Larry David Confirms Huge Seinfeld Ending Theories In Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Series Finale (With A Twist)

WARNING! This article contains major SPOILERS for Curb Your Enthusiasm’s series finale!

Summary

• Larry David redeems Seinfeld’s controversial ending with a genius twist in Curb Your Enthusiasm’s series finale.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm’s finale mirrors Seinfeld’s finale with Larry facing trial and potential jail time.
• Jerry Seinfeld’s surprise reveal saves Larry from jail, rewriting Seinfeld’s ending for the better.

Confirming a theory that seemed increasingly likely after the season 12 premiere, Larry David redeems Seinfeld’s ending with a genius twist in the Curb Your Enthusiasm series finale. With Curb Your Enthusiasm having premiered its 1999 mockumentary pilot just a year after Seinfeld’s divisive series finale, the sitcom’s legacy has always been tied to Larry David’s arc in the HBO comedy. Consequently, Curb has unsurprisingly included numerous references to Seinfeld episodes, former cast and crew members, and controversial aspects of the revolutionary sitcom throughout its 12 seasons – especially regarding Larry’s return for the Seinfeld finale episode.

Co-creator Larry David originally left Seinfeld after season 7 before specifically returning to write the 1998 series finale, so the sitcom’s ending has had a unique place in his legacy. As such, as Curb Your Enthusiasm approached its own finale after 25 years of being one of the most acclaimed shows on TV, the pressure was on to see how David would approach another ending to a beloved series. David then set the tone for what to expect from Curb Your Enthusiasm’s ending in the season 12 premiere, with similarities to the setup for Seinfeld’s finale leading to theories that Larry would receive the same imprisoned fate as his sitcom’s characters.

Curb Your Enthusiasm
is available to stream on Max.
Seinfeld
is available to stream on Netflix.

Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Series Finale Repeats Seinfeld’s Ending

Curb Your Enthusiasm’s finale is a remake of Larry David’s Seinfeld series finale

Just as many suspected, Larry David remakes Seinfeld’s ending in Curb Your Enthusiasm’s finale. Curb Your Enthusiasm’s season 12 premiere hinted at this possibility when Larry was arrested for breaking a law he didn’t know existed in Atlanta, similar to Seinfeld’s main characters being arrested after unintentionally breaking a local law in Massachusetts. Subsequently, Larry got into more trouble when he decided to plead “not guilty” and opt for a trial for his case. This set up the potential for Curb Your Enthusiasm to repeat Seinfeld‘s finale by concluding with past characters returning as witnesses against Larry and ultimately sending him to jail.

In brilliant Larry David fashion, this is exactly what happened in Curb Your Enthusiasm’s series finale. Larry went to trial as several people who he wronged in the past returned as witnesses against him, including the likes of Irma, Alexander Vindman, Mocha Joe, and recent Curb Your Enthusiasm guest star Bruce Springsteen. Similar to the returning characters who spoke poorly about their past experiences in Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s returning characters end up convincing the jury to give Larry a “Guilty” verdict. Consequently, Larry is sentenced to one year in jail, seemingly giving him the same fate as Seinfeld’s Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer.

Larry is sentenced to one year in jail, seemingly giving him the same fate as Seinfeld’s Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer.

The callbacks to Seinfeld’s finale don’t stop there, as Larry is taken to his jail cell and begins complaining about his “pants tent” – a reference to a complaint he had in Curb Your Enthusiasm’s series premiere. This is exactly what Jerry did in Seinfeld’s finale, as he complained about shirt buttons in the same way that he and George had in Seinfeld’s pilot episode. However, rather than actually ending Curb Your Enthusiasm exactly as he ended Seinfeld, Larry David adds in a final twist that allows him to redeem the sitcom’s finale.

Larry David Adds One Final Twist To Seinfeld’s Finale Remake (Which Proves His Point Better)

Larry doesn’t end Curb Your Enthusiasm in jail

After it seems like Curb Your Enthusiasm will conclude on the same beat as Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld suddenly walks in with a surprising reveal for Larry. In a way that perfectly rewrites Seinfeld’s ending, Jerry explains that he saw one of the jury members at a restaurant the night before, thus breaking the rules of the jury being sequestered. Jerry reported the juror and the case was given a mistrial, therefore reversing Larry’s sentence and freeing him from any prison time. Hilariously calling back to how they “should” have ended Seinfeld, Jerry states that “nobody wants to see” Larry end up like that in jail.

