42x02 Lin-Manuel Miranda with Twenty One Pilots

8.1/10. So can Lin-Manuel Miranda host every week? If there was a consistent theme for this episode, it’s that things were firing on all cylinders when he was the focus and much more hit and miss when he was in more of a supporting role.

That started with the monologue, which allowed Miranda to do his trademark musical stylings in a number about his excitement at hosting the show. His musical flow and lyricism continue to be impressive and invigorating. But even when he wasn’t signing, Lin-Manuel did a great job. The sketch with him as another “hip” substitute teacher in a class of students who are genre-savvy and tired of having teachers try to connect with them through hip hop and clichés was fun and inspired. And my favorite sketch of the night was “Diego Call Home,” a pretaped bit that was less about the big laugh, and more about softer, sincere character humor, communicating funny little observations about the immigrant experience and the human experience, with solid cinematography and production to boot.

When things got away from Lin-Manuel, the results were a little shakier. The political cold open about the latest Trump news and Hillary reaction had its moments, but we’ve reached the point in the election cycle where the character impressions become even more caricatured, and as horrible as the Trump stuff is just so easy to make fun of that it’s hard to give the show too much credit for the gags it comes up with. At the same time, the sketch about singing hikers was in a long line “being annoying is funny” bits that have been on SNL since time immemorial and I’ve never really been able to connect with. At the same time, the closing sketch where Pete Davidson plays a WWII soldier with odd dying requests is a decent enough premise, but things like wanting his buddies to hide his buttplugs or bad boogie-woogie songs made it feel lazy and underwritten.

But apart from Miranda, the place where the episode really shined was in the pre-taped segments. In addition to the aforementioned “Diego Call Home” sketch, the “Crucible Cast Party” music video was inspired. It captured so many fun and embarrassingly true details of theater kid parties, with a catchy beat and well-observed gags. “Melania Thoughts” is officially my new favorite recurring bit, and the “not for my sake, for hers” kicker was amazing. The “day off” sketch about Trump’s campaign manager having to deal with the latest Trump scandal every hour on what was supposed to be her personal day was enjoyable as it doubled down on its premise to ridiculous extremes, and the editing was particularly sharp to boot.

Weekend Update was great when it was Michael Che and Colin Jost riffing on the news of the day, with Trump’s misadventures working better for the pair’s wry commentary than for sketches (and there was even some pleasantly edgy material from the pair). It was less great with the correspondent segments. I generally like Pete Davidson’s desk-based stand up routines, but his bit about propecia didn’t really click. And my god, giving two alums an interminable amount of time for Tina Fey to do her usual easy jabs and Jimmy Fallon to crack up and barely maintain character through the segment was a total misfire. But I’m sure it’ll pop on social media, so what can you do?

That just leaves the Music Man/Wells Fargo sketch, which was a decent enough idea for a sketch (the blend of the old timey joy from classic musicals and a scandal of the day), but it was pretty on the nose despite the fun of the setting and production. And the Stranger Things sketch which I skipped for fear of spoilers! (I’ve been burned by SNL on that front before.)

Overall, it was a very good episode, especially when it gave the host a chance to shine or polished the show’s rougher edges in some slick, and even surprisingly heartfelt pretaped sketches.