Scarlett Johansson.

We’re nearing the end of season 40, folks, and for the almost penultimate episode of the season, it was…fine. If it were a meal, it would probably be a light lunch prepared in a hurry. Nothing exciting or really fulfilling, but it did the job.

The Host: Scarlett Johansson B-

Scarlett Johansson was a perfectly mediocre host. She wasn’t noticeably bad, she got all her lines out, and she did a couple pretty strong characters. Not too shabby. As a fan of Johansson, I’m a little disappointed; I really wanted to be impressed. But I just wasn’t engaged in this episode or her performance. That isn’t to say there weren’t any great scenes, but the ones I loved were ones where she either played Black Widow/romantic comedy lead (which she’s done before) or a robot (which she’s been accused of being). It’s good to stick with a host’s strengths, but as someone who has done this rodeo before, I think they could’ve given her something with a little more meat.

The monologue however...I hated this monologue with the fiery passion of a thousand exploding suns. It combined my two least favorite things: unnecessarily sexualizing women and musical monologues. Whoever can explain what part of this was supposed to be funny gets a candy bar.

Really Delightful

Blazer: Detective Blazer B+

“So you see why you can’t be police chief anymore?” - Chief
“Because I made light of race based police brutality?” - Blazer
"Yeah" - Chief

THIS is what SNL, at its best, focuses on. Uncomfortable political topics that are so stupid and unbelievable and upsetting that we HAVE to make fun of them. A few weeks ago, it was ISIS. This week, it’s policy brutality against black men. I was hoping they would write something beyond the “Orioles game is Empty” sketch (which was fine, but not was I was hoping for from them). This was closer; it’s times like this when I turn to comedy to feel sane again. Was this sketch perfect? No. It was funny, but it certainly ended unrealistically; if it were a real reflection of our world, neither of those white, male police officers would have lost their jobs. Did it really deal with the hard-hitting issue of blatant racism inherent in those we regularly arm with guns and batons? No, not really. But it’s a start.

Plus, any time someone shoots a wide shot of a person running across a long distance just to punch someone in the face, I’m sold.

Black Widow: Age of Me Trailer; All Players A-

“Does he even know anything about you? Or that your favorite food is ice cream?” –Captain America

THEY PUT BLACK WIDOW IN A PINK CARDIGAN. AND THEY MADE THOR THE SASSY BEST FRIEND. Also they’re playing on a real fear of mine that if Black Widow’s movie gets put into production, something like this will really happen. This was a clever idea that mocked something I truly believe deserves to be mocked: the latent sexism in the idea that a Black Widow movie wouldn’t be marketable to women. I’m a woman. I’m also not going to go any further into this rant because it has nothing to do with this week’s SNL.

Fun fact: Disney/Marvel has zero interest in their lady fans. All us ladies dumb making up 40% of the Avengers audience aren’t monetarily valuable. I’ll just keep drawing boobs on Iron Man action figures until we are.

Less Delightful

Girlfriends Talk Show: Kara & Morgan C & C

“And I’m Morgan, approaching cautiously from the side!” -Morgan

In the setting where you have to come up with an original hour-and-a-half-long comedy show in one week, it makes sense that SNL would want to repeat what has worked in the past. However, they have a bad habit of taking what has worked and beating it past death into a pulpy soup.

"Girlfriends Talkshow" might be nearing that pulpy soup for me: they lean on it very heavily, and dredge it up fairly often. Typically, I love it. Even though it’s predictable, it’s always well-written. But the quality slipped for me this week. I was bored, partially because I’m getting sick of it, and partially because there’s just not a lot left to explore with these characters. The one recurring sketch I haven’t seen in a while that I ALWAYS loved was the porn star advertiser sketch. If you’ve got to bring something back, bring back that one.

Right Side of the Bed: Cory & Gracelynn D & D

“I look in the mirror to practice my sex faces for you!” -Cory

Okay, this one actually confuses me because I’m not sure what I’m supposed to find funny. Is it funny that Cory is most definitely gay, but overcompensates in his relationship with his wife? Or is it funny that they never get to the guest? Or am I just supposed to focus on the character interactions? I’ve honestly never liked this sketch in any of its iterations, but I assumed there was something I was missing about it since it recurs so often. I’m beginning to think I was wrong. Well, right. Right about it sucking, but wrong about there being something else to it.