Miss Scarlet

Natalie wasn't kidding when she said her and Missy were going to prepare for tribal by going through Public Speaking 101. I don't remember any other tribal speeches sounding as rehearsed as this ones from this final three.

Does this mean that if Francesca(qua) had a twin, her twin would win Survivor?

Cold Open - I liked this. It had some good lines, like when they're talking about how the psychologists got paid this ridiculous sum of money and they go, "well, actually it was 80 million for BOTH of us" or divided in half or something. The delivery there was pretty funny. The list of the other things designed by these psychologists did go on a little long for me though. Monologue - The first part seemed a bit incohesive with the whole "everyone in Britain knows each other" part, but I loved Kate's Maggie Smith. People are writing about what a great impressionist Taran is and he can be, but I thought his Alan RIckman was awful. Sump'n Claus - Kind of a funny premise, but not a very catchy song. Wedding - Not a very original idea (they did something sort of like this in the Seth Rogen episode), but this was really funny. Nice to see Leslie play a more understated character and, as usual, Kate stole the show. Loved the way she said "dooooown". It had the older woman cadence completely on-point. The Office: Middle Earth - I've never seen the LOTR or The Hobbit movies, but I love the Office so much and am a sucker for any parodies of it. This was great. I loved the callback to the office supplies in jello and I died when Bobby moved the ring up and down his finger and went "oohh, sexual". That was so Michael Scott/David Brent that I died. Right Side of the Bed - Didn't care for this one. Again, Kate stole the show coming in as Keith Urban. So, so funny. Could see this one becoming a recurring sketch. Christmas Mass - This one was great. I loved everything about it and the realness of it. The atheist teen, the soft laugh, the overly enthusiastic reader. All totally on-point. SNL has been really good lately at capturing and finding the humour in the realness of these situations, similar to the ideas behind the Thanksgiving one from a few years ago "Your Hometown", "Twin Bed" and that student drama sketch from the Cameron Diaz episode. WU - I pretty much only comment on the guests now. So I think Sasheer's delivery was off because she was nervous and so that led to her being a bit stiff/low-energy. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just feel like given the right opportunities she could be very funny. I thought that with Brooks, Noel and John too. It makes me sad to see people that are fired before given a chance, but maybe they were given a lot of chances and had a lot of writers willing to work with them, but just couldn't make it fit. I just think they all had the potential to be just as funny as some other cast members they've had. I thought it was funny that Cecily played the One Dimensional character, considering that it seems like she is forced to play one-dimensional ditzes in tight/revealing dresses on SNL all the time. Does no one who works there realize this? I thought it was a funny premise, but nothing new. It was too similar to even the Daisy Rose/Vanessa romantic comedy character from a few weeks back. I don't think Cecily's monotone delivery worked. Che mimicked Seth for the entire Jacob segment. I kind of groaned when Jacob came out, but at least they changed it up a little bit with the lawyer joke and the high fives. I thought his crying about Derek Jeter was kind of funny. Heinz - The ending would have worked better for me if I had gotten so bored during the first part of this sketch. Roman - So this was What Up With That on crack? Where instead of silencing Lindsay Buckingham, we want to saxophone player to talk, but he refuses to? This didn't work for me. Waterbed - This felt very thrown together, but it had some funny parts. I like the part about how Aidy's character won a local talent competition and basically now thinks she could run the world. The props were pretty hilarious too. This was a welcome break from some of the more over-used 10-to-1 sketches, like the Porn Stars or Good Neighbor.

I think it's interesting that he kept mentioning in his exit interviews that Jaclyn and him being the swing votes were because of strategy on their parts, not luck, but then explained that they became the swing votes because the other people on the two opposing sides couldn't get along or work together, whereas he and Jaclyn could. I get that he's saying they made attempts to be cordial to everyone, but really the whole thing comes down to other people not being able to work together. Sounds like mostly luck/circumstantial to me.

I thought it was weird that last week Jaclyn mentioned that Jon usually gets super excited for things that don't work out, then super disappointed, but this week mentioned that he's big on visualizing the win and things usually work out for him. Wha?

Wow. So there really is a lid for every pot. Ultimately though Jon went along with the plan both times, to switch to Jeremy's alliance and then to vote him out. He would admit that this was a blindside and based on his greeting to Jeremy at Ponderosa, would probably also admit that this was a betrayal. I never saw any indication that their alliance was so new or fragile that they didn't even really consider themselves aligned.

