The Long Halloween: Mother's Day

Today's edition of The Long Halloween, our year-long look at the best Holiday Television Specials focuses on one for all those very special mothers out there. This took some thinking, but in the end, the choice for the Greatest Mother's Day Television Episode Ever was simple. For grown women with grown women needs, it's "Motherlover."



From last year's standout SNL season, this episode (S34;E21) was one of the best. Let's talk about Timberlake for a second - this cat won an Emmy for hosting this particular episode, and he certainly deserved it. While many heterosexual American males may consider his music "whatever," his comedic talent has been emerging through this SNL outlet for the past couple years. Admittedly half of the his hilarity in something like "Dick in a Box" or "Motherlover" comes from the knee-jerk reaction of watching Timberlake send up his established persona.

Anyway, while the "Motherlover" Digital Short is really the only Mother's Day reference in the episode, it alone elevates the show to represent the whole holiday. It's got every necessary part of a Mother's Day celebration: 1) Forgetting the day and not getting a gift for Mom, 2) Breakfast in bed ("I'm gonna be the syrup, she can be my waffle!") and 3) Honouring those who gave us the gift of life by a good night of sexing right.

"Motherlover" is even funnier than "Dick in a Box" as well. The mutual pleasure the two actors get out of exploiting early 90s cheesey R&B is somehow pretty contagious. It's a nonstop assault of bizarre jokes that are pretty sexual without being really too blatant or dirty (despite the large amount of swears). The best parts really are JT macking on Sue Sarandon with mittens aflutter and then Samberg making sure that the picture of Timberlake can witness the lovemaking to his mother.

JT and Samberg do an especially good job of establishing character very well in a three-minute video. They have this very acute mixture of sleaze and earnestness that makes the video work. There's a bit of innocence to their plan, they genuinely would simply like to please their respective mothers after years of loneliness without sexual pleasure. They are after all, "so cool and thoughtful." So, for the perfect last-minute Mother's Day gift, there's nothing like becoming a buddy's Step-Father and makin' another brother in a brother's mother.