Supernatural
“Tombstone”
November 16, 2017
THEN
“I just need a damn win.”
NOW
Sam and Dean are still standing in the street gawping. Cas calmly says he was dead and then he annoyed an ancient cosmic being and now he’s back. That’s good enough for Dean. He says, “Welcome home, pal,” and puts his arms around his angel. HUGGING! YAY! HUGGING!
Cas tells them he was in the Empty. Sam asks him what it was like. Cas is like, ‘Uh, empty? A great nothingness? The name kind of says it all’.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey
“Meltdown in Milan”
December 13, 2017
Continue reading “‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’: Godwin’s law”
Saturday Night Live
Sam Rockwell & Halsey
January 13, 2018
The story that will dominate the news about last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live is that Sam Rockwell accidentally said “fucking” during one sketch, Colin Jost deliberately said “shithole” during “Weekend Update,” and as a result there will be a bunch of think pieces about how this is a reflection on how our culture is being vulgarized by our vulgar President and blah blah blah blah blah.
But what we should really be talking about was just how good last night’s Saturday Night Live was and why. It’s easy to credit a talented host, and let me be clear, Sam Rockwell was a talented host and SNL needs to figure out when they can bring him back as soon as possible. Last night’s episode also seemed to almost have a theme to it: the awkwardness of social situations in a politically correct era, which in its own way helped tie the episode together.
But you know what I think really made this episode work was the brevity of the sketches: not counting the monologue and Weekend Update, there were 10 sketches last night, most of which were about three minutes long. Keeping the sketches tight and brief meant that no one sketch overstayed its welcome and that even if you didn’t care for a particular bit, a new one was just around the corner. It felt fresh and light and invigorated. And in conclusion, the takeaway from last night’s episode should be: don’t be like this intro, keep the writing short and sweet.
Continue reading “‘Saturday Night Live’: Sam Rockwell was fucking great”