The Curb Finale Was A Masterful Ending To The Series, Seinfeld, And Larry David's Career
SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AHEAD
Curb Your Enthusiasm came to an end last night after an incredible 12 season/24 year run. After a rocky final season (which I think was better than the general consensus said), Larry David absolutely stuck the landing as he tied a beautiful bow on Curb, Seinfeld, and his legendary career.
I, like many others, had a feeling that the season/series was ending with Larry sitting in a jail cell after the first episode of this season clearly set that up. It only became more apparent as the season went on, especially with all the references to how bad the Seinfeld finale was. (Seinfeld Spoiler: That ended with Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine in jail together basically just for being bad people).
The Seinfeld finale has been trashed for years, which Larry David has always defended as "not that bad." I also didn't think it was as bad as people say and never really had a problem with it. But it would've been the perfect Larry David move to end Curb the same exact way he ended Seinfeld, holding up a massive middle finger to everyone who trashed him for it. The title of the episode was even "No Lessons Learned" which felt like it would foreshadow that Larry never learned his lesson from the Seinfeld finale. Seinfeld also famously had a show motto of "No hugging, no learning" as they never wanted the characters to develop or become redeemable in any way. Hell, we even had a Jerry Seinfeld cameo in this episode just to further drive the point home!
And for awhile, everything was perfectly set up to give us that repeat jail ending. The episode started with Larry back in Georgia for his trial. We got the nostalgia of having old characters come back for the trial and tell the jury what an awful human Larry is through flashbacks. Having a grown woman play the little girl who Larry hugged with a water bottle boner was a particularly masterful touch. And then after the jury deliberation, Larry was found guilty and was sentenced to one year in jail.
We got another brilliant Seinfeld tie-in when Larry was sitting in jail and looking down at his "pants tent" boner. This was the premise of the first ever Curb episode 24 years ago, much like how Seinfeld ended with the "second button" conversation in jail that the series started with in its pilot episode. It seemed like Larry was ready to perfectly mirror Curb's ending with Seinfeld's ending and ride off into the sunset with his middle finger held up high to all the haters…….
……Until it wasn't. Instead, Jerry walked into the jail cell and told Larry that he was free due to a mistrial being declared after Jerry alerted the judge that he ran into a juror at a Mexican restaurant the night before, meaning he broke sequester and thus invalidated the trial. Larry and Jerry walked out together, as Larry commented that THIS is how they should've ended the Seinfeld finale. And while they can't actually turn back time and change it, it feels like they basically did with this moment. This finale felt like not just an ending to Curb, but also a re-write of the Seinfeld finale from 26 years ago. Maybe Larry did learn one lesson after all.
And with that perfect ending, Larry David brilliantly concluded 35 years of legendary television between Seinfeld and Curb. For my money, they are the two best comedies in the history of television. They weren't only hilarious, but also relatable, unique, and revolutionary in how they changed the sitcom genre as a whole. Larry David has said this is the last season of Curb, and we can probably assume he's not starting up any new projects at almost 80 year olds. (Although hopefully I'm wrong). But if that is the case, then Larry also closed the book on a Hall Of Fame career and cemented his status as the greatest comedic mind of his generation.
PS: If you still need your Curb fix, here are some fake episodes I wrote back in the day. One about the start of COVID and one a few months later about the madness of 2020 as a whole.