General Overview:
“Growing up, I used to watch SNL every Saturday with my mom (hi mom!), so this is a big moment for me. I actually started acting when I was seven, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with some Hollywood icons, like Steve Martin, Martin Short and, of course, Barney. That was the first show I was on, and now I’m on a show called ‘Only Murders in the Building.’ I was so honored to work with Steve Martin and Martin Short, especially after I Googled them to find out who they were.”
—Selena Gomez, 5/14/22

Regression to mean is quite the force to be reckoned with. Of course we couldn’t have two of the best episodes of the entire season back-to-back; I knew that from my lackluster understanding of statistics. But yet I still held out hope that the show would defy all odds and give me a good episode. They did not.

Apart from one sketch, everything was either mediocre, bad or too boring for me to pay enough attention to tell if it was bad or mediocre.

Highlights:
Some of the sketches, like “Irish Play,” managed to be stupid enough to be funny, but even those felt unsubstantial. I guess Gomez’ monologue was good? (Wow, this really is the inverse of last episode…)

Lowlights:
*Cracks knuckles*

In “A Peek at Pico,” one of two jokes in the entire sketch was the main characters responding to everything by saying “That’s sad.” Since the show taught me that this is actually very funny and not annoying (which is what I’d previously thought it was), I will adapt it to judge some of the other sketches.

For starters, “A Peek at Pico:”—That’s sad.
How about “Bratz Dolls?”—That’s sad.
And the cold open?—That’s sad.
Really? Well “Guidance Counselors” was ok, right?—That’s sad.
What about Baby Yoda’s appearance on “Weekend Update?”—That’s always sad.

Wow, having one repeated joke is way easier than working towards good writing. I should try it more often. Thanks for the advice, SNL!

Best Sketch:
“Old Enough! Long-term Boyfriends!” Ok, this one was unironically excellent. Parodying a Netflix show about toddlers trying to buy groceries by making them adult men was such a good idea. This is the spiritual successor to “Man Park” from earlier in the season, and I loved it from start to finish.

Best Joke:
“Folks, the scene in [Colin Jost’s dressing room] is abysmal. On this mirror, Colin has put up all of his humiliating daily affirmations: ‘You are funny;’ ‘You are handsome;’ ‘You are the real king of Staten Island.’”—Sarah Sherman

Overall Score: 4/10
We have one more episode to go and then season 47 will be over. I hope they can pull off the last episode and not look back to this one for inspiration.