Last night saw the return of Kristen Wiig to Saturday Night Live and the episode was full of the usual manic energy that Wiig brings on stage. It should come as no surprise that Wiig brought some of her classic characters back with her -- one of whom probably couldn't take the surprise. Aunt Sue, the woman who just can't handle surprises, made her return last night for the Thanksgiving episode, and she almost couldn't bear it.
In the above clip, a family is getting ready for Thanksgiving in what would ordinarily be a pretty happy moment: a soldier returning home to surprise his mom at Thanksgiving. Everyone is happy to help, but Aunt Sue might be a little too happy. She can barely contain herself at the idea of a surprise. The bit is full of some classic Kristen Wiig energy, bringing a sort of manic desperation to the woman who just wants to be involved.
The highlight of the sketch for me were when Kristen Wiig got up to work out her stiff legs and had to waddle around. As usual, Leslie Jones was on the verge of breaking character, and the rest of the cast was also having a tough time keeping a straight face. The other highlight was when Sue was given a pillow to control her urge to give away the surprise to Vanessa Bayer's arriving matriarch. Cut back to Sue and she's eaten the entire pillow. Wiig sort of botched the joke when the pillow piece fell out of her mouth, but that's live TV for you.
As many SNL sketches do, it ended with Kristen Wiig throwing herself out of a window, rather than risking spoiling the surprise. All in all, it was a solid sketch that was heightened by Kristen Wiig's over the top performance. Like a lot of Wiig characters, Surprise Lady has sort of run her course (there's only so many different ways to do this), but few other actors would be able to do the character like Wiig.
Aunt Sue was only one of two characters that were resurrected last night (I was expecting more to be honest). The other was Wiig's eccentric Broadway actress from the Secret Word game show, where she just never manages to learn the rules of the game. It was another solid sketch, though it was fairly predictable if you've seen any of the older versions of it. Kenan Thompson was a nice replacement for Bill Hader's host, tough.
When SNL returns on December 3, Emma Stone will host the show accompanied by musical guest Shawn Mendes. Until then, stick wth CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated on all things Saturday Night Live as soon as information becomes available.
