Award season can be exciting, in terms of seeing who wins what and arguing with friends over whether or not it was deserved, but in years previous, sitting through the Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars is something I’ve personally dreaded. Four hours of unfunny jokes and prolonged speeches feel like they violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under torture, because, in the end, we don’t want to see Meryl Streep shake hands with a normal person or Jimmy Kimmel tell bland Trump jokes, we want to see who wins, and this year, we sort of got that.

The awards were without a host, and as a result, they clicked along swimmingly. No obnoxious gags of celebrities meeting “regular folk” or prolonged unfunny jokes. Celebrities got up, announced the winner, a speech was given and they walked off stage, and in my opinion, that’s how it should be. I found this year’s Oscars far more bearable than in years past, and in my opinion, I think they should stay without a host. However, I still have a few critiques.

The Oscars began with a Queen tribute, with surviving members playing alongside Adam Lambert. The tribute makes sense, with Bohemian Rhapsody being one of the biggest movies of the year, with several nominations under their belt; What didn’t make sense was why they had Lambert sing Freddie Mercury. Many people praised him but I would’ve much rather preferred a skilled Mercury impressionist or just a recording of the late singer since really nothing can beat the original. Why they had Lambert of all people confused me greatly.

The openers did put me in a better mood though, with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph delivering the open monologue. I know I just said I liked it better without a host, but I would be willing to abandon that statement for these three to host next year since they’re actually entertaining and funny. They delivered some one-liners and presented the first award of the night, Supporting Actress.

The one thing I noticed throughout the night was that for some reason it looked like no one was prepared to win. All the speeches were messy, rambling and unprepared, and at some points painful to watch. The tech runners also muted the mics in the middle of sentences, and embarrassingly, cutting off memorial shout outs towards the likes of Stan Lee and Carrie Fisher.

The other cringe-worthy events included both musical performances. The first one was performed by Jennifer Hudson who sounded like she hadn’t properly taken care of her voice in a while. Her belt notes were flat and croaky and I definitely winced a few times. The next one featured Ms. M who performed the “Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns, and she had so much Botox on her face it was almost impossible to make out a single word she sang. Why they never have the recorded singer perform the song I don’t know.

A great part though was the award announcers, which were a bucket full of loved celebrities. The one that sticks out was the especially fitting introduction of Bohemian Rhapsody by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, well known for Wayne’s World and the famous scene involving the song. Another memorable moment was Trevor Noah introducing Black Panther and speaking a sentence in his South African language Xhosa, “abelungu abazi uba ndiyaxoka.” He said it means “we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart” but actually meant “white people don’t know I’m lying,” it was a subtle joke with a great payoff.

Of course, no award season is without controversy. Between the oldest whitest man in the world, president of the academy, coming out to discuss diversity, and them playing West Side Story’s “America” after Rami Malek‘s speech about the importance of immigrants, the biggest upset was when the Best Picture winner was announced to be Green Book. Many were shocked since the film seemed like no one’s top choice to win. Director Spike Lee attempted to storm out of the theater. Many viewers took to social media to rant about how another White Savior film won the academy’s heart and proved for many that their attempt at diversity was very surface level.

Besides the awkward moments, this year’s Awards were still a good watch, and definitely superior to years prior. Hopefully, next year will be just as painless.