Cold Opening – Sully and Denise
I’ve never been a fan of Sully and Denise, but I’ve never hated them either.  It was fun to see them several years graduated from their old stomping grounds.  Amy’s character saying that her “case of mono” is now 15 years old was the most clever moment of the sketch. B-

Jimmy Fallon’s Monologue
When Jimmy sang some of his jokes, the volume of the music seemed to throw off the laughter cues, which affected the rhythm of this routine a bit. But his interactions with everybody were fun and gratifying, which was no surprise, as monologues in which the host traipses around backstage doing a musical number almost always work. B

Today
Even considering the standards of Today Show sketches, hardly anything happened in this sketch.  It felt oddly tossed-off for a lead-off sketch.  Most of the jabs at Hoda did stick, though (the “like your boyfriend” zingers particularly stood out).  They could have joked how Hoda used to look Jewish, and then hipster, and now Iranian. B-

Michael Bublé Christmas Duets
Yet another impression showcase!  Well, why not?  SNL generally has a more than 50 percent success rate with them.  And how about letting Jimmy have 3 (three!) of the impressions?  The balance of the sketch was thrown off a bit by that, but Jimmy does seem to have widely expanded his repertoire of impressions since hosting Late Night.  What really made this sketch off-kilter was that there were two partners for Bublé who didn’t say anything (Bieber and Taylor Swift).  Fred’s Thom Yorke was the highlight. B

Jimmy Fallon and His Reflection
This concept has been overdone a bit, and it would have helped if Andy’s Jimmy impression were better.  Self-aware references to the sketches that we expected to see kept us in a positive mood. C+

1920’s Holiday Party
What an odd sketch to bring back.  Jimmy’s character was an odd addition.  Fred, Abby, and Bill’s expressions captured a perfect reaction to all this oddness.  Ending this sketch with puppet animals made as little sense as it did the first time.  Still, there is something about the way Kristin says, “Don’t make me sing,” as well as how Jimmy says, “Don’t make me dance.” B-

Half Jewish Half Italian Completely Neurotic
That is so Fred.  I was disappointed that this sketch was more about the low production values than it was about Fred’s portrayal of a multi-ethnic person.  Not that the low production values weren’t funny, it’s just that I would have liked more lines like “Hey, God, it’s little Tommy Palmese from 81st St.  If I’m half-Jewish and half-Catholic, where do I go when I die?”  Getting right in the face of the audience member played by Bill and messing around with the video provided plenty of chuckles. B

Season’s Greetings from Saturday Night Live
But of course.  Tracy looked like he really did not want to be there (was that a bit?), Kattan looked out of it (which seemed to be throwing Jimmy off), and Horatio looked like he was having the time of his life, even more so than usual. B+

Michael Bublé performs “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
Bublé is the first Christmas episode musical guest since Pavarotti and Vanessa Williams in 1998 who was actually booked to sing Christmas songs.  (Interestingly enough, that 1998 Christmas episode was the one in which the Ghost of SNL Past showed Alec Baldwin a glimpse of Jimmy Fallon hosting in 2011.)  You don’t hear this Christmas tune as often as some others, and of course Bublé sang it well.  It was fun. B

Weekend Update
-The Jokes: Is Seth getting better?  Perhaps he was sure to be doing his best, since his colleagues were stopping by.  Both Trump punchlines stuck the landing and served as his best jokes. B+
-The Segments: -Get in the Cage with Jude Law:  There are only so many ways Andy’s Nic Cage can describe who he is, what attracts him to particular films, and his harebrained schemes (impregnating the Statue of Liberty was a good one, but it wasn’t quite killing the ghost of Osama bin Laden),  and saying that he is attracted to a film because “it exists” may have been the apex (or nadir) of such descriptions.  The reveal that Cage was currently shooting a film during the segment was a well-executed new element, though. B+
-Weekend Update Joke Off: Yes, Jimmy and Tina won that round.  In fact, it seemed like Amy and Seth let them win.  Amy seemed to have bad punchlines on purpose, so that she could have goofy reactions to her bad jokes, while Seth just had bad punchlines.  The “pro boner” punchline was the first (or second, depending on how you look at it), and, I say, the best. B

Beethoven’s Orchestra
Here is the Jimmy Fallon energy put to good use with a well though-out concept.  Not every line was particularly funny, but this sketch did capture the feel of a bandleader introducing his members at the end of a show, and it allowed the funny moments to come when they would.  Triangle Sally was an effective change of pace, and Kenan’s B.B. King came from absolutely out of nowhere. B

War Horse
A low-concept, low-tech, lowest common denominator sketch, with low-concept, low-tech, lowest common denominator laughs.  It was as it presented itself, and it was pretty funny for such a throwaway sketch. B-

Michael Bublé performs “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
Bublé didn’t do too much to his rendition of “Merry Little Christmas” other than lending it his great voice. B-

Broncos Locker Room
An obvious, but well-executed joke.  Jason’s laid-back, straight-talking Jesus was just about the perfect vehicle for telling Tebow and the Broncos what’s what. B

Overall
Some classic Jimmy Fallon bits were revisited, though perhaps not as many as expected, and there were several cameos, perhaps more than expected.  Jimmy basically dominated the proceedings, except in two sketches (Tommy Palmese, Broncos locker room) in which he was inexplicably absent.  No all-time classic sketches, but an overall strong episode, in the vein of an overall mostly strong season.