Josh O’Connor was relegated mostly to straight-man roles, but sometimes a host being charming, hot, and British is enough to make a satisfying episode, okay?
Photo: Will Heath/NBC
First-time host Josh O’Connor knows you know him from the Challengers and the homoerotic films he’s starred in, and that you’d want to see him kiss on TV. And honestly? I’m just glad he was able to host Saturday Night Live, given how booked he is. The Brit has had a busy year, with the new Knives Out movie, in addition to three (The Mastermind, The History of Sound, and Rebuilding) other movies that came out this year.
Let me start by saying I was excited for this episode! I expected that he’d do well. O’Connor is charming, and also, British actors do feel like they’re on a different level. I think that’s true, or maybe it’s just the accents making me take them more seriously. Either way, even if he ended up being nervous and/or underused, it’s helpful when an actor is hot. (And with insights like that, I’d make an amazing casting director.)
By the time the episode was in full swing, my expectations felt roughly on base. The writers played with his physical appearance and reputation as a “soft boy” in “Bachelorette Party Strippers,” along with the monologue: “For those of you that know my face, but maybe can’t quite place me, no, I am not the mouse from Flushed Away.” O’Connor joked about a time he mentioned loving Ratatouille in an interview, and how that spun into a rumor that he wanted to be in a live-action version of it. Not that he wants that, he said, but if it did happen, he’d be perfect as Linguini. I anticipated some sort of Challengers tie-in in the monologue (or even later during the show), and given how abruptly it ended, I wonder if there was more that was cut. No one at 30 Rock had churros to spare?
But for the most part, O’Connor was utilized as a straight man, which he played well, even if it meant he was underused. That’s not to say he didn’t get to stretch out of his standard role. He also played a reindeer in an Actors on Actors parody and the Tin Man in a sketch about the Wizard of Oz’s deleted scenes. In “College Class,” a sketch about finals week, he played a college student who gets unexpectedly heated at his mom, matching Bowen Yang’s frenzied emotional register. Would it have been nice to have O’Connor play goofier, more heightened characters this episode, à la Jon Hamm? Maybe, and he could’ve done it well.
But he was still enjoyable to watch, especially in supporting roles alongside Ashley Padilla and Yang, who were both standouts this episode. Padilla’s been rightfully getting buzz this season, and this week, she got noticeably more screentime. Her characters are so finely detailed that she can play two old ladies in an episode and make them feel distinct. Yang, coming right off of Wicked For Good, has been coming into his own as an anchor on the show. The beginning of the season started with the question of how the show would reshuffle and stabilize in the wake of departing cast members; now that we’re midseason, Yang feels like a crucial part of filling the gap.
Here are the highlights:
This is one of my favorite Ashley Padilla characters. A nebbish dating show contestant (Josh O’Connor) considers three eligible women, one of whom made it onto the show after the age limit was raised to “as old as we can find.” Padilla’s 84-year-old contestant rams around on a motorized scooter with a crazed look in her eyes—it feels like this woman escaped her nursing home (and not for the first time). So many funny jokes are made even more punchy by Padilla’s uncanny impressions and frenetic delivery. Lines I’ll be repeating to myself: “I got a joke. My sister’s a bitch,” “Getting my cheese right,” and, at top volume, “Why should I go?” to the idea of going to a wedding without cake. Which, separately, is a good point. No cake at a wedding? Why should I go?
Bowen Yang’s Law Roach-esque Doctor Please is back, and this time with a teaching intern (O’Connor). His unfortunate patient, played by Andrew Dismukes, wants to know what’s in his bloodwork. Too bad the intern isn’t sure of much — and the blood splattered on his scrubs isn’t reassuring — but who cares? He and the doctor might be related, but they’re in love. Josh O’Connor SNL Kiss Count starts now. The asides by Padilla’s nurse coming in to notify the doctor of people coming in for appointments were also delightful, like:
Ashley: “Doctor, your five o’clock—”
Bowen: “—is dead?”
Ashey: “No. Is ugly.”
Bowen: “Then kill him.”
I’m sure you’ve already seen the screenshots of O’Connor and Ben Marshall making out. This sketch is not solely on the list just because it brought the Josh O’Connor SNL Kiss Count to two, but it certainly didn’t hurt. Marshall and O’Connor play softboy strippers hired by a bridesmaid (Sarah Sherman) for her friend’s (Ashley Padilla) bachelorette party. Beanie-clad and found on a “Sally Rooney message board,” they strip out of their cardigans, revealing … another cardigan underneath. The escalation is really fun, with a lap dance and a “will-they-won’t they” that causes Padilla’s feral bride to shatter her wine glass. When the bride’s fiancé (Mikey Day) bursts in, our softboys beat the shit out of him and throw his floppy body out the door; the shock of the physical violence, of course, is papered over and sealed with a kiss.
Heatherrrrr! A group of college students studies for finals, including a twelve-year-old prodigy named Simon (Yang). He’s just like the rest of them, except that his mom (Padilla) keeps interrupting, making him feel uncool in front of his friends. Yang’s character does such a specific, desperate drawl when shrieking “HEATHER!” at his mom, it becomes a catchphrase of sorts. When a friend in the study group (Marshall) disses Simon’s mom out of turn, Simon goes from bitch tween to impassioned defender, which is both sweet and funny. I laughed out loud at, “She could be a reporter! That’s how hot she is!” O’Connor plays a seemingly level-headed student who also, ultimately, ends up screaming at his mom.
As a very simple woman, I do like it when SNL ends the night on a song. And as an even simpler woman, when there’s a live animal involved? That’s the shit I like. Here, a group of friends at brunch individually lament their grievances by singing their inner monologues, like Lily Allen (with Veronika Slowikowska’s impression especially spot-on). O’Connor made his way into the sketch midway through, and by the end, Allen made a pretty charming cameo. The other highlights to me were ferret-based, especially the joke about Jane Wickline’s ferret getting an IUD, and the surprise ferret that made its way to the end of the sketch.
• Speaking of Lily Allen: I didn’t realize that Dakota Johnson was playing “Madeline” until the very end, when she grabs Allen’s shoulders. It was so sultry and fun!
• Some good lines from James Austin Johnson’s Trump in the cold open, like “Yes, we’re doing pirate now. Argh!” and “It’s a medical lasagna, mamma mia! We should all be very worried about my health.”
• The audience laughed so heartily at the SantaCon Weekend Update joke, which was that day … they all must have trauma-bonded trying to get to 30 Rock without stepping in tinsel and vomit.
• I was happy to see another installment of “Brad and His Dad.” It’s so sweet and earnest while also leaning into the surprising absurdity that animation allows, like getting crushed by an evergreen.
• Felt like Marcello Hernández took a back seat this episode, but I did like him appearing on Weekend Update as himself. I almost forgot he’s a standup first, which feels like a testament to how much he’s grown on the show.
• Sarah Sherman pronouncing “courage” as “cooo-raaahj” during the Wizard of Oz sketch really got me.
