Ariana Grande has been busy on the press circuit promoting upcoming movie Wicked, so it’s no surprise she made an appearance as host. After her last hosting gig in 2016, my expectations were tempered — although I did love her in 2023’s Moulin Rouge sketch when she musical guested Josh Brolin’s episode.

She’s got chemistry with Bowen Yang (but then, who doesn’t) and Chloe Fineman, but her good relationships with the cast didn’t always pan out in this week’s episode. If I had to pick a theme to describe last night, it would be: Painful build-ups to occasionally worthwhile endings.

Starting with Grande’s opening monologue and staying true through Nicks’ performances, it seemed every segment started slow and only kicked in (if it ever did) right before the cut. I do appreciate that Grande seems to be able to laugh at her own image and reputation — which is the best trick performed by every good SNL host — and she’s clearly a fantastic impressionist (remember Jennifer Lawrence?), but sketch by sketch this week fell flat. Let’s break it down.

The sketches that worked

The Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Gwen Stefani impressions in her opening monologue were all great — but wow did it take a while to get there! Grande’s nearly whispered set-up to the musical number went on a joke (or two) too long.

My favorite piece of the night was the light and fluffy Jennifer Coolidge Maybelline commercial. We’ve known for some time that Fineman has her Coolidge on lock, but it was so exciting to find out that Grande has an equally impressive version at her fingertips. The mirror trick has been used extensively by SNL for decades and it’s always fun. And personally, I’ll never turn down a surprise “Dana Carvey in a wig” moment. No notes on this one. 10/10.

The Celine Dion Sports Promo was excellent. Again, wonderful use of Grande’s talent for impressions. The content itself was silly enough, but it truly didn’t matter — the incredibly spot-on mimicry of Dion was all we needed!

The sketches that didn’t

A potentially controversial opinion, but My Best Friend’s House didn’t land for me. I loved the talking furniture, very silly and fun, but this is a prime example of the aforementioned “painful build-up.” Wow, did it take forever to hit the punchline. By the time they did, I’d moved on and wasn’t ready for a laugh.

The Bridesmaid Speech sketch. Woof. Yet another gone-on-too-long piece with a weak premise. Applause abound for the entire group’s purposefully awful singing, but it wasn’t enough to keep me locked in until the “real” joke arrived.

Although an excellent example of Grande and Yang’s chemistry, Charades With Mom didn’t work for me. I’ve seen countless reviews praising it, the laughs were big in-studio, and there were moments I liked — but this trope has been used before by SNL, and it wasn’t the strongest showing. I did like getting a sample of newcomer Emil Wakim!

Indescribable bummer that we got Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg back for a sketch and it was… this one. Yikes.

Not to be outdone for “worst sketch of the night” by the Castrati nonsense, enter “Hotel Detective.” I did love the fast-talking delivery from James Austin Johnson, but the premise was weak and (once again) it took just a little too long to reel us in (after which it was, once again, not worth the joke). Removed from criticism = Michael Longfellow’s impressive Rod Serling. Also, did anyone else catch that cue card flub? I don’t hate a peek behind the scenes, but I’m sure it wasn’t intentional here.

The musical guest

Last night, Stevie Nicks sang the SNL stage for the first time since 1983 (watch that performance here). She definitely brought her signature witchy vibe, just in time for Halloween, and generally put on a good show. It’s clear her voice has aged and deepened, but she still has the chops at 76. And in case you’re here to read more about the technical issue that caused a not-crazy-for-live-TV hiccup before Nicks’ second song, here’s the Variety article with the full story.

Final thoughts

Last week’s Bargatze heat cooled a bit with Grande’s episode, but she had a few strong moments. If there was any doubt (there wasn’t) about whether she can out-impression almost any other modern guest, they were quieted this week. If Grande were announced as a host in a future season, I wouldn’t cringe — but I wouldn’t be clearing my DVR (old reference, I know).

My rating: 2.5/5