Lindsay Lohan faces her bad girl rep on ‘SNL’

How did Lohan fare as host?

A lot was riding on the night for the actress, who last hosted Saturday Night Live in 2006. (And we all know what's happened in those filler years.)

So it made sense when Lindsay opened the show on a self-deprecating note. "I feel lucky and grateful to be here tonight," began Lohan. "And that's why I really want to thank all of my friends at SNL who trusted me enough to have me back."

Or did they? An alarm went off when Lohan took one step off the stage. "Can I see your eyes please?" asked Kenan Thompson, interrupting her monologue, before confirming: "She's good." Next up was Kristen Wiig. "Everyone here believes in you," said Wiig from the stage. "We wouldn't have you back otherwise." (The two hugged, and Wiig began to surreptitiously pat her down.)

"Are you searching me?" asked Lohan.

"She's clean," announced Wiig.

Then Jimmy Fallon walked up. "The new, old Lindsay Lohan is back!" Fallon said. He continued, "You can do this. And if for any reason you can't, Jon Hamm's on standby as back-up host." (Cut to Hamm sitting in the crowd.)

It was a solid start, but by the show's end, reviews were tepid.

"I was genuinely hoping she'd score some big laughs as host of this week's Saturday Night Live," said TVLine. "Unfortunately for the troubled actress, however, there's only so much one can do with setups built around prison-rape jokes or the sight of Fred Armisen in drag getting repeatedly hit by a car."

Entertainment Weekly questioned if Lohan was the worst host of the year (ouch), adding that the actress was pushed to the background of the show. "It certainly wasn't the blazing comeback performance us Lohan apologists have been hoping for," EW wrote.

"In essence, this was hardly a disaster on par with, say, Lana Del Rey," added the Washington Post. "But Lohan also didn't fully reclaim her status as a young comic performer worthy of casting in major Hollywood projects."

To recap, Lohan earned the most positive reviews for her turn as Rapunzel in a hilarious 'Disney Housewives' sketch. She also handed out awards as a psychic assistant during a '2012 Psychic Awards' spoof and adopted major attitude as a Rizzo-like pin-up teen solving problems by dancing in a late night movie spoof, Delinquent Girl Teen Gang. And in a separate sketch, she played a hip-hop radio intern who goes by the name Illiterate Lisa.

But Lohan stumbled slightly reading her lines as a no-nonsense law enforcer scaring criminals straight alongside Thompson. And the show began to run out of steam toward the end, with Lohan playing a house sitter weirded out by a woman (Kristen Wiig) headed out of town on a "topless forest" vacation who repeatedly butt-dialed herself, and a young yogi who seeks meditation advice from a 'Rude Buddha' (played by Andy Samberg).

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