The thousandth episode of Saturday Night Live opens with White House “border czar” Tom Homan (Pete Davidson) addressing members of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid the continuing chaos in Minneapolis. He stresses that ICE commander Greg Bovino wasn’t dismissed for doing a bad job, publicly lying about the killing of civilians, or even dressing like a Nazi, but because he “was filmed doing these things – the president no likey that.”
When asked what the mission in Minneapolis is, his ICE goons plead ignorance, causing him to flip out: “I’m Tom Homan, OK? I’m the separating families at the border guy. I’m the on film taking a $50,000 bribe guy, and you all are making me look like the upstanding, reasonable adult in the room. That’s crazy!”
Herein lies the biggest problem with this cold open: even though Homan’s presence in Minneapolis is meant to calm the waters following Bovino’s rampage, he is nowhere near as competent or pragmatic as this characterization of him makes him seem. On top of that, Davidson is a baffling casting choice, looking, sounding and acting nothing like the ogre-like Homan. And of course, it being Davidson, he can’t help but break for no reason.
The sketch’s conclusion, in which an ICE member realizes that “you hired a bunch of angry, aggressive guys, gave us guns and didn’t train us, so this is maybe what you wanted to happen,” is on point, but their depiction here is far too milquetoast in relation to their crimes.
Alexander Skarsgård hosts for the first time. The Swedish actor celebrates the 1,000-episode milestone by recognizing the show’s house band. Mic in hand, he exchanges short banter with the individual members, briefly giving them the spotlight only to take it back by (badly) faking a saxophone solo of his own (although the actual sax player gets his moment on stage before it’s all over). A nice and well-deserved gesture to some of the most important but overlooked members of SNL.
Ashley Padilla plays a conscience-stricken mother who breaks some shocking news to her adult children: “I may … have changed my mind … about Trump.” The kids immediately fly off the handle, then struggle to hold it together as she continues to voice the obvious: that Republican talking points on guns “is different for different people”, that trans people were never actual threats, and that “drag queens are actually hilarious”. For as liberal leaning as SNL is, it’s rare to see them take aim at middle class, mainstream conservatives, as opposed to public figures or more fringe elements (if such a distinction can even be made anymore), as well as their fellow bleeding hearts, so this feels both earned and overdue.
A promo for the Winter Olympics features confident contenders across a number of games, as well as one brutally honest, nervous luge racer (Jane Wickline): “I hate the luge. It’s way too fast. It scares me to death, and I seriously hate it.” Wickline is very endearing as the tormented Olympian, although it bears noting how noticeably close some of her delivery is to Patti Harrison in a similarly-structured Shark Tank parody from Tim Robinson’s sketch series I Think You Should Leave.
Stench of a Family is the latest harrowing Scandinavian drama. Chloe Fineman reprises her role as the lead actor from the first iteration of this sketch earlier this season, while Skarsgård takes the male lead (replacing past host Glen Powell). The duo’s charged chemistry and the darkness of the material bellies their “giggly energy” in between takes. In a meta-twist, Skarsgård’s real-life father, actor Stellan, pops in to play an actor playing his on-screen dad.
This is followed by another recurring sketch with a lot of thematic overlap: The Immigrant Dad Talk Show. Gruff Latin host Jaquin (Marcello Hernández) is unnerved by his new Finnish neighbor Heiken’s (Skarsgård) icy demeanor and repressive parenting style. Once more, Stellan pops in (looking hilariously disheveled, with his shirt pulled up over his belly) as Alexander’s cruel wretch of a father. Musical guest Cardi B also storms in as Jaquin’s fiery, sandal-throwing wife.
Next up is yet another bit of Scandinavian skewering, via a violent historical drama about Vikings. As a crew of blood-thirsty marauders celebrate their latest murderous raid, Skarsgård’s member sulks about feeling left out of all the fun, games and dismemberment. Some good gore gags, even if it’s all done using subpar CGI.
Backed by Dominican merengue típico artist El Prodigo and band, Cardi B performs her first song of the night. Then, on Weekend Update, Colin Jost reports on the Trump administration’s strategy change in Minnesota, noting replacing Bovino with Homan “feels like trying to quit cocaine by taking up crack”.
New Update weather correspondent Sarah Sherman reports from outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza. She doesn’t initially have much to say about the weather except that it’s very cold, although when pressed by Jost she turns the tables on him: “The temperature is how you say you like your women: 20 but it feels like 15.” 30 Rock actor and Skarsgård’s good buddy Jack McBrayer shows up for a fun cameo.
Later, Padilla and Andrew Dismukes return to the desk as Two People Who Just Hooked Up. Ostensibly there to discuss next month’s Super Bowl, they’re too horny and smitten with one another to think of anything else. Cue lots of double entendres about sex and football: “I predict that the Patriots will be on top for the first half, but then at some point the Seahawks will come from behind and dominate the Patriots for a while.”
Skarsgård then dons ponytails and a pink pony dress to play awkward little girl Agnes. At a playdate with her new neighbors, everyone gets off on the wrong foot when the other girls tease Agnes about never watching Bluey, listening to Harry Styles, or knowing how to do a popular TikTok dance. This causes the hulking Agnes to violently fling one of them out the window over and over, in one of the better sight gags of the season.
Ten years ago, Skarsgård starred as Tarzan in an attempted reboot of that franchise. He reprises the role once more, with Sherman playing his beloved Jane. Tarzan arrives at their jungle abode to break up with her: “Jane give up whole life for naked man raised by gorillas who no speak English. Make Tarzan think: what wrong with Jane? Like, what that say about Jane, you know?” A couple funny lines here and there, and some enjoyably silly chemistry between Skarsgård and Sherman, but this is mostly filler.
The two pair off again in the final sketch, set at a friend group’s ski trip. Chilling out at their cabin, Skarsgård’s new boyfriend impresses everyone with his twisted, off-the-cuff humor, until he accidently reveals he’s been reading off hidden Cards Against Humanity cards the entire time. The digs at eye-rolling Cards Against Humanity comedy – examples include jokes about Josh Gad’s quincenera and “Hitler’s hairy butthole” – are dead-on, if a little behind the times. Before the closing curtain call, we get a card tribute to the sadly departed Catherine O’Hara, who had served as Gilda Radner’s understudy on SCTV, replacing her when she was hired by SNL. O’Hara joined SNL in the early ‘80s but left after only a week when SCTV was renewed for another season. She would go on to host twice during the ‘90s.
By no means a great episode, but an improvement over the last two weeks. Skarsgård has always been a weirdo character actor in a leading man’s body, so it’s unsurprising that he would commit to full-on wackiness here. Meanwhile, some of the newer cast members – Padilla and Wickline in particular – continue to stand out, shaping many of the sketches in positive ways.
