SNL: Dua Lipa, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

The final Saturday Night Live episode of 2020 aired six days before Christmas and was hosted by Kristen Wiig, who was accompanied by musical guest Dua Lipa. I love Christmas! Kristen Wiig has made me laugh, often! Dua Lipa’s songs have brought me so much joy! Sounds like we’re in for a good time…

I actually watched one (1) full sketch before I even started to eat my breakfast. Now onto my review…

The cold opening sketch is very, very, very often based on a notable piece of news from the past week, and that is indeed the case here, as Mike Pence Gets the Vaccine (Grade: A Plain Lollipop). Some silly impressions, Rudy pops in for a rabies joke, la la la la la, onto the opening montage.

This isn’t the first time Kristen Wiig has sung during the Monologue (Grade: 3.5/5 Favorite Things), and by golly, it won’t be the last (or so the theoretical oddsmakers I’m imagining in my head would have me believe). This time, she (along with Maya Rudolph and Ms. Kate McKinnon) belted out silly alterna-lyrics to The Sound of Music‘s “My Favorite Things,” and that’s something I kind of do as well in my own free time, so I felt a kinship to Kristen like never before.

First up post-monologue, you may have guessed it: Secret Word (Grade: They Said the Secret Word).

SNL has aired plenty of sketches about how moms’ needs often get ignored, particularly during the holidays. But in the case of the pre-filmed musical piece Christmas Morning (Grade: Sweaters Are Too Warm), I have to cry foul and ask, how can this dad and these kids be so oblivious? They’re so happy and I see no malice (whether intentional or unintentional) in their souls. Surely they know how to make the people around them happy as well. How is that energy not reaching Mom?!

The U.S.O. Performance (Grade: 3/5 Gender-Swapped Parts) is just an excuse for Bowen Yang and Kristen Wiig to goof off. And you know what? Dua Lipa was happy to join them.

The pre-filmed short A Teacher (Grade: A Somewhat Hot C-), parodying the FX on Hulu TV series of the same name, asks the question, why are we still doing this? As far as I can tell, the answer is: so that Kristen Wiig can pop in and jazz it up with some weird, unexpected detail.

The new Home Alone 2 ending (Grade: Some Pizza Pigeons) is a little bloody, but everything works out for Kevin and the Bird Lady, so what’s the problem? Is this comedy, or just a comforting bedtime story?

While Dua Lipa was singing “Don’t Start Now” (Grade: 4/5 Leopard Prints), I thought she may have changed one of her lyrics to fit the times to “Did the outbreak change me?” But then I realized that the way she says “heartbreak” just sounds like “outbreak.” Anyway, this is one of the best songs of the year, I love it, it always brings me so much joy when I hear it!

Next it’s time to talk about Weekend Update. Colin says that this is the last episode airing during the Trump presidency, and since Inauguration Day is January 20, I guess that means that the next new SNL will air on January 23?

Chris Redd rolls in to play Smokey Robinson (Grade: 3.5/5 Yarmulkes), a man who is decades older than he. This is one of those bits where mispronunciations run loose and wild, and damn if that doesn’t just always gets me laughing.

It makes sense that we would get Kenan Thompson Character Willie’s thoughts about the COVID-19 vaccine (Grade: Big Lethal Injection Miracle Drug Energy), and boy, do we ever. He’s also there with his typical folksy bon mots of wisdom, like “If you want to hit the lotto, you got to crack some eggs.”

Is there time for a third Update correspondent? You better believe that! It’s Heidi Gardner playing a character, and we’ve seen her play other hilarious characters on Update plenty of times before! This time, it’s an Instagram influencer named Landis Trotter (Grade: Heavily Sponsored), and oh boy is she a character! Or maybe that’s just her persona on the ‘gram…

And before Update concludes, it’s time for Michael and Colin to get in the holiday spirit by swapping jokes with each other, and gee golly, this is the best tradition SNL currently has going.

It didn’t take me long to figure out where the Grinch sketch (Grade: White Underpants on Green Fur) was going, but it was ultimately worth it to hear Kristen Wiig declare, “That’s not the only thing that grew 3 sizes.”

Surprise Sue (Grade: Coinstar?) was another example of a recurring Kristen Wiig sketch that went about as exactly as you would expect it to. If you had Sue screaming “Pfizer!” on your bingo card, you win!

This episode does not end with a sketch, but with a musical performance (not counting the goodnights). Dua Lipa sings her song “Levitating” (Grade: Breezy and Beautiful), which is on the same album as “Don’t Start Now” (an album I love). It looks like she’s dressed as a jellyfish, so someone must really be enjoying The Masked Singer. As she’s also in all white, she looks like a jellyfish bride in fact, so that’s something to add to the Nuptial Vision Board…

Well, that’s the last SNL review I’m writing in 2020. I enjoyed writing them all! And honestly? I hope you enjoyed reading them all as well.