These were the 5 best and 5 worst Super Bowl commercials

From sentimental to sophomoric, and mawkish to moronic, Sunday's Super Bowl LIV commercials did what so many others have done before.

Except to surprise. That's because most of the major ads were released days before the game.

Nevertheless, there was one surprise — either a huge one or silly one but Boston media will have to decide. Starring in an ad for Hulu, Tom Brady closed with: "Me? I'm not going anywhere."

Sorry, Chargers. Or maybe not sorry. Who knows? It's just a silly Super Bowl ad.

Meanwhile, the ad nation must have decided we needed to chill (Budweiser's "Typical Americans") or have a good cry (Google Assistant's "Loretta"). There was humor but with a darker, occasionally morbid undertone. Obvious example: Planter mascot Mr. Peanut who was killed last week in a fiery prerelease helicopter explosion then resurrected as Baby Mr. Peanut during the funeral.

Enough said. More than enough. Now, to the best and worst:

THE BEST

1. Jeep / "Groundhog Day"
This "Groundhog Day" reprisal with Bill Murray was so good you almost forgot about the Jeep. Bonus points for Ned Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) and Buster (Brian Doyle Murray), whose quirks seem undimmed by the passage of years. Another classic movie callback with Bryan Cranston from "The Shining" was also good, but this was better.  

2. Google Assistant / "Loretta"
"Loretta" begins with a white screen and just one repeated note (middle D) on a piano. Your attention thus caught, Google then goes for the heart. "Loretta" — an elderly man seeks help collecting photos of his deceased wife — is about the passage of years and the dimming of memory. It then gets around to what's really important: Love.

3. Snickers / "Feed the World"
Someone has dug a giant hole, and the world is about to be fed a Snickers bar. Weird, man, but also great (at least the extended version is). "Feed the World" is homage to Coke's famed 1971 "Hilltop" commercial and also meta-commentary on those Super Bowl ads that self-appoint themselves as salves for troubled times ("Hilltop" arrived during the last years of the war in Vietnam).

4. Audi E-Tron
Arya Stark can sing. Maisie Williams goes all-Idina Menzel with "Let It Go" from "Frozen," as she (otherwise silently) weaves her way through a smoke-choked dystopia of clogged highways and unbridled fury, then ends with "the cold never bothered me anyway" line from the song. This terrific ad worked in a few angles — political, social, environmental — and probably sold some e-cars, too.    

5. Hyundai / "Smart Pahk"
"Smaht Pahk," prereleased last Monday, has been seen so many times it had lost some of its punch by Sunday. But this shrewd play on words and a shrewder sendup of a certain flavor of Bostonian self-assurance, courtesy John Krasinski, Rachel Dratch and Chris Evans, remained both funny and culturally authentic.  

THE WORST

1. Reese's Take 5
Reese's Take 5 bar commercial begins innocuously enough and ends ... well, up the end. Someone who has never heard of  this candy bar must "live under a rock" or has his "head in the sand." Cue to the obvious sight gags, and then finally, cue to the guy whose head is, well, you-know-where. The ineffable awfulness of this ad defies further commentary.

2. Michelob Light Ultra Pure Gold
Jimmy Fallon stars in a skin-crawling gag of a late-night talk show host who doesn't exercise, then Ultra Pure Gold promises that "if every American bought a six-pack" of this stuff, American farmland will be transformed. Hyperbole we expect in a Super Bowl ad but "every American?" Even kids? Even Jimmy Fallon?

3. Amazon Alexa
Hey Alexa, did Ellen just call Portia "baby?" Hey Alexa, does that mean Portia sometimes calls Ellen "mommy?" Hey Alexa, why was their ad so insufferable? Hey Alexa, were all those gags about what we did before Alexa supposed to be funny? Hey Alexa, do you even know from "funny"? Hey Alexa, does Jeff Bezos?

4. Hint Water / Pop-Tarts
Why pick on a brand that no one's ever heard of? (Hint: Why not?) A couple of guys licking pies off each other's faces cannot end well, and this one does not. Then, Pop-Tarts (with "Queer Eye's" Jonathan Van Ness) promises a "perfect combo of sweet and salty" that may or may not be perfect but sure as heck sounds disgusting. A bad night for pies and Pop-Tarts.

5. SodaStream
Super Bowl commercials can squander millions of dollars in seconds and SodaStream may have set a squander record with this one. An astronaut drinks some Martian water out of a SodaStream dispenser while millions ask: Why was the Martian water in a SodaStream dispenser in the first place?