Ashley Padilla’s gradual star turn on Saturday Night Live has been thrilling to watch. Since she joined the show as a featured player in 2024, on the cusp of its big 50th anniversary season, Padilla has reliably transformed innocuous-seeming characters—notably, moms—into character studies that pluck at eccentricities lurking just below the surface. In last night’s episode, Padilla’s performance as a mother admitting a change of heart in her political views marked one of her strongest roles to