Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 1

"Let us begin. Repeat after me. I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines."

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I'm Matt. Few people would know this, and indeed, a part of me hopes that nobody does, but I used to write reviews of SNL as it was airing in 2015/2016. They're all bad and have been lost deliberately to the sands of time, but they served to germinate all of my writing endeavors up to this point, and everything that I've accomplished with this blog. So it feels fair to pay back my dues a bit.

I wasn't actually intending on doing anything like this, but I've been watching the show from the start for the first time and commenting on episodes with some buddies I've made working on the "One SNL a Day 2.0" revival project, and they were so eager to hear my takes that it sort of became a whole, big thing... eventually so big that they suggested I find some way of posting them outside of our private groupchat. So I've decided that I'll compile all of my little write-ups for every season here while adding some fun, extra things! I don't think I'll write these all the way up to the show's current season—I'm not very interested in writing long-form about the seasons I saw as they aired, and I'm already writing about some of the modern seasons per the aforementioned "One SNL a Day 2.0"—but I'm looking forward to covering up to at least Season 30, at which point I'll have seen every episode of SNL ever produced.

Also note: I'm transplanting my write-ups over here with minimal changes, except for assisted clarity. They'll get longer and more comprehensive as time goes on; it's a bit of a slow start, but I think especially by the time we get to the final stretch of this season, my write-ups start to get pretty sweet. Hope you enjoy!

Final Space Review: The Devil's Den

 

"Lightfold."

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(NOTE: Major spoiler alert for this review! Do not read this unless you've seen the episode or are okay with it being ruined for you!)

Gary and his crew stand, immobilized, staring out the window of their ship. They're on the other side of the gate, back in their universe, but it's not a celebratory moment. The fabrics of the universe burst, blinding pink lights shining through the seams, as Invictus stands before them. At a loss for words, all he can say is "My God, what have I done?"

The classic story-telling adage is to always leave them wanting more, and that's certainly a concept that Final Space rides out to the max, especially with its finales. But whereas there has been some assurance in the past that things will be alright, with some persisting glimmer of positivity—the first season was renewed almost immediately, and the second, beyond having something of a happy ending, was renewed pretty quickly thereafter—the startling darkness which Season 3 ends on is compounded by the fear that this could very well be the end of the road.  

Final Space Review: The Leaving

  

"I've left a lot of places called home. Trust me, you get over it."

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One of the hardest things to pen about a review, for me, is the opening. I have to condense all of my general thoughts about the episode I just watched with tact, nuance, and a certain level of reflection of what preceded it. I have to look smart enough to make the reader think that they'll be in good hands across the paragraphs that follow. But that doesn't mean that I'm any less susceptible to the anxiety of your average Final Space fan when something happens that just rips your heart out and leaves you at a loss for words. When "The Leaving" ended, all I was simply left wondering, nervously, was how the hell will Final Space finish off this season in anywhere close to a comfortable spot?

That underestimation of the amount of risk Final Space allows itself to take with its story-telling is something that enables its more emotionally-scathing moments to cut so deeply. From where the episode ended (which I'll work up to in a moment), there's no time for healing; almost the entire crew sits on the precipice of death while simultaneously having to deal with one of the greatest dangers they will ever face. And to think that we got there with an episode that started out, most cruelly, like everything was going to be alright. (You're a tricky, mean little episode title, aren'tcha?)

Final Space Review: The Dead Speak

 

"Did anyone tape that? Because I could play that over and over and over and over and over."

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As we enter the final three episodes of the season, there's a daunting revelation about the current state of Final Space as a show. It's not just that the show's future remains uncertain, like many of its animated contemporaries; as Olan made clear, these last three episodes were the victim of budget limitations and intense rewrites culminating in a final stretch that slowly works its way towards an entirely different finale. It's a level of transparency that puts me in an interesting position as a reviewer: do I assess the show differently knowing the sort of circumstances that have heavily factored into what it became, or do I treat the show as if we don't have a pulse on the inner turmoil? Fortunately, that's a question to ponder more intently as we near the finale, and doubly fortunately, "The Dead Speak" delivers in the face of that adversity.

I had a lot of issues with last week's episode. For as much as it surged the show forward, it felt like an overall muddled effort, too tense to allow itself to breathe or most of its moments to land. "The Dead Speak" feels like a nice step back from that mania, swapping out the breakneck pacing of its predecessor for a more foreboding atmosphere. It starts from as startling of a place as Final Space can—the Lord Commander murders and decapitates Bolo in cold blood within the first minute and a half—but the show's quick to assess everything that's happening and to reel it back enough that the dread can simmer. This isn't an episode that'll keep going in and out of conflict by the skin of its teeth again.