(S32E20) I'm not a crazed Zach Braff fan, but I'm familiar enough with his work on Scrubs and Garden State. As the weird fantasy sequences in Scrubs have shown, Braff and the bizarre totally work. So, I was disappointed that he didn't play any outrageous characters in this episode. He was always playing some version of himself. Even in the "Prom Committee" sketch, when he had the chance to portray some completely out-there character, he played the Garden State kid with the Natalie Portman headphones. Oh, well. At least he didn't blatantly stare at the cue cards all night.

Also, there was so much Maya Rudolph love in this episode, it sort of felt like she was hosting. I wonder if this is a sign that she's planning on leaving after this season? This then leads me to wonder if Darrell Hammond, who only appeared two or three times in this episode, is ever going to leave.

Cold Open (Message from the President): Oh, come on! It's the season finale. Couldn't they have started this with a bang? I didn't evil smile at any point in this sketch. And I really wish they had found someone better to do the Bush impressions. I love Jason Sudeikis and all, but he's just not doing the Bush-thing with enough personality.

Monologue: Zach Braff sent another love letter to his homestate of New Jersey. You know when the best part of a sketch is Andy Samberg dressed as a sandwich, the night's getting off to a slow start.



"SNL Digital Short": Ohh, god. This was... no. Hot Samberg on dog action.

"Prom Committee": I enjoyed this sketch, mainly because of the (half-reluctantly) abstinent couple and Will Forte's sweet hair. Whoo, they almost went into Garden State overload, though. Two sketches about it within twenty minutes? The fact that I had already chosen a Garden State image for this post doesn't seem to help. Oh, and Sean Connery! When was the last time we saw this fellow? Seems strange to suddenly pull this character out. Hmm... Could this season be Darrell Hammond's final hurrah?

"Deep House Dish": I usually find the songs mildly amusing in this sketch, but I don't think they even tried this week. They did, however, manage to work in a brown-eye joke. Good lord.

"Saturday TV Funhouse": This was okay. Although Hillary's face was pretty great, the McCain/Giuliani fight was the best.



"Take a Load Off, Annie": I choose to believe the usage of this song was a shout-out to me and a reference to how I won't have to do any more SNL reviews for several months. I also choose to believe that the final faceful of sequins and pasty skin was done to purposely blind everyone watching in Hi-Def. They did a similar sketch during the Rainn Wilson episode, for which I said it seemed like a piece that would normally be left towards the end of the night. Same comment stands.

"Weekend Update": It was smart of them to keep the Aunt Linda act short because -- Holy crap, there's going to be a Rush Hour 3?! Ahem. I mean, uh, "Weekend Update" was above average this week. I found myself laughing out loud for once. Rudolph's Whitney Houston appearance was funnier than usual; probably because everyone was cracking up onscreen.



"La Rivista Della Televisione con Vinny Vedeci": The premise for this sketch should be really funny, but, for some reason, it always falls short of delivering. I think maybe it runs on a bit long?

"Bronx Beat": I still don't find this sketch as amusing as everyone else does. Also, as the night began to draw to a close, I anticipated Braff to come out and play someone (or something) crazy, but then he wandered out as a mild-mannered intern and I pretty much gave up hope.

"Melissa": Whoa... All right, if you took the looks of Betty from Ugly Betty and the voice of Kelly from The Office and threw them into a Creepy Machine, you would get Fred Armisen as Melissa. I think if they did a little more work with the Melissa character, she could have been extremely funny.



Maroon 5: Wow, everyone in Maroon 5, apart from lead singer Adam Levine, has ridiculously long hair. Like, almost Bee-Gees' long.

Braff didn't do a crappy job because the writers didn't give him anything we knew he couldn't do. It's a shame that I can't give a finale, what is normally the crowning glory of any program's season, a 7 out of 7, but that's what SNL gets for drawing most of the night's laughs from man-on-dog and man-on-man kissing. I give this episode a 5 out of 7.