Curb Your Enthusiasm Series Finale Takes a Page From Seinfeld — But Did Larry Suffer Same Fate as Jerry?
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Multiple run-ins with the law. Countless enemies. A healthy dose of Seinfeld finale references throughout the season. Let’s just say “No Lessons Learned” is the perfect title for Curb Your Enthusiasm’s swan song.
In the very last episode, our favorite curmudgeon headed back to Atlanta to stand trial for violating Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, but Larry couldn’t quite weasel his way out of this one without some dire consequences. Luckily for him, Jerry Seinfeld stopped by to support his friend and wound up saving Larry’s hide in a major way. Let’s take it from the top.
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The Seinfeld talk kicks off right from the jump, as Larry, Leon, Jeff and Susie fly to Atlanta for the trial. Leon starts watching the classic ’90s comedy while in the air — he’s never seen it, believe it or not! (Well, actually, I believe that.)
As he’s walking into his hotel, a young boy hits Larry in the head with a ball. As the mom asks the child to apologize, saying that the boy has to learn this lesson, Larry tells the kid he’s never learned a lesson in his entire life. Yep. That’s going to come back and haunt him.
Larry can’t stop thinking about how Richard’s new girlfriend Cynthia (played by Allison Janney) wouldn’t let him into the right lane while he was driving on the highway. The exchange ended in middle fingers, but upon meeting, she claims she never saw him on the road. (Richard should really stop introducing Larry to his girlfriends already, right?)
When the trial begins, Ted Danson is out front protesting voter suppression. Larry says he’s trying to steal the spotlight, but Ted calls Larry out for telling everyone Cheryl doesn’t like Mexican food. To make matters worse, the law doesn’t respect wood! (Guess courtrooms can’t afford coasters.) The district attorney (Greg Kinnear) tells the jury he’s going to bring in a series of witnesses who will all comment on L.D.’s character. (It’s already looking like our finale prediction is going to be right on the money.)
The first witness: Mocha Joe! He tells everyone about Larry’s spite store and the fire that eventually destroyed his coffee shop. Next up is Mr. Takahashi, the owner of the golf club. He says Larry’s always “disgruntled,” and shares that Larry hit a fellow member with a golf ball because he didn’t yell, “Fore!” Aaand then there was the black swan incident! Things aren’t looking good here.
The next day, Leon says Larry needs some sympathy in the court room, which gets him thinking. He somehow convinces Susie to pretend to be his handicapped girlfriend so he can show the jury his softer side.
But then Rachel Heineman walks into court to tell everyone about the time she had to jump off a chairlift thanks to Larry. After that, it’s a montage of witnesses all regaling the jury with horrific stories from his past… including Irma! And Bruce Springsteen (appearing again via video)! Tara Michaelson then walks in — the little girl from “The Doll” episode. (She’s played by the same actress, too: Bailey Thompson.)
Auntie Rae comes in next to tell everyone about the time Larry used the “N” word while she was living with him. After Rae yells at Jeff for stealing her salad dressing recipe, Susie stands up from her wheelchair to chew him out, thus revealing that her “injury” was all a ruse. This case has gone from bad to worse, and something tells me we’ve not yet reached rock bottom here.
Jerry Seinfeld pops up in Georgia to offer his support to Larry. He understands Larry was just trying to be a decent human by giving Rae some water. When Larry takes the stand, he harps on about how hot it was in that election line and how there was absolutely zero shade. But when the prosecution examines him, the D.A. brings up Larry swiping flowers from a dead woman’s memorial. And a golf club out of a coffin. And that time he bribed a city councilman. And then comes the horrific typo from Cheryl’s aunt’s obituary: Beloved… yeah, we’re not going to repeat that here!
The prosecution’s closing remarks include even more hellacious acts from Larry’s past, including the car pool lane fiasco and the time he lied about being an incest survivor. With that, it’s all left in the jury’s hands.
Later, Jerry runs into Michael Fouchay, but more importantly, he runs into a guy who looks like Joe Pesci…
Leon finishes his Seinfeld binge. Well, everything but the finale. (He heard Larry “f–ked it up.”) When the jury’s decision comes in, Larry is unsurprisingly found guilty. The judge (Dean Norris) tells him he has a history of doing the same wrong things over and over, so he sentences him to one year in prison.
The bailiff takes him into custody and throws Larry behind bars. As he’s sitting in jail, Larry gets into a conversation with a fellow inmate about pants tents, a reference to the show’s very first episode. Jerry then arrives to spring Lar’ from prison. One of the jury members (the Pesci lookalike) broke his sequester, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial and throw out the sentence. “You don’t want to end up like this. Nobody wants to see it,” Jerry tells him. “Trust me!”
“This is how we should’ve ended the finale!” Larry realizes on their walk out of the prison. If only!
On the flight back to Los Angeles, the entire gang gets into an argument over the window shade on the plane. As Susie, Jeff, Cheryl, Ted, Richard, Leon and Larry all scream and swear at each other, that catchy “Frolic” tune begins and the credits roll on Curb for good.
Thoughts on L.D.’s big finale? Vote in our polls below, and read our interview with Susie Essman and EP Jeff Schaffer. Then, let it all hang out in the comments!
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