Dua Lipa Does The Best She Can With A Lukewarm Episode Of Saturday Night Live

Recording artist Dua Lipa just released her latest album this past week, so there's no better time for the pop star to pull double duty as the host and musical guest of "Saturday Night Live." Of course, her first time taking on the honor unfortunately comes after Ryan Gosling hosted a banger of an episode, packed with viral gems like the Beavis and Butt-Head sketch. But if your expectations were firmly in check, then you probably enjoyed this lukewarm, fairly amusing but not raucously hilarious episode of "SNL."

Thankfully, Dua Lipa turned out to be a solid host alongside her musical guest duties. She was game to jump into a variety of characters, didn't severely derail any sketches with subpar performances, and she was even willing to make jokes at her own expense during the monologue. However, the sketches were not exactly of the highest quality, and though Dua Lipa did her best, the episode itself was simply average.

So instead of digging into the peaks and valleys of Dua Lipa's "SNL," we'll basically be venturing up some small hills with slight inclines. But at least there weren't any downright terrible sketches! Let's get to it!

OBGYN – If this sketch had been a little more funny upfront, then it might have been the best of the night. But the back half was enough to bring some laughs, and it's largely thanks to some gross-out humor and the always reliable Kenan Thompson. In this sketch, a doctor's office has hired a former barbecue pitmaster known as Fat Daddy as a doctor, and he hasn't quite shed some of his barbecue tendencies. Fat Daddy has barbecue stains on his white doctor's coat and slathers on the ultrasound goo like barbecue sauce, but his most upsetting moment comes later, when he starts licking his fingers after inspecting Ego Nwodim's progress downstairs, if you catch my drift. Thompson's commentary and continual licking of his fingers was so funny that Punkie Johnson couldn't keep a straight face, and even the typically stone-faced Nwodim can be caught grinning a few times. Solid sketch!

Penne Alla Vodka – Here's a classic "SNL" commercial parody that takes something mundane about everyday life and turns it into an amusing gag. Whether you're at a graduation party, funeral, baby shower, retirement or whatever, an aluminum tin of penne alla vodka will be there. The ongoing description about this staple potluck dish is perfect, mentioning that it's never very hot but also not quite cold, as well as the little deli container of parmesan cheese sitting next to it. Maybe next time we can get a commercial about the lemonade that never seems to be sweet or cold enough. 

The Anomalous Man – Here's where the common cracks of this episode of "SNL" start to show, though Sarah Sherman's presence keeps it from being a whiff. In this riff on "The Elephant Man," Sherman plays a deformed playwright who is sought out by a beautiful young woman after seeing one of his plays. She loves him for who he is, and they carry out a whirlwind romance that seems to give the writer the romance he's always wanted but never achieved. It's a long lead into the eventual punchline, which finds the titular character texting a bunch of other women for hookups. It's a total left turn from the style and setting of the sketch, which helps makes it funny, and though there are laughs to be had, it felt like the lead-up could have been shorter and the ending could have been stronger. But I think it still worked for the most part. 

As for the rest of the episode, almost all of the sketches felt perfectly fine without being totally memorable, and there wasn't really a downright terrible sketch among them. But almost all of the sketches felt like they had something slightly off about them. The riff on "Challengers" felt like one of the writers had a sketch about those creepy Sonny Angel dolls and injected the hype around Zendaya's tennis love triangle movie into it, but it might have worked better with a little more time in the oven. Young Spicy brought back a recurring bit that was only mildly amusing this time. Good Morning Greenville felt desperate to address the rap feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, though it was funny seeing Heidi Gardner briefly flub her intentionally bad beatboxing. Teeny Tiny Statement Pin felt like it's been sitting on a shelf for a little while. And finally, Community Affairs was a novel approach to addressing the Israel/Palestine conflict and the ongoing university protests, but it didn't feel strong enough for the cold open. 

Speaking of those Weekend Update desk guests, Seinfeld stopped by for what could have been a sharper bit. Not introduced by name, Seinfeld appears as a man who did too much press. Of course, this is tied to his promotion of the very silly "Unfrosted," the parody-esque "true" story of how Kellogg's created the Pop-Tart, complete with an all-star cast of comedy stars. The bit at the desk is supposed to be about how Seinfeld maybe did too much press, and it could have easily dived into the usual cycle of what's talked about during these publicity tours and made a mockery of it. But inevitably, it's really just a not-so-clever way of promoting "Unfrosted" for Netflix, and it comes off as being so lazy and thirsty. Please, let this be the last time we have to hear from Seinfeld for awhile.