Let’s be honest: Conan O’Brien was a safe choice. The Academy clearly wanted someone dependable, someone who could keep the show moving and crack enough jokes to make the room feel awake. And for the most part, it worked. Even critics who found some of his bits too long still agreed that his second go at hosting felt looser and more confident than last year. From Los Angeles, we say this with love: he’s invited to the carne asada.

That said, the man does love a bit. His opening stretch ran long, and a few of the in-between-category detours felt like the Academy once again forgot that people at home also have jobs and bedtimes. Still, Conan understood the assignment better than most hosts do. He kept the room light without pretending the world outside the Dolby did not exist, and that balance carried the night.

If there was one performance that actually had the room levitating, it was “I Lied to You” from Sinners. Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq, Shaboozey, Brittany Howard, and Misty Copeland turned the stage into something sweaty, cinematic, and alive. It was not polished into blandness. It had danger. It had that rare awards-show quality where you stop scrolling and actually stare at the screen.

And yes, Misty Copeland showing up in that number felt like a read without ever saying a word. After all the Timothée Chalamet discourse around ballet, seeing Copeland own that stage with total command was delicious. It helped that the entire Sinners section of the night was stacked. Ryan Coogler finally won his Oscar for original screenplay, Michael B. Jordan took best actor, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history as the first woman to win best cinematography. That is how you make noise on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Award shows love a nostalgia play, but this time it actually worked. The Bridesmaids reunion was chaos in the right way. The Avengers moment with Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans reminded everyone that yes, some casting combinations still hit. And the Moulin Rouge! came through to finish the job, with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman warming up the room before Best Picture.

Michael B. Jordan’s win for best actor in Sinners already felt correct. We even joined the standing ovation from home. And the crowd screaming for him made even more sense. Then he did what a true man of the people does after a huge win and took that Oscar straight to In-N-Out, where he posed at the counter with the staff. Be serious. That is icon behavior.

He also brought his mom along through the season, which made the whole victory lap feel even sweeter. Meanwhile, one of the most devastating moments of the night came from Gloria Cazares, Jackie Cazares’s mother, after All the Empty Rooms won best documentary short. Her speech cut through the glamour immediately: “My daughter Jackie was nine years old when she was killed in Uvalde. since that day, her bedroom has been frozen in time. Jackie is more than just a headline. She is our ligght and our life. Gun violence is now the number one cause of death in kids and teens. We believe that if the world could see their empty bedrooms, we’d be a different America. Thank you.”

For the first time in a minute, one film came in and cleaned up. One Battle After Another won best picture and finished the night as the top overall winner, taking six Oscars, including best director and adapted screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson. After years of people declaring the death of bold filmmaking every five minutes, the sweep felt like a reminder that the Academy can still go for something ambitious when it wants to.

Then there was “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, which made history as the first K-pop song to win best original song. The live performance arrived late in the broadcast, and some critics wanted more spectacle, but the win itself still mattered. Pair that with the film’s animated feature victory, and suddenly, Netflix had one of the clearest pop culture wins of the night.

Some people go to the Oscars to play nice. Javier Bardem did not. He brought back the same “No a la Guerra” message he wore in 2003 and paired it with an explicit call for Palestine, turning one of the night’s glossy presenter moments into a political statement with actual weight. At a ceremony where several winners and presenters pushed back against war, occupation, and the state of the world, Bardem’s intervention felt fully in character and fully necessary.

And then Autumn Durald Arkapaw broke a ceiling that should have been shattered decades ago. Her win for Sinners made her the first woman ever to win best cinematography, and she used the moment to lift up the women who helped make that history possible. In a room built on image, that felt like one of the clearest images of the night. The Academy loves to talk about progress. She walked up and made it undeniable.

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