Cold Opening: Why wouldn't the first live episode everywhere have Alec Baldwin as Trump? His inclusion has massively boosted the show's ratings, as evidenced by the episode that he hosted, so it makes sense. I'm still happy that Bannon isn't getting a proper impression, as he doesn't deserve one. Portraying him as a minion of the underworld is pretty accurate, anyway, if you're going by morals. I appreciated the reality show parallels as well as Trump offhandedly mentioning catching Steve Bannon eating a live pig. Overall, it was much better than last week's cold opening.
Monologue: I knew Jimmy would be singing. After all, it's a celebration of the historic, coast-to-coast event! Starting now, the rest of the season will be live in all time zones. Why not have a dance party with a guest appearance from Nile Rogers? Jimmy was slightly hard to understand during the actual singing portion, but that might be because I think he was doing some kind of impression.
Celebrity Family Feud- Time Travel Edition: Pete Davidson kills it as David Blaine, if he was the creepy magician from an episode of iZombie. It's really weird seeing Jimmy Fallon playing John Travolta from the seventies and his 2017-incarnation, especially because the latter sounds oddly like Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump. Overall, I thought it was a cool twist on a familiar sketch, but it should have had more jokes on how times have changed. For example, the Carter/Trump comparison.
Before The Show: Just like in the Lin-Manuel Miranda-hosted episode, the cast parodies badly-performed school plays in a short film. It's equally as effective here, contrasting mock-serious interactions backstage with awful on-stage interactions. From mumble-ridden singing to broken scenery, whatever can go wrong will.
Take Me Back: I guess tonight is a night for time travel on the show, as this features an incompetent attempt from Doug (Jimmy) trying to win back Cecily while she's on a date. Said attempts extends to wearing something straight out of the disco era, getting backup dancers and even a special t-shirt with her face. I would count the singing, but Doug's no singer. The ending United Airlines punchline nailed the sketch, as did the Pepsi joke. Looks like Beck Bennett played the same character as he did in last week's Pepsi commercial sketch. Nice continuity!
Easter Message From Sean Spicer: YES, more Melissa McCarthy! I was wondering if SNL would try to cover Spicer's most recent blunder, with a healthy dose of uneasiness about how they would do it. It's a very tricky event to make fun of and even harder to appreciate, especially because I'm Jewish. The irony of using VeggieTales dolls to portray Passover is absolutely delicious. Overall, despite a couple of questionable lines, it actually went pretty well. The Easter egg podium zooming away was brilliant. Also, was it just me, or did this sketch look pre-recorded? It had that feel to me.
Harry Styles Musical Performance #1- "Sign Of The Times": At first, I didn't realize that was Harry singing. It sounded like someone else. Then again, I've never actually heard him sing before, so there you go.
Weekend Update: The joke about Trump developing an immunity to most diseases due to a lifetime of waiters spitting in his food wins the award for the best Weekend Update joke. I'm happy to see more of Vanessa Bayer as Jacob. Aside from being intensely funny and relatable, it's a great way to educate viewers about Judaism. Even so, no VeggieTales references, zero stars. Finally, the newest segment with poor, pathetic Bruce Chandling was very amusing.
Civil War Soldiers: Jimmy Fallon sings ananchronistic pop songs in the Civil War. That's the joke. Bobby Moynihan's all too brief appearance made me do a brief double-take because I thought he sounded like Will Forte. Oh, and Harry Styles makes yet another appearance in it. At least this one was thematically justified.
New Shirt: Let's be honest, we could all use a Turtle Shirt. Everyone has an awkward moment that they would like to hide from.
Sully & Denise: Pat Sullivan, Jimmy Fallon's crude Boston character, returns yet again, just like the first time he hosted. The "Boston Teens" sketch has never really been one of my favorites, but it's worth it just to see Rachel Dratch on the show again. It's interesting to actually see the continuity from the last sketch, as one of Pat's children, now inexplicably years older over the course of only a few years, returns. Here's a fun trivia fact, Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch wrote it, according to this video from Jimmy Fallon.
Harry Styles Musical Performance #2- "Ever Since New York": I'm no music critic. I guess it was okay.
Basketball Scene: Once, again, we have a short film. This time, it focuses on the filming of a dramatic basketball scene in a film. Everything seems to be fine with Pete and Kenan's characters, but the background extras are notoriously incompetent.
Final Thoughts: So, that was the first-ever episode to air live for every single time zone! How was it? Well, there was still an issue with not seeing a lot of cast members. The double Jimmy Fallon appearance in the Family Feud sketch, having Melissa McCarthy put in a live appearance from Los Angeles- they were both suitably funny, but it creates less of a chance for other cast members to get screen time. For example, if this really is Bobby Moynihan's final season, then he's not getting a lot of chances to go out with a bang and deliver material that will be remembered for years to come. Other than that, the episode had a generally fun tone. Harry Styles also had a lot of performances
Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or Harry Potter books.
