After last week’s Dave Chapelle-fronted post-election episode, Saturday Night Live, is, like so many people around the world, coming to terms with what a Donald Trump presidency actually means. In this week’s cold open, Alec Baldwin returned as the president-elect, a flailing, unprepared man with no moral convictions or desire to do anything even remotely difficult.
Without a specific debate performance to mimic, Baldwin’s Trump seems even more generic and unmemorable. As she so often does, Kate McKinnon stole the show with her low-key Kellyanne Conway, a woman uneasily coming to terms with her role in Trump’s victory. It gave credence to the Ringer’s theory that, despite Hillary Clinton’s loss, McKinnon should be the one taking on the presidential impression next year.
In better circumstances, Kristen Wiig is exactly the type of host to get excited about. A former cast member, she came to dominate the show in her last years with a slew of impressions and an irrepressible energy that made her a clear star in the making. But no matter her enthusiasm, the show couldn’t overcome a feeling of malaise. Wiig’s monologue consisted of a nonsense Thanksgiving song featuring a wildly inaccurate tale of the holiday’s origin. It seemed to have aspirations of commenting on our “post-factual” society, but instead just felt thrown together by writers who couldn’t stomach another political monologue.
The smartest topical commentary came in a pre-taped commercial for “the Bubble”, a community with a literal dome over it for liberals who can’t deal with living in Trump’s America. In the Bubble, open-minded people won’t have to hear any political opinions that differ from their own, and go about their lives paying for products with special Bernie Sanders money. “It’s Brooklyn with a bubble on it,” it succinctly wrapped up.
The show slightly undercut its point with a later CNN sketch, which highlighted the circular nature of cable news, with commentators constantly “calling out” Trump in an endless loop until they stopped functioning entirely. It was revealed to be a Westworld reference, an “inside the bubble” show if there ever was one.
Compared to the sleepiness of most of the episode, Weekend Update shone. Colin Jost got in a few good gags about the Trump transition. On his proposed attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who was refused a federal judgeship in the 1980s because of his racial politics: “If at first you don’t succeed, wait 30 years until history lurches backwards.”
Michael Che’s long joke comparing Trump’s run for office to a man wooing a woman, but not actually wanting to be in the relationship when he gets her, was spot on, the type of clever analogy that got him this gig in the first place. And Pete Davidson swung by to give his own thoughts on Trump, including the upside that he might “reduce crime in the real estate business by not working in the real estate business”.
On the whole, it was a forgettable, though not excruciating, episode – a perfectly middle-of-the-road 90 minutes of sketch comedy. Wiig gave it her all, and whether by design or circumstances, almost all of the sketches were dominated by her and the female cast members, a welcome reminder that the show possesses a slew of talent. Hopefully, after the Thanksgiving break, they’ll be put to better use.
