MovieChat Forums > Seinfeld (1989) Discussion > Finale was utter crap

Finale was utter crap


I somehow missed the finale till today, I watched pretty much every other episode before. I know I'm not saying anything new but for me it is new so here I go: what a horrible episode this was!
I guess they were trying for something special here, but they failed miserably. It feels like it was written by somebody that has never watched the series before. Even the acting sucked!
Above all, I have no idea what they were trying to say with this ending.
That they were all bad people and the creators knew it and wanted to address this? Why would that be of any relevance on a show "about nothing"?
The characters never took themselves too seriously, they KNEW it themselves that they were deeply flawed, but they didn't care much about it. This show was a huge success with a cult following, so clearly the audience was fine with this take: they are 4 crappy individuals, but that's fine: they are not awfully bad and they are funny, nobody ever praised them for man of the year.
So what's with this final judgement?

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My impression is the cast, crew, and showrunners wanted to poke fun at themselves, a form of self-mockery and a sense of surrealism due to how contrived the whole affair plays out. It's like the finale wanted to deconstruct the show so everyone would have an excuse to reflect the gang's funniest and most memorable moments of the series, kind of a love letter to the fans for a last hurrah. Perhaps Seinfeld himself was intent on keeping the ending as subtle as possible to keep in grounded it its premise of being the show "about nothing", finishing how it started.

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deeply flawed?
no, not at all

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They were bad people. They show why it is they were bad in the trial. I admit I felt the way you did when first watching it as a teen but as an adult I now realize what jerks they were.

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I agree with you that the finale was a huge disappointment considering all the hype I've received and had high hopes for it.

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There was an interview with Larry David and he said that through all their ideas, none of them would have been satisfying to everyone, and while I agree, they certainly could have done something better.

I thought it sucked as well, most people do. But it doesn't really matter because the show didn't really have that sort of character and story building as something like friends did, it could have ended with a normal episode and it would have been fine, where as something like friends needed an end type story.

Either way, doesn't matter to me because s9 overall is just so good.

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I agree with you, it doesn't matter. But I'm still curious about what was the thinking behind such an out of character episode, why did they feel so sorry about these 4 that they had to punish them with this turn of events. It's as if friends ended with Joey finally becoming a priest, or Monica turning black to make amends for the shortcomings of the show in addressing diversity or important religious topics, wtf...

For some reason I was sure that Seinfeld last episode ended with them leaving a subway train and splitting, going in different directions to mind their business, like nothing really important was happening.
I don't remember which episode this image came from, but it makes a better end for sure.

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It definitely would have been better if it ended that way. I agree.

I think at that point they also just wanted to be done with it. Larry, Jerry, all of them. Perhaps that finale is a sign that the show ended at the exact right time. Even though I think it could still go on today and read redditwritesseinfeld often because you can really put these characters in any situation and it works so well.

The episode you're thinking of is The Subway.

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It’s from The Subway in S3.

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I didn't like the finale for 2 reasons:

1. It was out of character for them to not help the guy being mugged. They often tried to help people out - which usually backfired, but at least they tried. It might have worked better if they'd stood there procrastinating about helping out but never getting round to it. Then getting arrested for that.

2. The court case meant that Gerry, George, Elaine and Kramer were hardly used or seen for a large part of the episode (other than in the flashbacks). I wanted to see the main cast getting into various scrapes and shenanigans, not everyone else, and not an endless stream of flashbacks and other characters.

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I believe that they wouldn't have helped him. Kramer and Kerry were utter pu**ies with the gay street toughs that stole the armoire. I do not believe they would have stepped on and helped the fat guy.

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There's a difference between being cowardly, such as with the guys who stole the armoire, and with the fact they were mocking the fat guy being mugged. These are 2 completely different behaviours.

Like I said, it would have been more in character and consistent with previous behaviours (such as their actions while being robbed in NY) for them to stand there being useless while the guy was mugged.

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Totally agree.
But to me the worst reason was: the authors felt that these 4 characters were so awful that in the final episode they were gonna get it for the previous 9 seasons.

I agree, they are 4 flawed human beings, but I don't feel that such hate or guilt was really due: they know it themselves that they are deeply flawed, they say it many times during the series, and lead quite stressfull and awful lives because of that. Did they really need to be sent to jail for that?

PS: all the side characters that accuse them are even worse than these 4.
Bania should get the capital punishment, and so do many others.

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Exactly. They usually tried to do the right thing. I don't even regard them as bad people compared to everyone else around them.

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Exactly. To me, the mugging scene tarnished their characters forever. I haven't caught any reruns since. The scenario wasn't needed. They've already lived the consequences of their pettiness by not having any lasting friends outside their tiny circle. There was an episode where Kramer was being mugged and was saved by an undercover cop (to audience cheers). Then he films and laughs at a guy being mugged? What an awful way to end a decent series.

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Blimey it wasn't that traumatic. I think you can still watch reruns lol.

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Well to be honest I quit watching tv all together. Not because of Seinfeld. Just outgrew it. But last impressions are the most memorable and whenever this show appears in the trending list, that cruddy last episode is the first thing that comes to mind.

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Fair enough. Most tv is rubbish and formulaic. Apart from Veep.

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Who did they help? lol. Jerry gave bad advice to the restaurant owner but that was just ego driven imo.

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True, not many people.

Jerry bought his dad a car. They tried to help old people once. Of course that backfired.

They would all help each other out.

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Oh yeah, Jack Clompis and the Caddy, lol.

I guess it always backfired for them.

I saw their hardness as a New Yorker thing to be very realistic.

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Yes, realistic.

I always considered their behaviour totally normal. I never understood people describing them as selfish or dysfunctional etc.

But then I'm a Londoner.

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That’s how I felt when I visited London. It was a lot like New York.

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I don't think it was that bad but not very realistic.

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The GREAT thing about the finale was that after they put all four in jail they went to commercial and when they came back for the ending credits Jerry was there doing standup in the jailhouse cafeteria. That last minute EVER is HILARIOUS!

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