Dakota Johnson had a pretty good February. She starred in one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Fifty Shades of Grey, she presented at the Oscars, and on Saturday night she hosted the return of Saturday Night Live after the show took almost a month off to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
Johnson was at times awkward, but handled herself pretty well in an episode that was so close to being good, but instead ended up being just all right. The long layoff may have contributed to the lack of laugh-out-loud sketches, as the cast and writers worked on shaking some of the rust off. But even without a stellar episode, SNL was able to grab some headlines with a controversial sketch and a host who appeared to knock her own film during her monologue.
Cold Open: Giuliani (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
This uneven episode actually got off to a pretty good start with this parody of Best Picture winner Birdman and former “America’s mayor” Rudy Giuliani. Taran Killam expertly weaved his way through the backstage area while combining his impressions of Giuliani and Birdman star Michael Keaton.
My only issue with this sketch was timing. Sure, Birdman just won Best Picture, but Giuliani made his statement about President Obama almost two weeks ago. The cold open is usually a place for timely commentary and if they wanted to hit conservatives, they had a good opportunity with CPAC taking place last week.
Best Sketch: Fifty Shades of Grey Press Junket
While Fifty Shades jokes were placed throughout a lot of this episode, they only had one entire sketch devoted to the film that made it on air. Johnson plays herself on a press junket when she meets Peter (Kyle Mooney), a showbiz writer for the Franklin Middle School newspaper who has seen the film numerous times with his dad.
Most Controversial Sketch: ISIS
The big controversy this week had nothing to do with Fifty Shades of Grey. In this week’s commercial parody, a dad (Killam) drops his daughter (Johnson) off to start a new life… with ISIS.
Soon afterwards, Twitter was flooded with viewers upset with the show cracking jokes about ISIS and the fact that in the original commercial, the daughter is leaving to join the military. Most likely the US military, but it’s not really discussed because that commercial is for Toyota, not the armed forces.
Parody is frequently used to make political and social issues accessible which makes shows like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight so popular and necessary. If this parody makes someone look up ISIS and discover that teenage girls are, in fact, joining the group then maybe they will become more engaged about the crisis at hand.
Weekend Update Moment: The Return of Riblet
While the appearances of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Kate McKinnon) and Kanye West (Jay Pharoah) may have been funnier, the return of Michael Che’s high school friend Riblet (Bobby Moynihan) may have held a deeper meaning.
This whole season has been a struggle for newcomer Che and co-anchor Colin Jost. While Jost appears to have comfortably found his place behind the “Weekend Update” desk, Che continues to flub lines while making sarcastic remarks and interrupting Jost. Adding Che has allowed SNL to tackle some of the tougher issues facing the country, but there have been some growing pains.
Which brings us to Riblet. This Friendly’s employee’s whole schtick is letting us know that he can do Che’s “jorb.” Essentially Riblet is every Twitter commenter, SNL recapper, and TV critic rolled into one sweatshirt-wearing character. He’s everyone who keeps telling Che that he’s terrible which makes him very funny, and means Che is very aware of his status with SNL fans.
Lastly, has Jost been saying, “What’s up everybody?” at the beginning of “Weekend Update” all season and I’ve been missing it?
Standout Performer: Kyle Mooney
Mooney has had numerous times throughout this season where he shines as someone who appears nervous or dimwitted for great comedic effect. It has also been nice to see Mooney continue to show up in sketches as secondary characters while also establishing himself as SNL’s resident weirdo.
Other Notes:
Kenan Thompson’s only extended appearance during this episode was in the odd, not all that great “Worf M.D.” sketch, which also served as a tribute to Leonard Nimoy, who passed away on Friday.
Dakota Johnson’s parents, Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, made an appearance during her monologue and the closing credits with Don giving the Vulcan salute to the camera. Griffith hosted during the show’s 14th season.
If you were wondering what song was playing during the “Say What You Wanna Say” sketch, it was “Brave” by Sara Bareilles.
SNL released another Fifty Shades of Grey sketch Sunday evening. It is currently only available through the SNL app, which is available in the iTunes store.
Saturday Night Live returns this Saturday, March 7 with host Chris Hemsworth and musical guest Zac Brown Band.