The twist of Larry being freed from prison on a technicality while redeeming Seinfeld’s finale is actually a great example of the underlying mantra held for Seinfeld’s main characters and his own Curb Your Enthusiasm character: “No Learning.”Seinfeld ending with the main four in jail meant that they truly paid consequences for their mishaps and would pay for it, but the “no hugging, no learning” mantra is better demonstrated by the characters being freed from paying the consequences. In Curb Your Enthusiasm’s ending, the only lesson Larry learns is that Seinfeld’s finale could have been improved with a few small changes.

In
Curb Your Enthusiasm
’s ending, the only lesson Larry learns is that
Seinfeld
’s finale could have been improved with a few small changes.

Like Larry, Seinfeld’s characters wouldn’t have learned any lasting lessons from the experience if they ultimately never went to jail, proving they were always going to stay the same flawed, beloved people forever. This is exactly how a show like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm should end, as part of the fun in the two comedies was seeing the characters pay no consequences for their actions on a weekly basis. By nearly sending them to jail only to get out on a technicality, audiences get to enjoy a satisfying ending for the characters while once again seeing them impossibly avoid punishment or character growth.

Seinfeld
‘s Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards do not return for
Curb Your Enthusiasm
‘s series finale.

Jerry Seinfeld Saving Larry From Jail Further Redeems Their Seinfeld Ending Controversy

Seinfeld’s finale couldn’t be properly redeemed without Jerry’s involvement

Larry David’s acclaimed HBO original show remaking, and thus redeeming, Seinfeld’s ending is also far more effective by Jerry Seinfeld’s return. Though Curb Your Enthusiasm centering on a fictional Larry David means he’s the one on trial, Jerry Seinfeld equally took flack for Seinfeld’s divisive ending back in 1998. Seinfeld’s finale is just as much a part of Jerry Seinfeld’s legacy as it is for Larry, so a true redemption of the sitcom’s ending would require Jerry himself to also play an active role in fixing it.

Seinfeld
’s finale is just as much a part of Jerry Seinfeld’s legacy as it is for Larry.

Jerry and Larry being able to “rewrite” Seinfeld’s ending in a meta fashion for Curb Your Enthusiasm is also enhanced by Jerry being the one who saves Larry from jail. Larry David missed the opportunity to take Jerry’s character out of jail in Seinfeld’s finale, so Jerry redeems them both by freeing Larry, and thus, metaphorically, his own semi-fictionalized character in the ‘90s sitcom, in Curb’s finale. After already having returned to make a fictional Seinfeld reunion in Curb Your Enthusiasm season 7, Jerry Seinfeld finally gets to leave the controversy of the sitcom’s ending in the past with the HBO comedy’s remake.

Why Larry David Remaking Seinfeld’s Finale Was Perfect For Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Ending

Larry David writes two perfect TV endings in one episode

With Seinfeld having been tied so closely to Larry’s storylines throughout Curb Your Enthusiasm, it was fitting that the sitcom would play a role in the conclusion of the show about a fictionalized version of himself. Larry David wrote one of the most divisive endings in TV show history, so being tasked with writing another gave him the perfect opportunity to address Seinfeld’s ending and twist it to fit his own character. With such a flawless execution, Curb’s Seinfeld-remake finale means David can finally make people leave him alone about the sitcom’s ending after 26 years.

Curb Your Enthusiasm
’s finale finally frees Larry from the metaphorical jail he was put in for the “offense” of
Seinfeld
’s finale.

After David was on trial with critics and fans for the sitcom’s ending, his “guilty” verdict saw him punished by constantly being questioned and badgered about it for a nearly 30-year sentence. Now, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s finale finally frees Larry from the metaphorical jail he was put in for the “offense” of Seinfeld’s finale, and he’s made incredible TV history by doing so. With Seinfeld’s finale being redeemed, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s ending writes an incredible bookend for Larry David’s television career and legacy – showing audiences how he would do it all over again for the sitcom while giving fictional Larry a pretty, pretty good resolution.