What oceans have we crossed in the last year? In the SNL season finale’s cold open, Chris Rock returned to remind audiences of the sunken place where we found ourselves back when he hosted the fall premiere. “Here’s how messed up the world was,” he said. “I wanted Kanye West to be the musical guest, and he couldn’t do it because he was running for president. Remember that? Also, the week I was here, the sitting President who said Covid would disappear… got Covid! That was this season, okay? That was this season!” Time no longer has any meaning, other than counting down the days before your children will reunite with their grandparents.
From the cold open to the cast goodbye, everyone seemed a little drunk on joy and wonder at how far we’ve come, in terms of recovery and reentry into the world. In her opening monologue, elongated fawn Anya Taylor-Joy took a moment to acknowledge the vaccinated audience, the first full house of the entire season. (And yes, audience members were still wearing masks despite being fully vaccinated.)
The night kicked off with the emotional core of the show on center stage. Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, and Kate McKinnon pieced together memories of their fractured year living in a shuttered New York City, trying to make a fundamentally unsettled audience laugh. Bryant paid tribute to who Covid took from their home team, music supervisor Hal Willner, while Thompson acknowledged the loss of his peers’ beloved family members, like Michael Che’s grandmother. McKinnon choked on a little gasp of feeling when she explained the cast’s profound jump from colleagues to family members. As impossible as it is to imagine an SNL without this long-standing foursome intact–every finale brings with it speculation of who might next call it a night, though nobody confirmed an exit on Saturday–how fitting that they may have begun their last show alongside each other, reminiscing about what and how they’ve survived.
Taylor-Joy was a perfectly lovely host. She switched to her Spanish native tongue to conclude her monologue and got to play McKinnon’s lesbian girlfriend who moved in too soon in the Pride Month Song sketch. (Respect to McKinnon’s knee-length jean shorts.) Lil Nas X gave a memorable performance of his hit “Montero,” and deserved to be remembered for the shine of his lipstick and the work he’s clearly put in at the gym, as well for his dancers’ glistening abs and vinyl pants. But then poor Lil Nas X went to make love to a stripper pole, and the crotch of his pants surrendered. He had to finish the last minute of his performance sheepishly holding his leather together. (“NOT MY PANTS RIPPED ON LIVE ON TV,” he tweeted afterwards. And then, “OMFG NO.” And finally, as acceptance set in, “I wanted to do my pole routine so bad this is what I get lmaoo.”)
But it was the cast, who weathered the shut-down of their studio and city, then transitioned to trying to entertain us from their homes—shout-out to McKinnon’s cat—and early audiences of first responders, who made this episode such a satisfying pleasure. During Weekend Update, Pete Davidson chided the ease of Colin Jost’s persona: “You wouldn’t know anything about this because your life is perfect, but it’s Mental Health Awareness month.” He sniper-fired on an unsuspecting Chrissy Teigen and suggested anti-vaxxers just all move to Florida to practice their lifestyle. Then, with what felt like over-and-out sincerity, he thanked the room for letting him be a part of it. “It’s been an honor to grow up in front of you guys.”
You can go out with the earnestness of a college graduation speech, or sail off to your next adventure to “I Did It My Way” like our former president. Strong slid into Weekend Update as Jeanine Pirro, her character a glorious mélange of Mar-a-Lago leftovers, slurred words, and sloshed wine. Strong went in deep on Frank Sinatra, as she managed to belt her number, dunk herself in a vat of boxed wine, and douse Jost in sheets of Malbec with military precision. She is everything a woman should be, wet hair plastered against her forehead, gulping wine without missing a note. If she really is leaving the show, I’d pay to see her on Broadway or in a Moulin Rouge meets Crazy Ex-Girlfriend type of role.
Are we really getting back to normal? Do we get to sit alongside each other in shared spaces again? My favorite sketch of the night was Beck Bennett as Vin Diesel, wooing us back in monotone to the wonder of movie theaters. “Ah, we’ve been home too long. So, I’m going to get back to the carpets, the cup holders, the armrests, the napkins, when the movie’s not loud enough, when the movie’s too loud,” he said. “The hand dryer in the bathroom that’s louder than a Choo Choo train.” As soon as Taylor-Joy’s AMC employee reminded him that it was theater policy for guests to still wear a mask, Vin Diesel started pining for the liberation of his sofa.
We’re all finding our feet again, unsure if we’re still bound by anxiety to our homes or brave enough for public spaces. But we’re not where we all started this season, thank God. Here’s to a year of making it work. Here’s to the absurdity that got us through and the permission to pause when we need to catch our breath. Here’s to that one crazy man in New York City still clanging his pot at 7 p.m. for the doctors and nurses, and here’s to whoever that first responder was in one of SNL’s pandemic audiences who understood that his time was better spent reading a medical journal than waiting for a laugh from these sweet idiots.
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