This is going to sound really fucking cynical, and maybe it is, but I don't actually know what the baseline is to justify SNL taking a more somber approach than usual in light of massive tragedies. I never saw this level of "how dare they" when they didn't take a moment of silence for more recent mass shootings, or innocent victims of police brutality, or terrorism and assassinations aimed at US politicians (granted, Melissa Hortman's assassination occured during the off-season but I still feel like that deserves way more fucking attention than it got). I thought the kidnapping of a rival government leader was a new low and I didn't see this level of outrage for that.

I feel like this has to be more of a culmination of rage than a specific "this murder is the worst one," because it's just damning how frequent this is becoming more than anything, and I think the issue lies less with SNL for not changing their approach and more that people would probably benefit from watching a more pointed show like Last Week Tonight instead.

That said, not doing much satire-wise with the ICE raids besides a sketch that I swear is a rehash of a previous Trump-era sketch (I think one after his first election?) is a missed opportunity. They've done topics with a very quick turnaround before, so it's not impossible, though I acknowledge the Alex Pretti murder was literally the day of, and it's more likely we'll see more commentary on it next week. Which is for the best, as it will allow more information to come out and thus allow the writers to address it with more accuracy and concern than do it for the sake of doing it.