Saturday Night Live Season 42: Emily Blunt review and highlights

Emily Blunt stopped by Saturday Night Live this week, but things didn’t go nearly as well as she might have hoped.

Saturday Night Live returned with an episode that broke the strong streak that started this season off. Emily Blunt dropped by to host this week, but things didn’t go nearly as well as they did with Margot Robbie and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Last week’s show wasn’t that great, which might have tipped us off to this downward trajectory the show is on. That’s a bit harsh, because it’s not like the show hasn’t been great when it tries. The Donald Trump trolling has been way on point, but things are a bit more hit and miss from there.

This week was the worst of that, as all but one skit fell with a hard thud. Blunt was at least charismatic as host but she couldn’t save what can probably be chalked up to third week fatigue from the writing staff. That being said, there were more than a few moments that you’ll want to read up on so you know what’s what around the water cooler with the hip kids:

SNL Rundown…

1. For the third straight week, we saw a cold open that featured Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump. It wasn’t as biting as we might have hoped, but it was still pretty alright.

2. Of course, what’s a troll of the Presidential Debate without bringing Ken Bone into things. Bobby Moynihan portrayed the doofus who overstayed his welcome:

3. The first skit of the night fell horribly flat, as did the Beyonce spoof music video. The skit focused on a couple of hookers who were (comically?) not as advertised. Not even Leslie Jones could save the day.

4. This was followed up by what is usually a solid music video segment. But the spoof of Beyonce’s ‘Sorry’ through the lens of Trump’s many, many ex-lovers didn’t really land. It was better than the first skit but it didn’t stick the landing.

5. Not everything was meh. During the Weekend Update, we were gifted with the return of McKinnon’s weird Russian characters Olya Povlatsky. Per usual, she was goddamn gold:

6. Michael Che came flying the hell off the top rope with a child porn joke that reminded us why he’s the best thing about the Update desk:

7. Vanessa Bayer brought back the character of Laura Parsons, which resulted in perhaps the best bit of the night. The highlight was when SNL went hard in the paint to destroy NBC for giving Billy Bush $10 million in severance for being a sexual predator.

8.  As predicted, SNL used British host Emily Blunt to troll Brexit. Of course it was through the lens of a Great British Bakeoff spoof. Don’t mistake that as an endorsement of it’s comedy. It was inspired, but it just didn’t work. There was also a weird “pig in a blanket” circumcision joke, which felt oddly forced in there.

9. The final skit of the night was typical bizarro SNL fare. It featured a family of rats that were bickering as though it was a noir film from the 1940s. This felt like a skit that would have been so much stronger in the Bill Hader era of the show, but it was pulled together nicely by Kate McKinnon and Beck Bennett.

10. Last season when the episode was a dumpster fire, I’d reserve a slot for the musical guest. Here’s the first installment of that on the season, as Bruno Mars came by to drop a new single form his latest album.

 Next Week on SNL…

Things are hopefully going to get back on track next week when Tom Hanks drops by. Not only is Hanks a safe bet to be a great host, but he’s bringing along Lady Gaga as the musical guest, which means all signs point to next week being a big rebound for the show.

Date: October 22nd
Host: Tom Hanks
Musical Guest: Lady Gaga
TV Channel: NBC
Live Stream: Stream 1 | Stream 2

Be sure to check out Last Night On for all your SNL highlights.