I thought Jon's Ponderosa video made him and Missy look bad. For him to say that he played an honest, loyal game (I forget the exact words he used) is just ridiculous considering their move to blindside Jeremy. I have no problem with them doing it, of course, but don't pull a Coach honour/integrity thing afterwards. I felt the same way when watching the clip of him and Missy talking about how their game is run on faith. Too many Coach and South Pacific flashbacks.

Cold Open - I am still amused by Kenan's Al Sharpton and his mispronunciation of words. Kenan does it very naturally, to the point that at first I always think he's legitimately mispronouncing them (either that or I'm just getting used to all the cue card reading issues this cast is having). I don't really have high hopes for Cold Opens anymore, so my comments are really just surface-level for these at this point. Monologue - I don't care for Seth Rogen, but I thought this monologue was decent. Better than the clearly thrown together in 5 minutes one from the Cameron Diaz episode. I liked that it didn't drag on forever. Not sure why SNL doesn't just get a separate team of writer specifically just to handle the monologues? Peter Pan Live - If I never saw Tonkerbell again I would be fine with that. She was more tolerable in this sketch than the last time because at least the sole focus wasn't on her in this sketch and she didn't have quite as many lines. I did like her pretending the wipe the meat juice (or whatever it was) off of her. On the other hand the focus in this sketch was all over this place. I get that it was "we're making fun of Peter Pan Live", but there was no cohesion to it. Stars Wars - I think they just assumed that viewers love anything Star Wars related and the costumes/special effects would be distracting enough that viewers wouldn't pay attention to the content. Again, not much content there. I thought it was funny when the audience aww'd at Luke Skywalker using a cane. Usually I don't like the idea that anytime a man dressing up as a woman it's hilarious, but I did think Bobby as Princess Leia was kind of funny. MTV's Jingle Ballerz - I loved Kate's Bieber and Jay's Kanye. I know the "let's have everyone do impressions sketches" can seem thrown together, but I generally like them. Grow a Guy - So this was more interesting than funny. I liked it though. I thought it tried a little too hard with it unraveling because the James Franco friend didn't know what hastags were. Beck was so good in this. Just the quintessential douchey guy who tries to act like he's not douchey, he's just "real". Trolls - This was awful. I guess it's good that they're giving Cecily a chance to play something other than a ditz, but this really does fall into the one other character type that she does - tough-talking woman. The voice especially was similar to the Deidre character she played in the Oliver Twist sketch in the Andrew Garfield episode and the weird sister she played in the wedding sketch in the Seth Rogen episode. WU - The beginning part was so awkward and cringeworthy. I do feel kind of bad for the WU team though, just because people say they need more interactive parts between Colin and Michael and edgier material. Then they try it and this is what happens. I've given up on WU and made it fun for myself by playing the game "Will Michael Che be able to read the cue cards tonight?". So far he's never gotten through a WU without stumbling over a joke. I did like Colin's joke about the new breathalyzer being "a nose". I don't find Leslie Jones unfunny, but again, it sort of bothers me that all of her work on SNL thus far is really just the "sassy, loud black lady stereotype". She even did that in the Stars parody earlier in the episode. I think it's a bit incohesive the way they bring her on as a "relationship expert", loosely tie that to taking shrooms and then goes on to a whole routine that really has nothing to do with relationships. Kind of like that time Pete Davidson did his stand-up bit about hip-hop and it had nothing to do with the segue way they used to introduce him. I know Nicki Minaj is not an impressionist, but it seemed like she didn't even make an attempt to sound like Kim Kardashian at all. With all her appearances in this episode it seemed like they are preparing her to host sometime soon. Password - I loved this. I thought it was a great concept, funny and I loved all the 90s references. The Savage Garden part was amazing. I re-watched that 2 times. The Rhombus part was great too. Not sure how much I would like this if I hadn't been born in the 90's and didn't understand all the references, though. They're definitely trying to give sketches proper endings now and this was a really good one. Kid Mayor - I loved this, but between this and the Password sketch it did feel like a lot of James Franco yelling. Porn Stars - Meh. I'm tired of them. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good episode. I thought the writing was stronger than usual (not that that's saying much). I noticed for 2 weeks in a row that Aidy and Cecily seemed to sort of stick together during the goodnights. I wonder if it's awkward for Cecily because she was dating Mike O'Brien last year and probably spent most of her time with him, so maybe now she doesn't know the rest of the cast as well or isn't as friendly with them, whereas she knew Aidy from Chicago before they came to SNL.

