While he had his moments to shine and was given key roles in many sketches, this was a night of ensemble pieces and breakout moments more from the cast than the host. The result was a tone of appearances from the ladies, perhaps not so unexpectedly, with some great roles for the guys sprinkled throughout.

The makeup department was on fire this week, too, with some stellar visuals for a deviously hilarious Wicked/Wizard of Oz parody and appearances from some classic holiday characters. It was also a big week for Jane Wickline, who finally managed to showcase her unique comedic brand this season.

As usual, Jason Hughes is here to rank all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, “Weekend Update” and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We’ll skip the musical guests, because they’re not usually funny — unless Ashlee Simpson shows up. We wrap up with a look at the cast-member who had the strongest week.

We enjoyed the potential of Josh O’Connor’s monologue here, but he was just getting to where this could have been very funny when it ended. The intro to how we may know him was simple but effective and he gave off a certain easy calm, but it was when he kept circling back to the narrative about him wanting to star in a live-action Ratatouille that the sketch started to show off what could have been a very fun obsession. He even started fancasting it, but then it just kind of stopped. The cast could have even gotten involved a bit. Instead, it was lackluster and then it was done.

This was one of the weakest opening segments we can remember in this Colin Jost–Michael Che era of Weekend Update, with almost none of the jokes landing with the audience or us. Jost, in particular, was giving some very lame punchlines for jokes about Trump’s economy speech at a casino, the Netflix-WB dead, and winter vomiting disease. Even his Kristi Noem Exorcist bit fell flat, while Che was only marginally better with his affordability as a new word bit.

Marcello Hernández has been largely absent these past few episodes, but made a return for the Weekend Update desk for a very hit-and-miss appearance as himself talking about his “big Latin Christmas” celebrations. The phone calls bit did drag on a bit too long, but we loved the visual gag of Jost taking a note at one point as Marcello just stared at him. There were some relatable family gems in his story, but it failed to hold our attention consistently throughout.

The boys came back strong with their more esoteric content with some great bits about Long Island’s OnlyFans obsession, the human swastika high school drama and a great punchilne for the trio found having sex in a Winn-Dixie parking lot. As for the picture of a horse sitting in the airplane seat — we liked it, Che!

Another underutilized cast member, Jane Wickline really nailed it with a brilliantly hilarious song about the dangers of AI — no, make that the child stars of Stranger Things. From the subversive lyrical content to her actual commentary about AI thinly veiled under irrational fear of the cast of the ending Netflix series, this one had us smiling and laughing from the moment she first revealed the unexpected pivot. It’s been too long since we’ve seen why she was brought onto this show. Jane is a unique and quirky comedic voice so we were glad to see her get another chance to showcase what she does so well.

The idea of removing the age limit and bringing in an octogenarian contestant for this dating show was a great recipe for comedy, but we were not buying Ashley Padilla as an older woman at all — which is weird as she’s been convincing before. Instead, she just seemed odd and eccentric. We did get a chuckle at Josh O’Connor briefly losing his fake American accent at her arrival, but the whole sketch hinged on Ashley’s performance. Usually reliable in any character, Ashley really wasn’t connecting for us with this one. As it went along, we found ourselves appreciating some of her obsessive tendencies, but why couldn’t she have just been an oddball contestant. Even the twist ending didn’t bring this one home as we just weren’t buying her in her 80s.

Sarah Sherman really did deliver the types of strippers Ashley Padilla’s bachelorette would want at her party as every sensitive rom-com lead combined into Josh O’Connor and Ben Marshall’s performance. The vibe, the tone, their ensembles and even their stripper “moves” were perfect in this, as was Ashley’s response to every bit of it. This was an unexpected treat, gentle and sensitive and harmless and every girl’s fantasy brought to life — with an unexpected final moment that was at the same time the only thing that could have happened next.

Bowen Yang’s bizarro doctor with those long flowing locks of hair returned with Josh O’Connor as his apprentice this time to give Andrew Dismukes his blood test results. The quick asides, non sequiturs and random nonsense were entertaining enough, with definite highlights coming from Josh’s unexpected “plain English” and Ashley Padilla’s continual interruptions to offer status updates. It was more odd than funny throughout, and yet this character always seems to work for us more often than not.

Short and sweet, this parody of the annual Spotify Wrapped analysis of our favorite music, artists and songs landed just right. Virtually everyone in the cast appeared as people reluctantly learned what their food ordering habits say about their age, favorites, and even how much they spent ordering out through the app. The reactions from everyone at these revelations were … pretty accurate, actually, and the whole thing wrapped up quicker than an actual Uber Eats order.

