictable for me.
— Overall, despite some aforementioned highlights, this sketch was too listless and unstructured to work super well.
GRADE: **½

HOBBIES
after invading host’s dressing room, MEV raps about her many hobbies

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— It’s fun to see Melissa carry a sketch like this for once—she’s been having one of her strongest nights in general across this episode, actually—though I have fairly mixed feelings on it. Maybe I’ll have a different opinion of it this viewing.
— I loved Melissa entering and immediately telling Emma about how good she’s gotten at self-care. She’s able to sell the awkward confidence that line needs perfectly.
— This sketch features a few animated aspects, which reminds me that this particular point in the season experiments with animation here and there, most notably in the “Daria” segment from the preceding Kit Harrington episode. I remember that it made me think that the show would attempt to do more animated content in general within the show a la “TV Funhouse,” though aside from a handful of exceptions (“Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles”), that never fully comes to pass.
— Melissa: “Emma Stone? More like I’m-a Stone, ‘cuz stones don’t have feelings, and that’s you.”
— A cute turn, with Emma going into a hardcore rap about her own hobby of maintaining a model town, though I could personally do without Melissa’s uncertainty towards Emma’s hobby. I feel like that’s taking away from the wholesome nature of the piece a bit.
— Alright, so here’s the thing: I absolutely love Melissa. I think she’s such a distinct performer and a sweet, wholesome presence that makes the show stronger to have. But she’s also a performer who has constantly struggled to find writers who can channel her voice into strong material, and this sketch is, sadly, not much of an exception to that rule. It’s very cute, but it’s not that funny or well-written. More than anything else, it’s a fine display of Melissa’s charisma that she’s able to will the sketch into getting over, but it’s sadly a mediocre piece overall rather than the badass song declaring her adorable wackiness that it was probably intended to be.
STARS: ***

LADIES ROOM
“Meeting In The Ladies Room” mistakenly convenes in a fitting room

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— A spiritual successor to the “Raz P. Berry” sketch from last season’s Donald Glover episode, featuring a spoof on an equally-esoteric song from the ‘80s: Klymaxx’s “Meeting in the Ladies Room.”
— I like the very spot-on recreation of the music video’s setpieces.
— Not getting many laughs from Emma, Cecily, and Leslie’s lines, but the sketch has a naturally fun energy to it, and I like the appearance of Beck as Cecily’s brother in his “electric dancing chair.”
— The shaky camera zoom-ins are giving me flashbacks to the “Deep House Dish” sketches, which I believe had the same writers as this one: James Anderson and Kent Sublette.
— Kenan immediately scores the first big laugh of the piece in his reliably Kenan way of walking on and shouting, “Hey, what the hell is going on in here?!”
— I can’t help but feel that the reveal that this is “a fitting room at Limited Express” is a bit niche, though maybe I’m just exceptional in having no idea what a Limited Express is.
— The material in this sketch is a lot weaker than “Raz P. Berry” and has largely turned into bathroom humor, but Kenan and everyone else is selling the absurdity of the situation well enough.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Boy with Luv”

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— Blue: Lots of screaming after Emma’s introduction. 
— I’ve never delved into K-pop myself, but it’s very nice to see a K-pop band receive this level of exposure in America.
— Starting off with some cheeky choreography from all seven members of the group. 
— The first singer, Jimin, is very confident and smooth with his movements.
— The second singer, V, is let down by the sound engineer—his mic is too low in the mix.
— Speaking of which, the recorded vocals are drowning out the live vocals at times.
— Now that’s how you do a strong chorus! The choreography here is very tight and fun to watch. I also love how seamlessly the lead vocals are being traded among each group member.
— I especially love the moments where they jump into the air.
— Great raps from Suga and J-Hope.
— Wow, I am loving this. “Kinetic” is the word that springs to mind. 
— More screaming for RM’s rap.
— Overall, what a joy—so much confidence and sheer fun onstage.
— Interestingly enough, I recently found out that the recorded version of this song features Halsey. If she’d appeared to perform this song with BTS, that would have been her third appearance on SNL in one season, which is rare for a musical guest.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
Carrie Krum’s Spring Break travel recommendations have narrow appeal

a mercurial relationship pierces the lovey-dovey facade of Nico & Brie

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— Another nod to the frenzied, BTS audience that’s currently filling the studio.
— Colin: “This Monday is Tax Day, so if you haven’t paid any taxes yet, you’re Amazon.” Oh, so now you’re biting back at Amazon?
— Aidy reprises her Carrie Krum character. I enjoyed her first appearance, but she’s never worked too strongly for me outside of that.
— Yup. Aidy’s performance is really charming, but she’s not bringing anything new. I wonder if she was rolled out again because SNL thought it might click with the BTS audience watching tonight’s episode.
— Ha, quite the interesting news graphic visual of then-writer Andrew Dismukes sitting in an infant car seat (fourth screenshot).
— Continuing my theory about the Weekend Update correspondent choices being specific to the audience of this episode, we get the return of Mikey and Heidi’s passive-aggressive (or maybe just aggressive-aggressive) Instagram couple.
— The “#flatearth” joke in the picture of Nico and Brie’s Instagram post is something I don’t quite know how to feel about. On one hand, it’s kind of a lame, overdone joke to clue us in on how vapid the characters are, but at the same time, I like that this segment didn’t devolve into anyone over-explaining how weird that hashtag is, because it gets immediately glossed over. I guess I’ll choose to give credit for the latter since it feels rare to see that in Seiday’s pieces.
— Our third BTS reference of the evening.
— Honestly, these Nico and Brie bits work for me pretty well; while Mikey would continue to tap into this well of characters as his tenure continues in addition to working with Heidi on Update pieces more, this stands out to me as one of his most finely-realized character pieces, bringing a specific energy to the show that feels rare to see of this current era. Thankfully, this is the final reprisal of the characters, though, with them even breaking up at the end of the segment. I don’t know if they’d fare well being dredged up beyond this point.
STARS: ***