I totally missed the "perfect" couple comment in the first episode. I went back and watched that part and it's pretty off-putting. I think it takes a lot of arrogance to even assume people are going to be perceiving you that way in the first place. It's also a way to say that and project that image to the audience, but with a kind of faux-modesty, like "Other people say that about us, we would never say it about ourselves", but using it in a totally self-indulgent way.

I think Jon and Jaclyn are two of the most boring contestants to ever be on the show. Both individually and as a couple they are completely boring to me. They would have been complete non-entities (especially Jaclyn) had that swap not happened, which set off them being in the swing position for the rest of the game up until this point. They are not compelling enough people/players to have practically a whole episode devoted to them. Their fight reeked of immaturity. On the one hand I think the issues they were fighting about were issues that a lot of couples have, where one partner feels like the other one doesn't listen to them or value their input and then the other feels they've heard it all before and are tired of listening. However, to then go and alternately give each other the silent treatment for 5 hours in a game like this when a million dollars is on the line is just foolish. Even the way they handled the silent treatments were dumb. Jaclyn could have said to Jon "I'm very upset right now and need some time to cool down" instead of just flipping out back at him. I think she also shouldn't have made such a big deal of that particular moment of him "snapping" at her, but explained more clearly about how this fight had been building up for a while because he doesn't listen to her input. Jon did the right thing in apologizing to her for snapping, but his attitude of "I didn't want to talk about the game, I just wanted to hang out with my girlfriend" just shows that he's not a very good player. The Jon/Missy thing is kind of weird too and Jon seems kind of childish to need attention and decision-making help from a mom or mom-figure all the time. Given that they were worried about people thinking they were the "perfect" couple or other posters suggesting that they probably always get their way in life, I thought it was interesting that Jaclyn mention that a lot of Jon's plans actually don't work out in real life and that he gets very upset about this. So they don't always get their way. Love Natalie's snarky confessionals and criticisms of Jon. It's pretty funny.

When Keith answered the first question at the first reward challenge with "Jax" I seriously thought he imagined a player whose actual name was "Jack". So I was disappointed when it just turned out that it was Jaclyn's nickname. Jon about the idol "it's so beautiful". Which he also said when Jeff unveiled the immunity idol and to Jaclyn after Tribal after the swap. So I guess the one good thing I can say about him is that he appreciates his surroundings? Baylor was so easily played by Alec. It was somewhat sad, somewhat hilarious to watch. Especially because Alec did such a bad job and was so transparent. Baylor may be a brat, but I get the feeling that she's not mean/hateful, which is something. Basically, she's not like the players on the Raro tribe from Cook Islands, which has pretty much been how I evaluate how awful the players are.

I feel horrible for laughing at this, but lol Ugly Chandler! He reminds me of a less attractive version of Malcolm with short hair. Also, did Natalie sneak tweezers onto the island? I'm mesmerized by her perfect eyebrows whenever she's on-screen.

So I think we all suspected that Alec is a horrible flirt, but now we have confirmation. The flirting between him and Jaclyn was pretty nauseating, in the we have nothing in common/no interest in each other/but we know the other is considered attractive so we should do some forced-faux flirting kind of way. I think Jaclyn liked the attention and how it kind of reinforced the message to Jon that she is desirable/can get attention from lots of guys and so he should be appreciative of her. I think Jon was okay with it because it's flattering to him in a frat boy sort of way because, again, it means that his girlfriend is desirable. I wonder what the reactions would have been from the players/viewers if it had been a guy blatantly flirting with another woman in front of his girlfriend. I have to say that although I think Jaclyn and Alec were flirting with each other, I hate how any conversation between a man and a woman where they're enjoying themselves or laughing is always seen as "omg, they're flirting!" even when that's not the case.

Missy's coddling of Baylor is pretty bad. Hopefully one of the things they get out of this experience is learning that she spoils Baylor and people perceive Baylor to be a brat. It'll probably end up having the opposite effect though and Missy will spoil her even more. This is something pretty much every contestant has commented on in their exit interviews and so I think she's brattier than the edit has even been letting on. I thought that exchange with Reed was pretty telling and shows how Baylor became so entitled. Missy is incredibly defensive of Baylor and has probably never criticized Baylor in her whole life. I'm only a few years older than Baylor and if something like that had happened to me with my mom there my mom would have said nothing, let me handle it and then reprimanded me privately for yes, being a brat. Then she would remind me of that incident whenever she felt I was being bratty again. I liked that Reed mentioned that Baylor is not a kid, but is a 20-something. The way Baylor turned to her mom, expecting her mom to defend her (which Missy did) was like what "Kieth" said a few episodes back about how whenever someone asks Baylor to do work around camp, Baylor gets her mom to do it instead or when Baylor found out people were voting for her and she asked Missy to go convince them otherwise. Yeesh. I don't understand how either one of them can think this dynamic is at all healthy, but I guess it's mutually beneficial for them since Missy gets to be close to her daughter and Baylor doesn't have to do anything and gets whatever she wants. What's amazing is that they both have zero awareness of how they're thought of by the other players, even though the players have told them multiple times! I can't believe Missy was commenting in this episode about how Baylor "found" an idol (no, it was Natalie) and is really playing the game. Lady, your daughter is not playing, is disliked and cannot win!

