More than halfway through her first season on Saturday Night Live, Heidi Gardner has already made a considerable mark, showing off several original characters and impressive acting range.

Gardner is at her best when her characters exhibit strong emotions. Her main original triumph so far – Angel, the archetypical movie boxer’s girlfriend – conveyed a painful desperation that highlighted the trope’s ludicrousness. Bailey Gismert, the teen movie critic, was (until the end of the sketch, at least) overcome by the very fact of having emotions, recoiling from every stimuli. What made these characters funny was the melodrama of it all, the over-the-top emotions and sense of a lack of control that could spiral out at any moment.

While it’s still early to feel we fully know her as a performer, the sense so far is that Gardner is a strong actress, one whose appeal will come down less to any singular conveyance of her own personality than from her ability to absorb herself into characters. Here are a few of her strongest examples of that to date.

1 "Angel, Every Boxer's Girlfriend In Every Boxing Movie Ever" First Appearance: November 4, 2017 Here, Gardner took on a well-worn cliche, highlighted everything that made it ridiculous and past its time, and unveiled a potential catchphrase in the process. Gardner’s Angel, supposedly there to deliver a “Good News” report, is a tangle of world-weary fear, an outer-borough martyr to her boyfriend’s death wish. The trope of the long-suffering, loyal-to-a-fault boxer’s girlfriend, scared to death that this will be the fight that kills her beloved, leaving her to care for their offspring on her own, is captured in Gardner’s every vocal nuance. The details here help make the bit – like their kids, “Mikey, Nicky, and Peppers” – but it’s Gardner’s realistic desperation and fragility that drives this home. And, of course, the catch phrase, tossed out as a threat but really, a last-ditch effort for sanity, “I’m taking the kids to my sister’s.” Gardner invests like crazy here, imbuing Angel with a very real and almost, but for its over-the-top nature, relatable plea for boring domestic bliss.

2 "Kristen Schaal" First Appearance: November 11, 2017 The most impressive impressions are sometimes the ones where very little dialogue is spoken, but the character is indicated more through gestures or brief utterances. These often capture the subject’s nuance – the tilt of the head, the mild breathiness that accompanies words, various tics. In the Lion King audition sketch, Gardner, who bares something of a resemblance to Schaal, auditioned with Chris Redd, as Sterling K. Brown, for Timon and Pumbaa. Redd performed a monologue as Gardner responded, saying little but “OK,” “yeah,” “no,” and “oh my god.” That was all it took. Aside from her wig making her look like a Schaal stunt double, she nails the actress’ breathiness, which brings across her wild-eyed enthusiasm. Schaal here is excited, awed, and emotionally connected to her audition-mate. While it could be seen as a surface portrayal, Gardner’s grasp of Schaal’s nuance brings across the larger, more defining aspects of her personality. Whether Gardner has a special internal connection to Schaal’s nature or if this is indicative of a broader talent for mimicry remains to be seen. Either way, it’s hard to watch this without both laughing and maintaining a sense of awe at how well Gardner’s captured the Bob’s Burgers actress.

3 "Teen Film Critic Bailey Gismert" First Appearance: January 27, 2018 There’s a subtle flutter in the voice of Bailey Gismert, Gardner’s popular teen YouTube film critic, that shows why Gardner is a cut above in her development of characters. Gismert’s awkwardness – which we see at sketch’s end may have been a put-on – is nonetheless an empathetic indicator of teen angst, as are her jerky body motions. Gismert gives the impression of being conscious of her body movements and vocalizations every second, minutely analyzing and second-guessing herself while imaging that every eye in the world (including that of “Weekend Update” co-host Michael Che) is intensely focused on her. Gismert finds the entire world strange and unknowable, and by the end of the sketch her emotions have gotten the best of her. Gardner intentionally, and smartly, undercuts the character by the end, showing the modern-day cynicism and precociousness of many modern teens. Looking at this as a whole, it’s impressive how many aspects of the difficulties and strangeness of teenage life Gardner captures in just a few minutes at the Update desk.