ROYAL BABY VIDEO
Prince Harry (MID) greets guests on video of the royal baby shower

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— The second and final installment of those Mikey-led royal family video sketches.
— As with the last variant of this sketch, Aidy plays a British celebrity in drag. This time she’s reusing her James Corden impression, one which works for me in spite of everything about it. 
— The return of Alex’s fun Prince William impression, though he sadly doesn’t get anywhere near as fun stuff to do here as he did in any of his previous uses.
— Emma’s appearance in this sketch is alright, though as with most everything else here, it feels inferior to Fey’s character in the original. She’s selling it well, though.
— Alright, one big laugh from me due to Pete’s incredibly brief cameo as Ringo Starr passing by the camera (“Peace and love.”). 
— A very odd choice to have Ego play Meghan Markle’s cousin and not the woman herself.
— Aidy’s Corden re-emerging made for a solid out.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mic Drop”

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— Blue: Whereas “Boy With Luv” was a pretty powerful pop performance, here we see BTS taking a more rap-focused approach.
— Not loving these outfits.
— Strong rap from J-Hope. I like his voice here.
— Love the choreography on the chorus.
— Is Jimin singing his part on the verse live at all? All I can hear is the recording.
— Come to think of it, there’s a LOT of “why not sing the pre-recorded vocals?” going on in this song. Although considering the energetic choreography, I think I know why they’re not singing all the pre-recorded vocals. 
— Really cool aggressive rap from RM.
— Man, the choreography on the breakdown is awesome.
— Ending with an actual mic drop… I see what you did there.
— I didn’t like this song as much as the other one, but it also made me feel nostalgic for the sort of stuff I’d hear on the radio in middle school, plus I loved the visuals, so this is getting an extra half-star.
STARS: ***½

THE ACTRESS
(host) takes her marginal porno role far too seriously

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— Ah, fuck yes, Julio’s swan song as an SNL writer (co-penned with Bowen) and one of his greatest works!
— A great reveal that Emma, after her self-serious set-up as an actress out to play fully-dimensional characters in film, is cast as “the woman who gets cheated on in the gay porn.”
— Beck’s director: “Go put on whatever you want from the ‘woman bin.’”
— Funny little moment where Emma’s character slips on the floor and says, “Hah! Lube!” That clip also appears in the season’s blooper video with some laughter afterwards, which leads me to believe it may not have been scripted.
— I love how you can detect the true, observational root of this idea for Julio: Emma’s method actress character taking the miscellaneous, filler props in the “woman bin” and attempting to construct a compelling, personal narrative out of them as “Deirdre.”  
— Fun little trivia note: the actor playing the grandson is a real porn actor, Ty Mitchell. In the spirit of supporting independent artists, enjoy the free publicity! And apologies if this sends a horde of obnoxious comedy snobs your way…
— Emma suddenly digging into the root of her character when she walks in on her fiancee having sex with her godson is a brilliant moment, weaving a narrative out of the props from her bin across her character’s life. My favorite has to be the repurposing of the two batteries in the box as a gift she gave her godson on his 18th birthday (“I know how much you like batteries.”). Having all of that emotional attachment, too, before her character forgives them per the porno script, is such a great way to return to the shallow reality of the shoot. 
— Another great flourish: Beck disinterestedly telling a crew member that they’ll edit out her tearful exoneration.
— Overall, one of my favorite pieces of the season, and of this era. It’s very poetic that Emma could take part in one of Julio’s first big pieces as well as his last as a staff writer. Despite popping up to make occasional contributions (“Sara Lee” in S45, the cut “Beanie Babies” sketch from S46), his unique brand of pathos is dearly missed.
STARS: *****

CHALMERS RESERVE EVENT WINE
Chalmers’ (KET) & (CES) Reserve Event Wine is low-quality & high-alcohol

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— <in Abraham H. Parnassus voice, stabbing through episode with a cane> And now we RETURN the show to earth!
— Kenan and Cecily paired up in the same sketch? Could it be any wonder who wrote this one?
— You can rather clearly make out a pipe sticking out behind Cecily’s shoulder through most of this sketch. Or maybe that’s just me, because I couldn’t be arsed to pay attention to what’s actually being said.
— Okay, I do guiltily enjoy Emma and Kyle’s maximum-ham Italian accents.
— This was a sketch that happened.
STARS: *½

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— This episode was two fantastic sketches away from being a strictly average episode for the season. As with her excellent hosting gigs in the past, Emma was given a lot to do and performed all of her material enthusiastically, though the writing just wasn’t quite there most of the night. The tough crowd didn’t do the episode any favors, either. 

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

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And I’m sorry, but…

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Actress
Fashion Coward
Ladies Room
Hobbies
Monologue
Weekend Update
The View
Royal Baby Video
Jail Cell
Chalmers Reserve Event Wine
Posters

TOMORROW
Adam Sandler makes his triumphant return to 8H, as covered by Anthony