The whole framing of Jon discussing Jaclyn's illness and the show acting like he is so commendable/magnanimous for staying with her even though she's infertile was really gross. Jaclyn seemed kind of cold to/uninterested in the kids at the reward.

Baylor's Homie G moment was supposed to be funny, but just reminded me that she's still in that insecure young adulthood phase of life where she's constantly trying to prove she's "cool" (kind of like when she kept telling Alec "I'm down" when he asked her to throw out his garbage). It makes sense too based on the exit interviews from the Coyopa tribe members where they talked about how she wanted to align with the guys because she wanted their attention all the time.

Did not need to see shots of the contestants' feet turning purple during the challenge. It's amazing how Wes/Keith (more so Keith) managed to torpedo both Josh and Reed. I don't think we've seen anyone unintentionally screw over their own alliance this badly since Corinne ruined Malcolm's game in Caramoan. I still think that it was poor gameplay on the part of Josh's alliance not to come and talk to Jaclyn, but I read Wes's interview where he says he talked to Jon because Jon talked to him and never made the effort with Jaclyn because she never spoke to him. Knowing that Wes didn't really realize how to play the game, it actually does make sense to make that this is what he would do because in life why would you talk to someone who never bothered to speak to you? It does make Jaclyn sound entitled.

I feel like a broken record because I said the same thing last week, but I never liked Jon/Jaclyn. They have this constant need to show everyone that they are, in fact, the hottest couple around. It's self-indulgent and nauseating. I feel sorry for the other contestants that have the live on the island with them and constantly be around their PDA. I'm sure Jaclyn is entitled in general, but having said, I don't think her point about the Josh alliance not coming to talk to her is completely unreasonable. It depends what she meant by it though. If she meant that they should carry her around on a throne and kiss her feet, then that's unreasonable. If she meant that she wanted to be included in their strategy discussions and asked for her opinion, that's fine. It was stupid of that alliance to treat her poorly and she is right, to a certain extent, that when they're trying to gain favour with her, they should be the ones initiating conversation with her and not the other way around. The way she acted to incredibly offended and indignant about it does suggest that it bothered her more on a personal level, which I understand if it was because she was upset by their misogyny. It kind of amazes me to see that Jaclyn's even in such a good position. She was such a non-entity before the swap. She got incredibly lucky with the swap and with the merge. I saw on reddit that some people were saying that Jon/Jaclyn always have people wanting their votes and sucking up to them because they're both so attractive. I don't think that has anything to do with it. I think that happens because they end up as the swing votes and I think they end up as the swing votes because (until this week) they're so bland and personality-less that they hadn't made anyone angry, but they also hadn't formed very close bonds with anyone else. Whereas there are very clear divisions between the other two alliances and they are both comprised of people that cannot get along with and will not work with players in the other alliance. I think it was too soon for them and Missy/Baylor to turn on Jeremy. There would have been enough time to get him out after they got down to the final 6. I also don't think that this was necessarily a smart move for Missy, but she is playing the game hard. She is putting together alliance, getting information, making critical decisions and making moves. It's unfortunate that here will be no recognition of that because she's a female who's over 40. I'm saying all of this and I don't even like her, but just think her gameplay deserves to be recognized. There's no one to really root for. I don't care for any of these people. I think the only reason that I'm sort of liking Natalie and that other people are rooting for her is really because we haven't heard her speak for several episodes.

