[This story contains major spoilers from the series finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “No Lessons Learned.”]
And, that’s a wrap on Larry David‘s Curb Your Enthusiasm.
The series finale of the Emmy-winning HBO improv comedy kicked off with a big circle back to how the final season began, with the ensemble heading to Atlanta to support Larry David (played by series creator-star David) in his trial.
For a refresher: Season 12 opened with Larry getting arrested for violating a 2021 voting law in Georgia when he gave Leon Black’s (JB Smoove) Auntie Rae (played by Ellia English) a glass of water while she was waiting in line to vote. Larry didn’t know about the law, but he became a liberal hero anyway, with the likes of Stacey Abrams, Bruce Springsteen and Sienna Miller becoming his adoring new fans.
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An unfortunate issue with a replacement lawn jockey, however, led to Larry pleading not guilty to obstructing the election process in the state of Georgia — which is punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of $10,000 — and going ahead with the trial, an event that has loomed over the entire season.
Larry’s act of being a good samaritan prompted comparisons to the series finale of Seinfeld and speculation that Curb’s ending might address the series finale of the classic comedy that left starring foursome Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards in a jail cell after they were deemed by the law to be bad samaritans. The ending was divisive. And Curb‘s collaborating duo of David and executive producer Jeff Schaffer seemed in on the reception, as this season was littered with references to how David ended that beloved comedy.
One key storyline in the series finale is that Leon is binge-watching Seinfeld for the first time ever when the Curb crew lands in Atlanta for Larry’s trial. Jury selection is underway and the judge decides to sequester the jurors due to the flurry of media scrutiny around the high-profile trial.
Ted Danson (played by himself) uses the opportunity to lead protests against the Election Integrity Act (which is a real law in Georgia), and Richard Lewis (played by the late comedian) is rekindling a former romance with a dishonest woman (played by guest star Allison Janney) who inadvertently flipped off Larry and Leon on the highway.
The guest cast roster continues to unspool, as a who’s-who of ghosts from Larry’s Curb past pour into the courtroom to haunt his verdict prospects. Larry and his lawyer (played by Sanaa Lathan) also face a formidable opponent on the other side of the courtroom with the prosecutor (played by Greg Kinnear), as well as the judge on the bench (played by Dean Norris).
Susie Greene (played by Susie Essman) dropped the first hint of how the verdict might go when she called Larry out for never learning a lesson in his life. “It’s up to the jury to decide what kind of man Larry David is,” newscasters announce of the headline-making trial.
The laundry list of Larry’s offenders is, in the end, too large to ignore — as the jury is informed of some of his worst behaviors, like stealing shoes from the Holocaust museum, “maliciously” giving Bruce Springsteen COVID, hugging a 9-year-old (after placing a water bottle in his pants) and giving her 21 years of therapy, using the N-word, stealing from multiple dead people, bribing a city councilperson, hiring a prostitute so he could drive in the carpool lane and pretending to be an incest survivor named Todd.
“I will not tolerate corruption from Trump, Putin or Larry David,” declares season 11 guest star, whistleblower Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (playing himself).
The trial has proven Larry to be a “petty, conniving and frankly spiteful man,” the newscasters sum up before Larry is handed down a guilty verdict and sentenced to one year in prison.
But just as viewers think Curb may leave Larry rotting in a jail cell, complaining about the minutiae of daily life in familiar Seinfeld fashion, Atlanta visitor and highly anticipated guest star Jerry Seinfeld comes in to save the day.
Thanks to a fortuitous encounter at a nearby restaurant, Jerry was able to out one of the jurors for breaking the sequestering rule. A mistrial is declared and Larry’s sentence has been thrown out.
“Larry,” Jerry bellows, “is a free man!”
“You don’t wanna end up like this. Nobody wants to see it. Trust me,” says Jerry in a massive wink to Seinfeld.
As the pair walk out of the jail cell together, they muse about things that could have been.
“Oh my God, this is how we should’ve ended the finale,” says Larry.
“Oh my God you’re right, how did we not think of that?” asks Jerry.
“Ahhh,” they say in unison, as they throw their hands up.
The episode, directed by Schaffer, then ends with the ensemble arguing over putting the shade up or down on their airplane back to Los Angeles. “Go fuck yourself, Larry. Go back to fucking jail, Larry!” Susie screams in one of the last discernible lines of the series.
When talking about Larry’s fate in recent weeks, Schaffer had hinted to The Hollywood Reporter that Larry would not be punished — equating his situation to that of former President Donald Trump, who was once again invoked this week with a resurfaced shot of Larry’s Trump-like mugshot.
“The former felon-in-chief is supposed to be on trial now four times over, and none of them are happening! TV Larry should be envious at how [former President Donald] Trump is delaying all this stuff. So, who knows what’s going to happen on Curb?” Schaffer had recently said.
Now, Schaffer offers this to THR, in a bit of rare Curb reflection:
“What I love about the finale is that it touches on something bigger than the show. We often blur the line between real Larry and TV Larry, but here there is no line at all: Both Larrys have never learned a lesson — and thank the Gods for it.”
Head here for more from Schaffer as he unpacks the series finale — titled “No Lessons Learned” — with THR. Curb Your Enthusiasm is streaming on Max.
