SNL Review: Christina Applegate #2

Did you catch last night's episode of SNL?  It was pretty good.  Christina Applegate hosted for the second time with musical guest Passion Pit (they sang "Take a Walk" and "Carried Away").  Best in show four ways into the new season.  That isn't saying much, but considering we've gone from (IMO) sucky to decent in one gradual arch suggests that the series is starting to warm up for the holidays.  I'm not going to hold my breath, though.  I had certain expectations from Christina Applegate.  She's a Hollywood veteran, whose done reasonably well in both TV and film.  The industry loves her and is willing to allow her to headline multiple shows until one sticks.  She hasn't reclaimed her former glory from her breakout role as the ditzy (but shrewd) peroxide-blonde Kelly Bundy on Married ... With Children.  She and her original TV parents have done quite well for themselves since.  Ed O'Neill has come close to matching his success with the beloved Modern Family, and Katey Sagal isn't doing too bad with Sons of Anarchy.  Applegate got two seasons out of her follow-up sit-com Jesse, as well as the well-regarded recent Samantha Who?  She's currently in her second season of Up All Night costarring SNL alum Maya Rudolph and the dastardly Will Arnett.  We'll have to see if third time is the charm for a third season.  Applegate showed real comic prowess as one of Rachel's sisters in a reoccurring role Friends.  She is also a comic secret weapon of sorts in such films as Hall Pass and, of course, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.  The woman is talented at comedy, so I was looking forward to her blowing Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Craig out of the water.  And she did.

The Cold Open lampooned the VP debate between Joseph Biden (Jason Sudeikis) and Paul Ryan (Taran Killam).  Killam took on Ryan for the first time (?) and was solid, as Sudeikis has me in stitches.  I loved Applegate's Opening Monologue which turned into a song about how wonderful this time of year is, right before the holidays descend upon us one after the other.  Weekend Update was much improved.  Nasim Pedrad nailed Arianna Huffington yet again, but I just can't get into the performer.  I actually liked Jean K. Jean.  And Seth Meyer was great.  A commercial satired a Gillette Masters of Style commercial featuring Adrien Brody and Denzel Washington by throwing in Jerry Sandusky into a mix of celebrities on the go.  It was so wrong, but, I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh.  Another function made fun of Taken, with a bunch of superhero icons fighting bad guys to retrieve their daughters, including Applegate, dressed as The Bride from Kill Bill (her best line: "You'll recognize me.  I'm dressed like a taxi.")

Applegate hosted Tech Talk, which dealt with a bunch of nerdy, privileged Americans complaining about quirks of the new iPhone 5.  Events take a surprising turn when the host reveals a trio of Chinese factory workers to answer the complaints.  Three SNL actors do "Asian-face," but considering the humor is on their side the whole time, the table-turning was pretty smart.  Applegate plays a mousy librarian in Halloween Bash.  I wasn't that into partly because Jay Pharoah's Principal Frye was a retread of a character I can't quite place my finger on.  I've seen it before, variations on it like MadTV, and things closer to home which will come to me eventually.  One of Applegate's biggest gets was playing a Fosse-trained dance instructor.  While I was apprehensive at her vocality being SO similar to Kristen Wiig's Mindy Elise Grayson, but, ultimately, she owned her choreographer with her own twist.  There was also a cute bit with Odysseus coming across the sirens, who start singing pop song from the last twenty years.  The biggest surprise for me, however, was, for the first time ever, I actually liked the revisited skit The Californians.  The closeups, voices, premise, THE DIRECTIONS, etc, I dug it all.  Applegate's valley girl who is involved in wedding drama got the best line, "It was just lunch, don't go bananas."  Fred Armisen also had a good line: "Get on the Ventura until you can't take it anymore."  Not sure why it took so long to appeal to me, but the latest skit slayed me.  It was the best of good night.