Whew. The return of Fred Armisen fortunately leads to a pretty decent episode, which stands in stark contrast to the dreadful run the show's had since March. At least now they can go out on a relative high note, so kudos to Fred for bringing it to a finish.
COLD OPEN: A great opening tonight, as Kate's Hillary trades barbs with Larry David's Bernie in a bar, as they roast each other about the primary contest winding down, despite the fact that Bernie refuses to drop out. They end up dancing through the studio, as Hillary tosses him into an elevator at the end. You have to notice how ironic it is that the show's Hillary and Bernie skits ended up so much funnier than their Trump ones this season. You'd have thought it'd be the other way around.
MONOLOGUE: Fred Armisen comes back to do his "one man show" parody of his SNL audition. It goes on a little too long, although I know that's part of the joke, since Fred hates one man shows. I wouldn't say it's wildly funny, but I get it.
LEWIS & CLARK THEATRE: Fred, Kyle and Cecily do a Lewis & Clark skit in front of a high school class that ends up with Lewis trying to trick Clark into having sex with him while Sacajewea watches. I thought this bit was going to be painful at first, but where it winds up going makes me giggle a little bit, so it's okay.
DIGITAL SHORT: Andy's back! I knew Fred would bring some cast members of his era along with him, and Andy Samberg's the first, who of course pops up with a home run digital short, that has him rapping about a girl (Vanessa) who wants him to fuck her like the "US fucked Bin Laden." It's great!
DINNER PARTY: And another one, as Jason Sudeikis brings new girlfriend Regine (Fred) to a dinner party and she freaks out the guests with her crazy reactions to Jason touching her in random places. It's one of those weird characters, but it's actually funny because several people break in this sketch, including Vanessa, who I don't think I've EVER seen break before, so that's pretty fun to watch.
FAREWELL, MR. BUNTING: Okay, so, for the first time in a long time, I think SNL actually produced an instant classic sketch here. It's a pre-recorded bit, but it starts out as a really straight spoof of the final scene in Dead Poet's Society, only to lead up to a completely unexpected payoff that turns out to be totally worth the wait. See it for yourselves. Bravo, guys. I have to wonder who came up with this.
UPDATE: The final Update of the season includes the last (for a while anyway) of the Trump jokes, which mock the NRA and Hillary, and an appearance by Maya Rudolph as the ousted president of Brazil, but that goes on way too long. Then Jost and Che do their annual "jokes that didn't make it to air" and we end with a final appearance by Kenan's Willie, talking about "fun" in the summertime. You know, I actually thought this was Kenan's last season, but it doesn't appear to be, so I guess he really wants to break that record of longest running cast member.
ANDROMEDA GALAXY: A space sketch with Fred as the designated survivor whose seemingly first class flight in an escape pod annoys his sacrificial crewmates, especially when he picks out City Slickers 2 as the in flight movie, and Korean chicken as dinner. Good for a couple chuckles, but it's too short to leave much impact.
STUDENT THEATRE SHOWCASE: Okay, I think we've seen this sketch too many times now. It's the same old thing, with the annoying artsy kids doing their wacky, politically correct message show. There's nothing new in it, and like I said, I think we got it by now.
HARKIN BROTHERS BAND: Not really a sketch, but Fred leads the entire cast dressed up as a 70's style hippie band as they sing about fun in the summertime. It's a nice final moment to close out the finale.
Well, I think this one was overall pretty solid, like I said earlier. I wouldn't call it hysterical, but hey, that Bernie/Hillary opening, the Bin Laden digital short, and the Mr. Bunting sketch qualify this one for at least a B+, while the rest of it didn't overtly offend, so thank you to Fred for bringing this season in for a landing. When it comes back it's going to be right in the thick of election time, which is always when SNL is most relevant, so I'll see you guys back here for what's bound to be a crazy fall. In the meantime, have a great summer everybody!
