The finale also marks the last for Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney.
Greetings and salutations, fellow Coneheads (and perpetual hate-watchers.)
It’s the season finale ofSaturday Night Liveand things have come full circle.
Natasha Lyonne made her hosting debut on the ‘Saturday Night Live’ season 47 finale.Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
TonightRussian DollstarNatasha Lyonnebrings season 47 to port with musical guest Japanese Breakfast.
It cultivates loyalty and obsession in a way few multi-decade TV franchises do.
And if the rumors are true, tonight will punctuate this era of the show.
A logjam in terms of sensibility and approach.
Now, if we saw a mass exodus after tonight, a new style/vibe may finally get heralded.
So, let’s see what our friends at Studio 8H have in store for us tonight.
We will see which former cast members welcome Kate/Pete/Aidy/Kyle on their next journey.
The world is their oyster!"
All right, roll up your sleeves, folks: it’sSNL in Review.
Final Encounter Cold Open
The Pentagon is the setting, and we are greeted with huge applause.
The U.S. Government is looking into verified alien abductions.
Host Natasha Lyonne joins sketch mainstays Kate McKinnon andCecily Strong.
We first sawColleen Rafferty and gang back in 2015, for the Ryan Gosling episode.
So this is the seventh episode and the first since 2019.
“What the hell, play the hits right?”
McKinnon-as-Rafferty jokes, a wink to what many consider one of her best characters and sketches.
This is going to be a special episode grab the tissues.
:)
Monologue
Natasha Lyonne wishes she wasHarry Styles!
She takes in the moment.
“For a real New Yorker like me, that’s big!”
She jokes about being associated with Russia and Netflix.
She’s been coming toSNLsince she was a teenager.
It combines a lot of things she loves: fighting unions, the ’70s, New York.
She dated Armisen for seven years, she recalls.
She shows a clip from when she was a child actor onPee-wee’s Playhouse.
(Love seeing Pee-wee Herman, who hostedSaturday Night Liveon November 23, 1985.)
Lyonne talks about her ups and downs, namedroppingAmerican PieandBut I’m A Cheerleader.She’s super charismatic and fun.
(HerPiecostars Mena Suvari and Seann William Scott hosted in 2001.)
Siobhan Fallon Hogan worked with Lyonne inKrippendorf’s Tribeback in 1998.
We had a great cast with Lily Tomlin leading the way.
I think she has evolved into an amazing actress."
I was immediately impressed by the presence of this 12-year-old star of the future.
She was, after all, only 7.
She said, ‘Put me down!
I’m not a little kid!’
PSA
Stupid people poignantly admit their dense approach to life.
Very funny hook.SNLin Review verdict: watch this.
“I want a candidate who smiles at me,” admits Cecily Strong.
Stupid people vote too, after all.
’50s Baseball Broadcast
Mikey Day and Lyonne are broadcasting the Yankees game back in the ’50s.
Lyonne’s character has just been prescribed new cold medicine a.k.a methamphetamines by his doctor.
So, queue a lot of inappropriate remarks!
(Naturally, Day is shocked and embarrassed, which is par for the course.)
“I have observations on different races!”
Sorry to be a nerd: the Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio talk is a bit anachronistic, friends!
Love James Austin Johnson as Walt.
The Treece Henderson Trio
Treece (Kenan Thompson) needs Nasonex!
Someone help him out.
Brad Dates is on keyboards he’s played by Kyle Mooney.
Helen (Cecily Strong) and Casey Marie (Lyonne) also help out.
Lyonne plays the harmonica.
She’s hiding something from Treece.
A psychic in the audience, played by Chloe Fineman, keeps blowing up her spot.
This one is losing me folks.
It was starved for some Diondre Cole-adjacent content.
After High School
Andrew Dismukes is reflecting on his high school prom.
It’s been 20 years, and it all circles back to Rachel Finster (Lyonne).
She’s evil!SNLin Review verdict: watch it!
I love sketches like this at the end of the season.
“Have a great summer!SNL.”
This reminds me of the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody.
This song was written with Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing.
It’s a fun, ’80s synth dance track.
(Jost also jokes about another former host, Steven Seagal!)
This Update feels a little flat, no?
“Arby’s, we have the pee-pee shakes!”
With COVID restrictions relaxed, Jost welcomes a Guy Who Just Bought A Boat (Alex Moffat).
He’s here to discuss European vacations this summer.
We last saw him in January during theWill Forte episode.
“Why would any woman want to be with you?”
Che welcomes two trend forecasters: Aidy Bryant andBowen Yang.
“In: HEY; Out: this is your Captain speaking… go to bedbitch!”
I love the classic energy here, as the camera zooms in on Bryant and Yang.
She gets a nice send-off here, as Che and Yang kiss her.
9:15 to 5:10 Turner Classic Movies
It’s9:15 to 5:10(as opposed to9 to 5).
Gardner panics and shoots him.
They tickle the corpse.
Japanese Breakfast “Paprika” (second performance)
Another bop.
This song was the first track off their 2021 album somewhat inspired by a mushroom trip in the Poconos.
The song title comes from the Satoshi Kon movie,Paprika.
Japanese Breakfast also put out the soundtrack for the video gameSablelast year.
Grey Adult Pigtails
Ah, the last Aidy and Kate love-fest.
Of course, it would end this way.
Anti-aging creams are not eco-friendly.
So embrace “grey, adult pigtails!”
“You wish you could look this whimsical!”
Love Kyle Mooney as Richard here they’re all dating him.
This ends with Michelle Zauner leading them in song.
Farewell, Kate & Aidy.
Final Thoughts
A huge thank you to everyone who stuck by my recaps this season.
It was quite a journey, wasn’t it folks?
I feel like we mutually grew, and learned a lot.
Thank you to the wonderful Siobhan Fallon Hogan.
Her movieRushedis opening in Ireland, England, Australia, and New Zealand on June 22.
Her latest movieShelter In Solitudewill be out in 2023.
They finished strong, didn’t they?
I look forward to what the show looks like now that the Kate/Aidy/Pete era is officially over.
It’s cocoon metamorphosis time, y’all.
Going to be weird without Kate and Aidy for sure!
What did you think of the season 47 finale?
Weigh in below orvote here!