Cold Open - This was okay, but it was nice that they tried something different. Thought Bobby was especially good in this. He seems like such a nice guy too, pointing at Kyle to acknowledge that it was Kyle's first time getting to yell "Live from New York, it's Saturday night". Bobby also does that during the goodbyes to acknowledge new cast members. Monologue - They must have spent 10 minutes on this. There was no content there. It's good that it was short though because otherwise it really would have been a waste of time. Black Annie - My favourite part of this sketch was "Black Annie". I love the song Black Betty. Lol why was Cecily doing the chicken dance during Black Annie? Does orphan dancing = chicken dance? Back Home Baller - They must have put this so early in the show because they thought it was going to be a huge hit. The outfits were hilarious. Loved the callback to Jean and yes, I've totally been there with the awkward neighbour questions that you don't want to answer at all and are just thinking "leave me alone". Also the part when Cecily's grandma tell her that she looks taller and measures her. The song wasn't that catchy though. They've been trying to recreate the magic of Twin Bed, but I don't think the attempts have really come close. Nest-Spresso - I also thought Mike O'Brien must have written this and that it was in the same vein as that Bird Bible pre-tape from last year. I didn't really care for it because it was just the same "joke" over and over again. It kind of dragged by the end. Whispers of America - I thought this was hilarious. It was so true to the pretentious stuff that high school students (and older) really do come up with, that they use to be self-aggrandizing with (like look at me, I'm so smart/progressive/interesting/artsy), when there's really no substance there. I loved when Aidy (with her artsy/goth look) said a line and then there was a chorus of "you're beautiful, you're beautiful" because of course this represents rejecting societal standards of beauty and conformity and these students think that putting that in their play really is social activism. I thought it was great when Vanessa didn't want to admit which one was her daughter and Kenan's focus on the boxes. It's weird that I liked this so much, but tend not to like the Good Neighbor pieces. I guess it's because this is the type of satire is what Good Neighbor tries to do, but I find it more enjoyable because it's more innovative and doesn't feel like something anyone could come up with. WU - I can't comment on Michael Che's part because he disgusts me and so I don't listen to him anymore. There were a lot of jokes that had weak punchlines and had pretty obvious ones that would have been funnier. I don't think the writing team for Update is very strong right now. Loved Merkel and her crush on Obama. I still giggle every time I remember her appearance where she called Putin the "bad boy" who takes you in his car and goes for "boob touches". She did loosen Colin up a bit, but that would have been so much funnier with someone else. The Manson stuff was okay. I also liked the part where he stopped Colin from letting his fiancee know the real reason he was in jail. This is the 3rd or 4th show where either Colin or Michael got all of the guests. I wonder why they've decided to start doing it this way. Baby Boss - I didn't like this sketch the first 2 times they did it, but I liked it this time. The change of setting helped and it seemed like it didn't drag on as much. Or maybe it was because the most hilarious parts of the sketch weren't dependent on what were basically food fights. I like Sasheer's line where she said "Yeah, I have a lot of questions about your relationship". Beck Bennett must borrow a friend's baby for the weekend before he has to do this sketch because his mannerisms are on-point. He's probably just like "I'll do some free babysitting for you!" Dr. Dave and Buggles' Animal Hour - This was probably the worst sketch of the night for me. It just wasn't funny and dragged on too long. Cameron Diaz was pretty brave to have a lemur crawling around on her head. I probably would have been freaking out. Good Neighbor - Not feeling it. I feel like a broken record, but if you're going to aim for "ironic" humour or pieces that are funny because they're "not funny", they can't seem like something a 12 year old would come up with. They can have the production values of something a 12 year old would record, but the humour should be better than that. I get what Beck brings to the show (although he's not going to have a lot of air-time until after Taran leaves), but I'm not feeling it with Kyle. He uses the same Chris Kirkpatrick delivery in every sketch. It's crazy to think that he has remained on the show, but Brooks, Noel and John Milhiser all got fired. I really think that the 3 of them had potential and they would have been able to show it if they had been given more time or had writers with more of a willingness to work with them. Miss Meadows - The part about Friends was funny. Like Baby Boss, I didn't like the previous editions of this sketch, but I thought this one was pretty good. Thought Cameron really sold the UPS guy poem. Night Murmurs - The recent 10-to-1 sketches have resembled the Porn Stars sketches too closely, but I liked the way this one differentiated itself with the women wanting favours from callers. The part where Kate's character talking about losing bets because she can't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi was really funny and I liked the vendetta that Cecily's character had against her grandmother. It seems like every episode they find at least one sketch to stick Cecily in something that is either practically lingerie or an extremely tight/revealing dress. I get that people think she's pretty, but people also think that Tina, Nasim, Kristen, Sasheer, Vanessa, etc. are attractive and it doesn't seem like that show goes out of its way to exploit their attractiveness. I think it's sad that SNL is using this as a tactic to gain viewers or keep them interested right now. Overall, I thought it was a good show. I don't care for Cameron Diaz one way or another, but she seemed game for everything they gave her (although maybe that was because they didn't give her that much to do). It's interesting that the 2 most consistent shows this year (this one and Woody Harrelson) were shows where the hosts sort of faded into the background and the sketches were more of a group effort. Oh and I was pleasantly surprised that there was no Girlfriends Talk Show! Please let this mean that they have retired that sketch. I don't get Cecily leaving WU so that she could play more characters. She's had less sketch time this season than when she anchored WU and doesn't make that WU character appearances anyway. It's still early in the season, but she's only done Girl at the Party and now Manson's girlfriend. Before she anchored WU the only characters she did were the Girl at the Party and that one-time Get Out the Vote character. So I'm still not sure how much I buy that as the reason for her leaving WU. Then again, maybe she'll end up doing tons of WU characters the rest of the season. Not looking forward to the next show. James Franco can be good on SNL, but I'm extremely off-put by him on a personal level. Plus, does SNL really want a host that has tried to seduce several underage girls?

