American’s favorite not-so-sweetheart Miley Cyrus returns to SNL! How did she fare? How strong was the premiere? How does the season outlook… uh, look? These answers may or may be found in the return of SNL Viewers Club!

I would take a nice paragraph to talk about all the changes for this season, but there aren’t many. The entire cast is back, plus new-guy-who-looks-like-a-thug-Colin-Jost Jon Rudnitsky. Beck Bennett’s slimmed down (good for him!), and Keenan Thompson is still there. That about sums it up. But hey, Miley Cyrus was there to host and sing — she does both very well — with the freakin’ Flaming Lips to back her up!

[This episode’s score has been updated to reflect the new scoring system.]

Air Date: 10/3/15

Host & Musical Guest: Miley Cyrus

Donald and Melania Trump Cold Open

Apparently Taran Killam has a decent Donald Trump impression. Who knew? And pretty much everything Cecily Strong does is magic. Not many original observations in this sketch, but hey, it’s fun to laugh at that cartoon character who might one day be our president.

Monologue

I’m convinced Miley and Lady Gaga have some costume bet going, but that’s beside the point. The point — one I’ve harped on before — is that musical monologues are rarely good. But there’s good news (this time)! Miley is a wonderful singer, and the juxtaposition of summer celebrities makes for good sight gags. Aidy Bryant + Kim Davis = gold.

Abilify for Candidates

SNL satire at its best. Sure, they were taking down some easy targets with this one, but Republican jokes have pretty long lifespan.

50’s Dance

One thing is more rote than musical monologues: song-and-dance sketches… was all I thought I was going to write here. Thankfully, the sketch takes a hard left with Miley’s verse. Keenan Thompson’s Nasty Jack was pretty funny too.

Hilary Clinton Bar Talk

Whoa, it’s Hilary Clinton! This sketch was equal parts Hilary getting her political stances out there, and roasting her to her face. The whole thing is reminiscent of Tina Fey and Sarah Palin — and that’s a compliment.

Weekend Update

The post-summer Weekend Update isn’t an enviable gig; it can be tough sifting through everything that happened during the break. That said, the jokes were decent, despite some obvious rust from the time off. Kyle Mooney’s Pope was funny enough, and I’d like to see him make another appearance. We got great standup bits from both Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones — the only downside is that I could only choose one to embed on this page.

Millenials

Putting aside my admittedly huge bias (born in 93, working my ass off writing stuff like this every day), this sketch was entertaining. The 20-somethings portrayed here totally deserve the skewering they get. That said, it could have done more than just pick low-hanging fruit for laughs.

Katz’ Deli

I wouldn’t expect a When Harry Met Sally-centric sketch in 2015, but hey, I appreciate deep-ish cut. Leslie Jones’ take on “that” scene was hilarious, and the additional lines from Kate McKinnon and Vanessa Bayer topped it off with less boisterous jokes.

The Squad

A Taylor Swift-based apocalypse movie? I’ll take it. Shame the punch lines didn’t land.

American Voices

The studio audience was noticeably uncomfortable with this one, but props to SNL for airing it. I’ve mentioned before how you can tell which sketches began as a Leslie Jones’ bit, and this falls into that category. Side note: this is one of the most visually impressive sketches I’ve seen in a while.

Miley’s Wedding Tape

It’s the sequel to one of Good Neighbor’s best bits from two seasons ago, and it cranked everything up to 11. This is the definition of a 10-to-1 sketch, the closer that gets to be as weird as it wants. Well done, boys.

grade: A-

A solid premiere, but that’s to be expected — you want SNL to come out swinging. Here’s hoping the trend continues with Amy Schumer next week!

Tony is an Editor here at Laser Time, but he’s far from the only SNL fan. Hit him up on Twitter to talk comedy!