Here we are – I can’t believe that Saturday Night Live’s Season 50 has wrapped! Kicking off in the midst of the presidential campaign, we enjoyed weekly appearances from Dana Carvey, Maya Rudolph, and Andy Samberg. That all seems like a lifetime ago now.
Scarlett Johansson returned to host for the seventh time—the most of any female host in the show’s history. Bad Bunny was the musical guest (and a former host himself) and appeared in a couple of sketches. The night brought just one surprise cameo (and it was a good one!), the cast really brought it, and Scarlett did a fantastic job as always. So, let’s get into it!
Cold Open
The show opened with a take on Donald Trump’s (James Austin Johnson) trip to the Middle East and his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Emil Wakim). Trump mentioned the mobile McDonald’s that they built for him, which unfortunately wasn’t a joke. He discusses the $400 million plane that was given to him from Qatar, adding that he doesn’t trust American planes – the first of several Newark airport jokes in the episode. He also couldn’t figure out where all the women are in the Middle East. He assumed they must be in hiding, commenting that, “It’s like a nation of Melania‘s.“
James Austin Johnson then broke the fourth wall, stepping out of the sketch and into the audience, while remaining in character. This may have been a way to set this cold open apart from the others this season- to do something special for the finale. He ended with, “We’ll see you in the fall, if we still have a country.”
Monologue
Scarlett performed a singing monologue to the tune of piano man. The cast joined her in this song about looking back at the season. I wondered if there would be any surprise guest appearances (there weren’t), but I thought it was really nice just to focus on the cast.
Please Don’t Destroy – First Class
It was great to see a PDD short in the finale. It begins with Scarlett coming into their office as the guys sulk. She asks if it’s because it’s the end of the season and they only made two videos—a pretty good jab at the obvious decrease in airtime from last season. She offers to take them on vacation and fly them first class.
Cut to Scarlett and PDD on a plane rapping about the trip, when the pilot announces they’ll be landing in Newark—and panic ensues. Newark Airport has been having some trouble lately, and people are avoiding it like the plague. Normally this would be funny to me, except that Newark is my primary airport—and I had a flight in and out of there this week. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. But I enjoyed the video nonetheless—especially the part where the only show Martin has downloaded to his phone is the pilot episode of Lost.
Mikey Day plays the pilot, and the cockpit screens go dark. Bad Bunny plays the lone air traffic controller who can’t see their plane on radar and asks, “What color is the plane?” Even though it’s his first day on the job, he figures out a way to help. I love a video short with a rap number—even when it’s terrifying.
Bowen’s Still Straight
A continuation of the Bowen’s Straight sketch from the Sydney Sweeney episode, where she hooked up with Bowen Yang, who believes his success hinges upon his pretending to be gay.
This time Scarlett tells Ego (Nwodim) and Heidi (Gardner) that she loves Colin, but has a crush on Bowen. The situation escalates quickly, as they hook up in the control room of the studio and Scarlett later showing up at Bowen’s apartment. Ego and Heidi also happen to be at Bowen’s apartment, as he plays video games, seemingly annoyed that Scarlett is there. When she tells him she thought they had a connection, he claims that she’s smothering him – and then leaves for Tokyo with Emily Ratajkowski, naturally.
It’s so funny to see Bowen play this toxic masculine character. I have been wondering if this sketch was inspired by some online speculation that he’s actually straight. In any case, it’s a fun departure from many of his characters – not to say he doesn’t have range. Bowen has grown so much since his first season on the show – when he seemed to play similar characters – into versatile performer. I love that he has no problem poking fun at himself.
Mike and Kanye Reunite
Mike Myers gets on an elevator, when Kanye West (Keenan Thompson) boards soon after him. This was an interesting sketch. It was Mike’s only cameo in the episode, and took me a minute to realize what this was referencing. I had completely forgotten that Mike was on stage with Kanye at the Hurricane Katrina telethon in 2005, when Kanye made the infamous “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” comment.
There have been some Kanye jokes on Weekend Update recently, regarding his latest antics, but this sketch seemed very random until they brought up the 2005 moment. Overall, the sketch was pretty funny. It was fun to see Mike as himself, and Kanye continues to be a source of endless material.
Weekend Update
The highlights of this Update were the return of Miss Eggy (Ego Nwodim) and the joke swap between Colin Jost and Michael Che.
Miss Eggy’s return seemed to be connected to the air traffic control issues at Newark Airport – but instead, she wanted to talk about airline food. A similar format to last time, she opened with a joke about the flight attendant offering butternut squash ravioli, to which her response was, “Butter not offer me that mess until you put some meat in it.”
She was a little more careful in her setups for the audience, and quicker to turn the mic away, after that FCC fine. Still just as raunchy and hilarious as her debut, I’m sure we’ll see more of Miss Eggy next season.
To end the season, Colin and Che did their traditional joke swap. They went all-in having each other read some pretty controversial jokes. Honestly their reactions, especially Colin’s, to seeing the jokes for the first time live on air are often funnier than the jokes themselves.
Che brought Scarlett out to apologize to her for the “roast beef” joke that he made in December. I don’t know whether she was truly offended by the joke, but there was certainly a lot of talk about it online. I guess this was their way of showing that she is cool with it – and whether she was in on it all along, or she’s just moved on, she was nice addition to the bit.
Parting Thoughts
There were so many incredible moments this season, from the Five-Timers Club sketch when Martin Short hosted in December, to the countless groans during Weekend Update, as Colin and Che crushed it week after week, to Miss Eggy, and so many more. There were also some that I hope will be left in season 50 (I’m looking at you, Domingo. Sorry, not sorry!).
No announcements were made about anyone leaving the show. Maybe everyone is staying, or announcements will be made over the summer. Either way, this is a really solid cast and I would love to see them all back next year.
I’ve had a blast writing these posts, and I’ve learned so much! Even though I’ve been watching the show for over 30 years, sharing my little recaps and opinions has gotten me thinking about it a different way. I appreciate each and every person who has taken the time to read them! Thanks for reading!