I didn't like the premise of this challenge at all. It seemed they just wanted crying contestants that they could show in previews and use as a ratings grab. I would never want to discuss this on TV. It's too personal and private. Samantha definitely felt the same way. Plus, I had the same thought that as the recappers did about what this would be like for contestants who were asexual or who have never been in a relationship. The challenge is especially insensitive for designers in those situations. Kate seemed to think that the judges were going to be completely enamored and ooooo and awwww with her story about how she met her fiance in pre-school. I loved when Isaac asked her how the colour of that fabric reminded her of Florida and she responded with "it reminds me of the smell of the air in Florida" and he was like "......okay". Her comment about Dmitry's dress was hilarious. Although rather being into bondage, I get the impression that his love life has been pretty non-existent for a while. Michelle talks with the most affected, Valley-girl accent. It also doesn't help that the content of what she's saying is usually awful. I'm a horrible person, because when she mentioned that she was divorced and getting married again, I thought "how did she get one person to marry her, let alone two?" I have liked some of Justin's work, but he's too emotional in general for me. I really liked Jay's dress and thought it should have been in the top, although maybe it was a bit too simple for that. The colours of Samantha's dress were awful. Helen's was nothing special and that silhouette was nothing new, but I knew they weren't going to give Sonjia the win twice in a row. I liked the contrast of red and blue for Sonjia's dress, but that was about all I liked of it. Plus, the dress she won with last week was also a lace dress.

I'm surprised about the White House Correspondents Dinner. Don't they usually go with someone who has more stand-up experience or is a bigger name? Also, the articles I've read said that they chose Cecily for her "sly" political humour. Other than WU, she hasn't really done any political humour. They specifically mention her father's connections to the Associated Press bureau, so I guess that had something to do with the decision as well. Who picks the White House Correspondent Dinner host? In terms of WU, I'm surprised that so many people are in favour of Cecily returning. I remember last year people thought she was passable or okay, at best. Now it seems that people are like "she was so great!" I guess it's just in comparison to Jost and Che. That I can understand.

I'm predicting a Girlfriends Talk Show sketch, although I hope they don't do one.

You're right, I should have said that she talked about when being "given" a gift, rather than "expecting" one. Other than that, the sentiment of what she said and how I interpreted it still applies and I do think it was pretty telling. I think it shows a lack of belief in reciprocity. In this game that's totally fine and understandable (in terms of gameplay, not in terms of camp life, especially since you want people to vote for you in the end). In life, it's not great to take and never give back.

Yes!!!! ITA about Michael. I can't think about anything else when I watch on WU. I should just fast-forward his parts. Even without that issue I don't think he's doing a good job as anchor. People were very excited when we found he was going to do WU because of his work on the Daily Show, but I'm not seeing his hilarity. At all. I think Kate and Beck could work, assuming that Kate plays it high energy and Beck plays is mid-lower level energy. There needs to be someone in the pairing that has some energy. Right now we have two guys with low energy because one is stiff and one is supposed to be laid-back (I guess?) and it doesn't work. I've thought Vanessa might be good too. I could see her taking it in the direction of trying to parody an actual news anchor more closely. I wonder what her and Taran would be like (although again, they would never let Taran be anchor).

Oh, I know the women can't say anything about it on social media or really confront him about it. It's hard enough to do something about issues like this when you work at a job that isn't at all high-profile the way SNL is. I'd just love to be a fly on the wall of their conversations with each other and listen to what they say about it in private. There's probably been some good (and hilarious) commiserating between them.