The star of The White Lotus, Righteous Gemstones, and Fallout, Walton Goggins took the stage for his debut, and he certainly did everything that was asked of him. However, based on what we witnessed, aside from one sketch where he struggled to maintain his character, the fundamental issues lay not with Walton, but rather with the poorly executed sketches and lackluster writing that surrounded him during the performance.

Even the cameo appearances by Sam Rockwell and Cecily Strong, while offering delightful moments, could not rescue the overall show from its shortcomings. Throughout the evening, there were certainly plenty of big laughs and humorous scenes, yet many of the sketches were plagued by poor or frustrating endings or simply a failure to delve deeper into the material for bigger comedic impact.

We witnessed some heartfelt sincerity for Mother’s Day, although of course Donald Trump managed to intrude on that moment as well. James Austin Johnson unexpectedly crashed the monologue, but the real highlight was the return of Strong’s drunken Judge Jeanine Pirro, who stole the show with her surprise appearance alongside Trump and Colin Jost, who was playing Pete Hegseth.

Next week, the season finale will feature Jost’s wife, Scarlett Johansson, taking the hosting reins. Known for delivering reliable laughs in her previous appearances, this gig has led some to speculate that it might also signal Jost’s departure from the show. Could his wife be the one to pull him away from this long-standing gig?

The “Weekend Update” anchor has now achieved the fourth-longest tenure of any cast member, with co-host Michael Che tied for fifth place just behind him. Season 50 marks the conclusion of an era, regardless of how you view it. However, could it also signify the end of the longest-running “Update” team in history?

Among the other cast members who are deep into their runs and may be ready to move on, aside from Kenan Thompson, include Mikey Day with nine seasons, Heidi Gardner with eight, and Ego Nwodim with seven, marking the conclusion of their initial SNL contracts. Will any of them be able to transition to brighter opportunities beyond this iconic show?

What about Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman (both with six seasons), and even Andrew Dismukes (with five)? Or the biggest question of all… will he or won’t he? Will Lorne Michaels retire on-camera, or will he make a discreet exit after a season? Or will he ever truly retire from this legendary institution?

Then we have this season’s new featured players, Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline. Each has had brief moments to shine, with Jane getting a chance tonight, but Ashley has truly stood out as an ensemble performer, followed closely by Emil. Can all three of them endure the pressures of this iconic show? We might get some insights after next week’s performance.

As always, we’ll be ranking all the sketches from worst to best, 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, as they are not typically humorous — unless Ashlee Simpson makes an appearance. We conclude with a look at the cast member who delivered the strongest performance this week.

This sketch could have ventured into chaotic territory — we half expected the dogs to storm the stage — yet it retained a certain charm. The premise had the potential for many laughs, and while we found a few moments amusing with prop dog arms, the sketch could have benefited from the dogs engaging in more authentic canine behaviors instead of merely acting like theater patrons unimpressed by the performance. Walton Goggins and Heidi Gardner did well as the inadequate leads with an unexpected twist, but overall, the sketch failed to deliver the vibrant joy we hoped for.

Walton Goggins stumbled through some of his lines a bit too much, but the overall premise was a hit as he portrayed a waiter whose flirting with two mothers went beyond the comfort zone of their sons. Both Heidi Gardner and Sarah Sherman exaggerated their roles as the mothers reveling in the sexual innuendos, while Andrew Dismukes and Mikey Day excelled in their portrayals of their uncomfortable sons. If Walton could have avoided laughing and losing his composure during confrontations, the comedic beats would have landed more effectively. Nonetheless, it was still an entertaining piece.

“Guns.” For Walton Goggins’ inaugural sketch on Saturday Night Live, he was instructed to maintain it cool and minimize his dialogue. However, he made a significant impact portraying “Matt,” a member of the first United States Congress that proposed the first ten amendments to the Constitution. While they could have explored many directions with this early focus on the right to bear arms, we appreciated the simplicity of Matt’s perspective, which was to simply maintain his cool demeanor and ensure this right was enshrined in the Constitution. The sketch also wisely understood when to conclude, not overstaying its welcome.

What was taken from us by Trump in the Cold Open was returned tenfold when Walton Goggins shifted from decrying headlines about him being an unexpected sex symbol — considering his unconventional looks — to celebrating his mother. Just the key change in his vocal delivery as he began discussing his challenging upbringing, raised by his mother, aunts, and grandmother. The icing on the cake was when he invoked the phrase “kick it up a notch,” reminiscent of the old honky-tonk days, allowing him and his mother to two-step and clog at home base together. It was such a sweet and genuine moment, pure to the two of them, evoking the warm feelings we cherish during a Mother’s Day episode. Hats off to Walton Goggins’ mother (Janet Long)!

While we anticipated a reprise of the ghoulish dining experience from earlier this season, we instead found ourselves enjoying this ill-prepared death-restaurant sketch featuring its inept staff, lackluster backstory, and most importantly, the performances of Bowen Yang and Ego Nwodim, who delivered their lines in tandem at times with no good responses. Ashley Padilla continues to impress with her ability to deliver a straight role while adding subtle touches of humanity. The sketch may not have gone anywhere substantial, yet it charmed us with its offbeat approach.

