Key & Peele: “Y’All Ready For This?”

This sketch is easily one of the episode’s most memorable (and instantly shareable). Peele, who rocks a pretty far-out eyebrow design, and Key, donning some seriously large chompers, play two eccentric tough guys eager to take down a terrorist or two…if they have to…mid-flight. The duo drills an unsuspecting seatmate with a series of half-decipherable questions and vague suggestions, eventually revealing the arsenal they’ve brought onboard. Their hilariously garbled words are a riot, with their physical-isms being equally captivating. Key’s toothy character awkwardly licking a handgun was easily my favorite two seconds of the entire episode (someone make that a GIF, stat!). The poignancy of this sketch is also notable, with its zany take on the national fear of terrorist threats.

I gotta say, I could stand to see more from these particular characters. If they’re like this on an airplane, I want to see what they’d be up to on solid ground.

Best (Line) in Show: “…Because with great power comes great responsatrilitis.”

FEMINIST PIRATES: “WE DON’T SAY BOOTY, UNLESS WE’RE TALKING ABOUT GOLD!”

For starters, I like the musical spin of this sketch (again with the genre exploration!), even if its message is a bit on the nose.

Here, a pirate band performs for a congregation of fellow seafarers onboard a classic, wooden pirate ship. Not exactly what comes to mind when your average Joe (or Jane) describes a feminist crowd. However, that’s exactly what we have here. Key’s lyrical offering of “There once was a girl from Leeds, who I heard was good on her knees,” turns into a message on fulfilling your lady’s coital desires (“Always take care of your lady fare, because they deserve as much attention down there!”). It’s a great bit from the K&P writer’s room. Content and timing make for some hilarious moments, like when a man is promptly taken-out after mentioning a “slug with tits to here.” The revelation that a female captain helms the ship ends the sketch with a satisfying aha!

Best (Line) in Show: “We don’t say booty, unless we’re talking about gold; We don’t look at chests, unless treasure they hold!”

RACIST COP DRAMA: ART IMITATES LIFE

Extraordinarily poignant and self-aware, the final sketch shows Key as a white cop who repeatedly murders innocent, black passerbys. His reason? He wrongfully assumes that each man is armed. It doesn’t sound like the stuff of comedy, but it enhances the overwhelming senselessness of related tragedies and twists them into something soundly absurd. When Key’s cop fires the first shot, killing a man holding a popsicle, it’s already ridiculous. But the story escalates, highlighting a myriad of double standards and lack of consequence that has footing in real life. The officer ultimately shoots a black police chief (Peele), but not before kindly excusing a heavily armed white man from the scene.

It sounds hefty, and it is. Although you could choose to watch it without context as a classic, slapstick affair, its relation to recent headlines gives it a powerful, painful overtone. This sketch will stick around with you.

Best (Line) in Show: “Ah! Big Fuzzy gun!”

Final Thoughts

One: We still have the in-car sequences connecting the sketches, and they remain frequently delightful, often referential, and occasionally clunky. Topics covered include the namesake of farts, being caressed by a drunken stranger on a train, and musings on the objectification of women.

Two: Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about Key & Peele’s extended fourth season, which featured a hefty order of twenty-two episodes. After season four ended just eleven sessions in, it appears that order was ultimately split into two distinctive installments.

Guest Stars: Rebecca Romijn, Malcolm Barrett, Kate Burton, Stephnie Weir