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SNL 52 Review: Brunson, New Faces Score During Fun, Uneven Opener
SNL 52 REVIEW: Jalen Brunson and new SNL featured players Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter shine during a fun, uneven Season 52 premiere.
Article Summary
- SNL Season 52 opens fun but uneven, with host Jalen Brunson winning points through charm, game energy, and commitment.
- New SNL featured players Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter make sharp first impressions, especially in Dream Academy.
- The premiere lands strong with a clever cold open, a smart monologue, and standout sketches like North High and Weekend Update.
- SNL still has some pacing issues, and Airport Massage Chairs flops, but the opener delivers more hits than misses overall.
The good news about NBC's Saturday Night Live and the long-running live sketch comedy and music series' Season 52 opener? First-time host New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson and new SNL featured players Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter have a whole lot to be happy about this morning. Brunson's "first-time host" nerves were more than offset by his charm, personality, and willingness to give himself over to the process. The NBA Finals MVP looked like he was having a good time, and that helped smooth over the occasional cue card screw-up or surprise break – with bonus points to his sketch co-stars and writers for playing into his strengths. Meanwhile, we were treated to just enough of Belo-Osagie and Reiter during the opener for me to safely say that they're going to have a lot to offer moving forward, with "Dream Academy" and "Old Friend" making our case for us. As for the rest of the season premiere, it was a fun, solid kick-off that was a bit uneven but had more pluses than minuses.
Kicking off with a cold open that surprised me in a good way by having Ashley Padilla go all "Obsession" meets "Fatal Attraction" with her take on Donald Trump's assistant, Natalie Harp, Brunson's monologue offered him the safety net of involving other members of the NBA Championship team. Thankfully, instead of going the potentially cringy joke route, Brunson and his teammates were able to have some fun roasting one another – an excellent call. From there, the sketches ranged from good to inspired, though each could've benefitted from some editing here and there. That said, the "Airport Massage Chairs" sketch couldn't have been more of a miss than if it were actively trying to be bad. It was the rare sketch that I stared at blankly the entire time, interrupted only by extreme moments of me needing it to end.
Also, I believe that "Weekend Update" anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che have a problem that needs to be addressed. Their jokes hit harder than the audience reacts, and my theory is that we have too many friends and special guests getting the good seats closest to "Weekend Update," when there need to be more of the folks who waited in the standby line. Those are the people whose reactions I want to hear. Because what we're getting now is this weird wave of uncomfortableness whenever Jost and Che hit hard with a headline. With that in mind, here are the three sketches that grabbed the spotlight:
"North High": High School Musical gets a serious reality check when transfer student Brunson joins the North High Cougars basketball team – and Jeremy Culhane's perfect little musical world goes straight to hell. Culhane has the uncanny ability to offer us characters who need basketballs bounced off the backs of their heads, and he does so beautifully here. Also, bonus points to Brunson for how he conveyed going from wanting to fit in to running the place, and to Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska for big-time support.
"Dream Academy": With a fun turn from musical guest KATSEYE as judges, "Dream Academy" was yet another example of how SNL has pretty much perfected the art of filmed sketches that hit hard with the humor and the quality of music. There was a lot in this that reminded me of the 2013 SNL sketch-music video "(Do It on My) Twin Bed," with Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, Vanessa Bayer, and Noël Wells – and that's definitely a good thing. As we mentioned earlier, Belo-Osagie and Reiter get serious bonus points for wasting little time convincing us that they're going to be perfect for the cast.
"Weekend Update: Tucker Carlson Reviews the Summer's Blockbuster Films": From PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie and The Odyssey, to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Obsession, Toy Story 5, and more, Culhane's Tucker Carlson has a whole lot to say about the summer movie season – and Tom Holland and Zendaya. It speaks volumes about Culhane as a comedian and comedic actor that his take on the twisted talking head isn't starting to feel "been there, done that" – in fact, he continues to mind new ways to present him, much like James Austin Johnson's been able to do with his Trump impression. Also, bonus points to Culhane for that Carlson laugh and the way he was dropping it in the middle of his exchanges with Jost.
Saturday Night Live Season 52: Jalen Brunson & KATSEYE
7/10
The good news about NBC's Saturday Night Live and the long-running live sketch comedy and music series' Season 52 opener? First-time host New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson and new SNL featured players Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter have a whole lot to be happy about this morning. As for the rest of the season premiere, it was a fun, solid kick-off that was a bit uneven but had more pluses than minuses.
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