The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony

"Never to be mistaken for a "smaller" version of its summer cousin, the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off with a characteristically bombastic opening ceremony that featured, among other things, bobble-headed representations of Italian composers, a '90s-core DJ spinning on an ice block, supersized golden rings that couldn't help but evoke Sonic the Hedgehog, and an extended Sabrina Impacciatore-anchored sequence that started on a verrrry low note with a seemingly generative-AI-produced animation, and eventually ended on a veerrry high note with Impacciatore doing of a full-on clown routine. The whole spectrum of the human experience, indeed."

"For the most part, the ceremony didn't quite match the "somber" tone that director Marco Balich had teased in the lead-up, but it still had to walk the uneasy line celebrating the harmony of the global human spirit while not entirely papering over the distinctly rough geopolitical times we're all living through."

"As expected, this produced some awkward moments, like an interpretive dance sequence accompanied by narration declaring, "there are things we must never do, for example: war." In the end, though, all that pageantry can only smooth over so much. When U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who had prime placement standing next to Italian president Sergio Mattarella and Olympic chairman Kirsty Coventry, popped up on the screen, it was pretty clear spectators in the stadium audibly booed him, despite warnings against doing so. It's safe to assume that little detail will get left out of NBC's prime-time broadcast of the event tonight, so we're preserving it here, along with the rest of the highs, lows, and whoas from Peacock's live presentation of the full opening ceremony. - Nicholas Quah"

The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony showcased extravagant, often surreal performances including bobble-headed composers, a '90s-core DJ on ice, supersized golden rings, and a Sabrina Impacciatore sequence that moved from a generative-AI animation to a clown routine. The ceremony struggled to maintain the "somber" tone suggested by the director while attempting to celebrate global unity without erasing contemporary geopolitical strains. Awkward moments arose when art and messaging clashed, such as a dance accompanied by narration denouncing war. Political presence in the stadium prompted audible boos that risk being omitted from the prime-time broadcast.

Read at Vulture