"Saturday Night Live" is in something of a transitional period, one of many in its 30-odd-year history. Last season saw the show's two biggest stars, Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg depart, with Jason Sudeikis likely to follow at the end of the current season (and Bill Hader and Fred Armisen surely not far behind). At the same time, there's been a hugely promising new intake; Taran Killam is coming into his own, and this season's newcomers Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant have proven to be goddamn rock stars straight out of the gate.
But so far, the writing too often has let the cast down, and for every decent host like a Jennifer Lawrence or a Seth MacFarlane, there's been dead wood like Daniel Craig or Jeremy Renner. Fortunately, last night's show saw a happy medium of good material and an excellent host, with Christoph Waltz an inspired choice, and it led to one of the best shows that we can remember. And the definite highlight was the Quentin Tarantino parody at the center, "Djesus Uncrossed."
An idea so good you're stunned no one else has done it before, the impressively-production-valued sketch sees Waltz as a resurrected Christ out for blood, and lashings of it. Any excuse to bring out Killam's Brad Pitt impression is always worthwhile, but Kenan Thompson's Ving Rhames is pretty outstanding too (though Jay Pharoah's Samuel L. Jackson was surprisingly poor). Anyway, it's a lot of fun, even if we're sure that the moral majority are already penning their letters of outrage as we speak…