Saturday Night Live cold open: Kate McKinnon reprises Miss Rafferty

Saturday Night Live

With tonight being the Saturday Night Live season 47 finale, it was a sure thing that we’d get a huge cold open. The question was just what it would be.

There were a couple of options at the show’s disposal tonight. They could opt to do something political or topical in nature; or, they could try to tribute some of their own longtime cast members! Reports yesterday indicated that Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, and Aidy Bryant could all be exiting the series tonight.

Well, the show really decided to surprise us with bringing back McKinnon as Miss Rafferty, one of her most iconic characters. If there was ever a reminder that she was leaving the show tonight, this is it! This superseded politics or anything else tonight; it’s a curtain call.

The funny thing about Miss Rafferty is that every single sketch is more or less the same — she shocks everyone with her description of what happened to her after she was abducted by aliens. It’s graphic, weird, and typically hilarious. Our finest memories of this sketch, though, are watching people break character and, unfortunately, we didn’t get as much of that.

Was this a great cold open?

If this was a different show, we probably wouldn’t want to start with a character-based sketch. Yet, with it being McKinnon’s last show seemingly, we really are hoping that we’re going to see a LOT of tributes to great characters tonight. Personally, we hope the show ends with a Last Call where she gets REALLY close for comfort with yet another patron at the bar. While the other cast members have done great things over the years, Kate was the start of the past half-decade or so especially.

The end was what made this so special, as Miss Rafferty got back on the spaceship and joined the aliens. In that moment, you could see Kate getting emotional as she knew this was going to be the end.

Related Be sure to get some more news when it comes to Saturday Night Live, including more on tonight’s big exits

What did you think about the cold open for the Saturday Night Live season 47 finale?

Are you happy to see Miss Rafferty one last time? Let us know right away in the attached comments! Once you do just that, be sure to come back for other SNL news. (Photo: NBC.)

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