Jalen Brunson hosts a basketball-centric ‘SNL’ opener

SNL is back!

The show’s summer break is over, and we’ve officially shifted to Season 52. It was a quiet offseason for SNL. Chloe Fineman left the show. Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline got promoted to the show’s main cast. And Lorne Michaels added Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter.

I feel like we build these season premieres up in our heads. It’s the first episode of a new season, so it should mean something. The first episode of a season should make a mark, right?

But like with SNL going with Jean Smart to kick off the milestone Season 50, Jalen Brunson was never going to deliver an iconic episode of SNL. Sure, the NBA Finals MVP very much means something to the city where SNL lives, but that by no means ever meant he was going to be anything but a passable host.

But there were bright moments in this season premiere! Wickline came on strong, immediately teaming up with Reiter and Veronika Slowikowska for “Dream Academy.” Jeremy Culhane kicked off the season with a new Tucker Carlson segment on Weekend Update. And we got Padilla as a character people had hoped she would add to her roster of political portrayals.

Can we also talk about Katseye?

I don’t care if a musical guest does a bit of lip-syncing. I understand that they’re juggling choreography. But as someone who watched the Ashlee Simpson performance live and then saw the fallout from her, um, performance, it’s kind of wild to see an SNL musical performance where no one is even pretending to sing as vocals are playing.

It appears that Katseye is currently missing two members, but they didn’t modify their sets to make up for those absences?

COLD OPEN

Trump Mamdani Cold Open

I begged SNL to take a break from Donald Trump going into the season. It’s too much. We’re all so very, very tired.

SNL did not take my advice.

Season 52 kicked off with not only James Austin Johnson’s Trump but also a cameo from Ramy Youssef as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. This one was shaping up to be a total misfire of a cold open.

Until Ashley Padilla appeared as Natalie Harp.

“If you hurt him, I will end you,” Padilla’s Harp whispered to Youssef’s Mamdani.

This should’ve been the entire cold open!

• “I don’t go to church on Christmas nor’easter”: Good wordplay, but Trump isn’t working anymore.
• “I ran here from D.C., Weapons style”: Padilla was the obvious choice to play Harp this season, but I also thought Veronika Slowikowska or Sarah Sherman had a shot.

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THE MONOLOGUE

Brunson breezed through his monologue. Was it the best monologue ever? Well, no. But it was fun to see Brunson take questions from four of his New York Knicks teammates.