Ariana Grande Hosts a Remarkably Good, and Occasionally Darkly Comic 'SNL'

Cold Open - This is what it’s come to because Donald Trump won’t agree to a debate: SNL is doing a Family Feud skit three weeks before the election featuring the major political players. There are a few good lines (Kamala’s exasperated response to why she isn’t winning in a landslide), but it feels like a waste of Rudolph, Samberg, Carvey, and Gaffigan. (Score: 4.5 out of 10)

Ariana Grande Monologue — I wasn’t expecting much, but she blew the roof off that monologue, performing a song about all the things she won’t do during the show (like sing a song or do a Miley Cyrus impression). Talent, versatility, and a great sense of humor all on display here. Bravo. (Score: 7.5 out of 10)

Bridesmaids Speech — At the wedding reception, the bridesmaids do a (weirdly off-key) version of ‘Espresso,’ in which they reveal that the bride spent the weekend hooking up with a guy named Domingo. Ariana Grande is a professional singer. Why did the song sound so pitchy? Anyway, it was OK. (Watch Here) (Score: 4.5 out of 10)

My Best Friend’s House — The first half of the song is a sweet ode to the wonderful smell of a girl’s best friend’s house, and how much she loves spending time there. It’s lovely! But stick around for the second half of that song. Trust. I love a good, dark twist. (Score: 8 out of 10)

Charades with Mom — We get our first look at one of the new cast members (but not a long enough look to warrant looking up his name), along with another of the three, Jane Wickline (who has had a “Weekend Update” segment, which is why we know her name). The show continues to use Grande to great effect here, where she plays a sweet suburban mom who turns on her son’s boyfriend hard during a game of charades. There are a lot of small penis jokes, which is why this is the Mat skit of the week. You’re welcome, Mat! (Score: 7 out of 10)

Celine Dion Sports Promo — Grande is killing it now. Some may recall that Celine Dion was featured in a bizarre promo for the NFL last week. Here’s Grande upping the game, appearing as Celine Dion doing a bloody promo for the UFC. Ariana Grande is really good at this. (Score: 8 out of 10)

Weekend Update — Che and Jost do a nice job with the political jokes and the non-political jokes alike. Ego Nwodim plays a wired-but-exhausted Amazon employee who hasn’t slept in a week, and Sarah Sherman and James Austin Johnson play the Gallagher Brothers of Oasis fame, which is not as amusing as one might have hoped (they just say “legend” a lot, watch here). (Score: 6.5 out of 10)

Castrati — Ariana Grande plays a boy in the olden times whose parents removed his testicles so that he can sing very high, which again is the perfect use of Ariana Grande. Also, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg steal two cast members’ roles, and Samberg calls Kenan by his real name at one point, which is amusing. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Maybelline — This one entails Chloe Fineman and Ariana Grande doing dueling Jennifer Coolidge impressions (both very good), and Dana Carvey bringing in a third (that is hilariously bad). This is one of those skits that shouldn’t work, but everybody is clearly having a blast, which warrants an extra point and a half. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Hotel Detective — There is a fun twist in this one, but then the twist is overplayed until the twist comes back around to being funny again. (Watch Here) (Score: 5 out of 10)

Average 6.2 — That’s a remarkably good score, although I shouldn’t be too surprised. Grande also nailed her 2016 episode and stole the show in a cameo last season. She’s wickedly good on SNL, and the show is also unusually good at exploiting her skills, which are many. Great show. The best of the early season, so far.