Two worlds collided on Saturday night when Saturday Night Live decided to take on two of the hottest news topics from the past week. At first glance, the news pieces might seem as though they are not at all connected, but the cold opening on March 10 brought together Bachelor Nation with FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The SNL The Bachelor sketch combined two very different worlds, and the end result was not what you'd expect.
The premise of the head-scratcher of a sketch started out with Alex Moffat playing The Bachelor's Chris Harrison during the "shocking live finale," and Moffat's Harrison warned the audience that this would be "hard to watch," according to Vanity Fair. Then, it cut to the "unedited" footage of Cecily Strong playing the first winner of this season of The Bachelor, Becca K. Strong as Becca donned the same outfit as in the real finale, and the Los Angeles house in the hills scene was set for SNL's version of Arie to make his entrance, but a different (and unexpected) face walked through the door to break Becca's heart about something other than a called-off engagement.
The sketch makes its turn when Kate McKinnon walked in the door as FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is currently leading a Special Counsel Investigation into what role the Russians played in the 2016 presidential election and if there was any connection with the Trump campaign. Honestly, McKinnon's Mueller's arrival in the sketch is initially as confusing as the actual The Bachelor finale.
Confusing or not, McKinnon kept up The Bachelor premise and was perfectly as awkward with Strong's Becca as Arie was with the real Becca K. when all of Bachelor Nation watched him break off their engagement in front of an entire camera crew.
In SNL's version, though, McKinnon as Special Counsel Mueller is there to tell Strong's Becca K. that the current investigation into President Donald Trump and Russian meddling is leaning toward a stronger case of obstruction of justice rather than collusion. USA Today recently reported that separate Congressional investigations into the matter aren't likely to give a clear answer concerning possible collusion. It's definitely an unexpected twist on a The Bachelor spoof, but SNL went all in with it.
It is actually pretty funny to watch McKinnon as Mueller discuss the investigation in the same painfully dragged out manner as Arie broke up with Becca K. on the show. McKinnon engaged in the same awkward small talk as Arie did on the show when she commented on how Strong's Becca is so tan and how she got a new tattoo, and then after some tension-filled silence, McKinnon's Mueller said, "I don't think I can give you everything you want right now, and I think you sense that." To which Strong's Becca replied, "So, what? You don't have Trump on collusion?"
McKinnon's Mueller explained, "I'm trying to be honest with you, and I'm telling you that I can't commit to collusion right now." Strong's Becca K. yelled out in disappointment and dropped her head into her hands before she said, "Collusion is literally the only thing I've been looking forward to for the past year."
The sketch then journeyed through some parts of the actual investigation like Mueller's indictment last month of 13 Russian nationals, and Strong's Becca K. fumed at the news that there might not be a strong collusion case as she walked away. After a minute or so of split-screen awkward silence, Strong's Becca K. asked, "So, that's it? He's just gonna be president?"
This is where the sketch (while remaining in its Bachelor premise) really made a leap into the real news issues of the day. Strong's Becca brought up Stormy Daniels (to which McKinnon's Mueller replied, "That's definitely fun. It's just like not what I'm doing."), and then Strong's Becca asked, "Do you have any good news for me?" Referring to the recently imposed steel tariffs, McKinnon replied that the only good news would be if you "own American steel."
In the end, the sketch seemed to strike a tone that tried to put into perspective this 24-hour news cycle filled with constant coverage of the Russia investigation. McKinnon's Mueller said, "I feel like we just need to come together as a country right now, and like stop hoping for things that might not happen."
Without delving too deep into the details of the investigation, though, SNL was able to keep it somewhat light while also leaning heavily on the premise of The Bachelor finale. In the end, it was a pretty funny sketch, and even though it is based in real news stories, it's probably best to stick to the actual news to keep yourself informed — but you still might want to tune in to see if SNL keeps up with their versions Mueller and Becca K. on After the Final Rose.