Colin Jost and Michael Che took aim at Trump from various angles in this first segment, discussing his AI depictions as a Sith Lord and the Pope, as well as reopening Alcatraz and the tension between Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance. Jost also laughed off concerns that the new Pope could be “woke,” quipping that being a woke Catholic just means you are no longer a Catholic. Che received some groans for his carefully worded jab about Catholics and “juvenile” humor, similar to the AI Pope image, but it felt like they were holding back on pushing the envelope as much as usual. Alternatively, the audience seemed a bit more subdued than normal.

Marcello Hernández’s recurring Film Guy character has been delivering diminishing returns with each subsequent appearance, and this latest one may have been the least funny of them all. From mispronouncing names to a random Garfield joke and his failure to have seen any of the summer movies he was supposed to discuss, Film Guy simply lacked anything humorous to contribute. Among recurring characters, this one may currently be the least effective.

After missing out on the big laughs and shocked groans during the first round, the boys certainly made up for it here with jokes about Lisa’s not-Rosa-Parks photo on her crotch, along with a later comment on the increasing usage of the r-word. Che garnered huge reactions, first praising Parks for being “in the front” and then eliciting more laughs from Film Guy’s catchphrase than the character had received throughout the entire skit. Additionally, when he pointed out that Elon Musk and Kanye West using the r-word has led to its increased usage, he explained, “Yeah, but they can say it because — they’re rich.” Later, Che received another strong response when he outlined how Smokey Robinson intends to address allegations of sexual assault by former housekeepers as they wrapped up their segments.

Mikey Day stepped onto the scene to discuss tariffs as “the man who just walked into a spider web,” showcasing the kind of physical comedy that SNL was once celebrated for during its early days but has largely strayed away from. Mikey fully committed to his role, convinced that there was a spider on him, and the way he pronounced “skin” really made our skin crawl. We’ve all been there, Mikey, although we might not have reacted quite as dramatically. Wow, did he nail this delivery, embodying a beautiful blend of insanity and chaos.

For anyone considering a visit to New York, you’ll definitely want to heed the advice of a woman who only knows what she’s read on Facebook. Misinformation was rampant as Heidi Gardner shared some ludicrous tales that had her afraid to leave her hotel or lose sight of her bag, humorously proclaiming, “You don’t want sunglasses to replace your memories with porn, do you?!”

It’s always a delight when you’re not quite sure where a sketch is heading, and that’s precisely what we encountered with this unique Jane Wickline feature. The new cast member took center stage as a woman who discovers a tiny baby shoe at the zoo and begins searching for its owner, eager to be that child’s mother — even if the child already has one. However, when she finally learns who owns the shoe, things take a dramatic turn, leading to false expectations, a surprise cameo by Sam Rockwell, and a full-blown moral lesson at the end of this charming (and rather bizarre) musical number. We wish Jane had received more spotlight moments like this early on, as she possesses a distinctive comedic style that has gone largely unnoticed this season.

We’re not quite sure what to make of the wild twist at the end, but we were completely on board with everything leading up to that point as Andrew Dismukes experienced an innocent discovery in his boss’s bathroom after making partner and let his imagination run wild. Sarah Sherman and Walton Goggins were hilarious as they explored his increasingly absurd imaginings. If it could have landed a coherent punchline at the end, this sketch could have become a classic.

SNL set the stage for a sweet Mother’s Day opening with Marcello Hernández, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang taking center stage alongside their mothers, even launching into a special song for them. Unfortunately, this is the era of Trump 2.0, and he takes over every conversation, every moment, every holiday. Consequently, James Austin Johnson’s Trump made an entrance, ushering everyone else off stage. He adopted a more animated and almost giddy delivery for many of his lines, presenting a carefree take on the usual bumbling buffoon rhetoric, but the highlight came a bit later.

As soon as the real Trump introduced Fox News’ Judge Jeanine Pirro as his interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., we knew they would at least try to bring Cecily Strong back. However, they did even better. Not only did Strong return with her wine bottle in tow, but Colin Jost also entered a sketch for the second consecutive time, this time portraying Pete Hegseth, seemingly just so Cecily’s Pirro could once again spit wine in his face as she used to on “Weekend Update.” This moment was just as absurd and delightful as fans would expect.

Heidi Gardner undoubtedly emerged as our most prolific cast member in a week that offered limited leading opportunities for anyone. Yet, she consistently manages to make the most out of the moments she does get, seamlessly juxtaposing a 100-year-old woman, a theatrical diva, and an exceptionally paranoid character during the “Update” desk.

The night was nearly hers, but we must also credit the breakout moment of the evening, which came from one of the show’s most reliable performers. Additionally, Mikey Day has proven he can deliver laughs with a variety of different personalities, as demonstrated in the Second Amendment sketch and his portrayal of a son annoyed with the waiter aggressively flirting with his mother.

However, there’s simply no denying the sheer abandon with which he threw himself into his character as a man who just walked into a spider web, nor the enthusiasm with which he navigated the set. It wasn’t merely the physicality; his line deliveries were masterfully executed, embodying that discomfort in a way that was both uncomfortable for us and hilariously entertaining!

Saturday Night Live returns next week for its Season 50 finale, featuring host Scarlett Johansson and musical guest Bad Bunny.