A familiar political Cold Open but in a new format as James Austin Johnson’s rambling Trump takes questions aboard Air Force One. He had some fun with the curtain in what looked like a few ad-lib moments and poured on the creep factor for Ashley Padilla’s Karoline Leavitt. As he rambled about studio tours, Cap’n Crunch and other nonsense, this was nevertheless one of the more subdued Trump monologues, which was largely the initial charm of Johnson’s take on the president. Interestingly, while we felt his Trump was stronger than ever in this sketch, it lacked any really sharp bites or cutting commentary — though the Santa strike was pretty funny (and would have been stronger with a bit better timing).

Lily Allen’s “West End Girl” was the throughline of this parody sketch about a friend group at brunch that called out all the warning signs of their dysfunctions that they were actively choosing to overlook. Even Kenan Thompson as the waiter got in on the action, as did Lily herself portraying herself mistaken for a waitress. Jane Wickline struggled a bit with the cue cards, but capped a strong night with this final sketch in a lead role as the friend with a ferret that much of the drama surrounded. It was a little surreal and a lot of fun.

A riff on Actors on Actors and the like, this one featured holiday characters like Scrooge, Tiny Tim and even the grandma who got run over by a reindeer in a series of very lowkey and pretentious conversations — for the most part — about their craft and artistry. The grandma bit was pretty funny at the end, with particular highlights coming from Bowen Yang as the partridge in a pear tree and Mikey Day’s Grinch (with another tip o’ the hat to the incredible makeup department for his and all of the looks). This was a segment we could have enjoyed as interstitials throughout the night as we can already imagine more holiday pairings, but what we got was perfectly parceled; not too much and not too little.

In honor of Wicked: For Good, we got a “deleted scene” from the original Wizard of Oz that revealed what Kenan Thompson’s Cowardly Lion really wanted from the wizard when they first arrived before him. Bowen Yang of Wicked fame was flawless as the wizard (even getting laughs reading Lion’s letters), while Sarah Sherman perfectly captured Judy Garland’s vocal delivery for her earnest portrayal. The makeup on all of the cast members was fantastic, but we really found ourselves giggling at Kenan’s lion embarrassed to have his real wish revealed — only for everyone to throw their support behind him. It was a hilariously simple reveal played for big laughs.

With this second installment, we are officially completely enamored with both Brad and his dad. This is one of the most authentic slice-of-life representations of teens and their parents filled with sweet touches (like how teens are just kind of gross and dads are kind of clueless) and so much heart. The love that both have for one another shines through all of their misadventures. While we love this in short form, we’d have honestly probably enjoyed a full half-hour holiday special with little vignettes like this. Easily one of SNL’s absolutely best animated segments.

Bowen Yang was sensational as a 12-year-old college student, perfectly capturing the unexpected moodiness of the age, with Ashley Padilla complementing him perfect as his overbearing(?) and loving mother. Ben Marshall was fantastic in a straight supporting role, really showcasing his ensemble work, but this was definitely a Bowen tour de force from top to bottom. It’s the kind of work that recurring characters are made of. In another era, we’d feel sure Simon would be back, but this cast doesn’t do that quite as much as previous have. Still, we loved every moment of this, including the surprise ending with Chloe Fineman’s entrance.

The entire female cast had a stellar night, and this time that also includes Jane Wickline. After spending much of the season in the background with some awkward line deliveries, Jane finally got some showcase work, including respectable sketch work in the final brunch piece, but mostly another showcase of her musical comedy at the Weekend Update desk. We were both thrilled for her and cautiously optimistic that she’s finding her place as quirky Sarah Sherman did before her.

Sarah, Veronika Slowikowska, and Chloe Fineman were all over the place as well throughout the night but it was Ashley Padilla who really managed to immerse herself in some quirky characters. She might have taken the top spot for us, but her game show contestant landed really flat for us and we just weren’t as enamored with her as we usually are.

On the guys’ side, Kenan Thompson managed a few great roles, while Mikey Day and Andrew Dismukes were their usual reliable performers. But it was Bowen Yang who brought big laughs time and again, bringing the Great and Powerful Oz to life, his strange long-haired doctor, the partridge and most of all, Simon, the 12-year-old college ingenue. Every role was milked for every laugh he could find and we are here for all of it! 

Saturday Night Live returns next week with host Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher.