Seinfeld (TV Series) The Finale (1998) User Reviews

A weird way to end the series

[realtvhrdbfq-1 · 7/10 · 6 June 2013]

I watched the finale 15 minutes ago, so I was not hyped or filled with expectations. I just expected a more different episode and I got what I expected. But I can understand people's disappointment. It was weird. Actually to line up former one-timer characters is not that unusual, but put all lead characters in prison, well that's just weird.

Also, their reaction to hijacking was unusual. It was darker than their original self, particularly Kramer's. Everyone who watched this show knows Kramer wouldn't simply watch and mock like that. I know that Elaine, George and Jerry are not the most likable characters, but they were simply meaner than normal. That was weird too.

But who cares? This is not some drama with suspense. Personally I didn't bite my nails and say to myself "Oo, how it is going to end????". Could it be funnier? Definitely! But who cares? I am not going to remember this show with that specific episode.

a misunderstood conclusion to the series...

[lilpuppychow2003 · 8/10 · 16 April 2009]

Seinfeld was in part so enjoyable because the characters had no real responsibilities at all. There was a unique escapism in the humor and simplicity of their relationships. We were free to laugh at anything and everything because nothing mattered. The truth is that humans are not meant to live that way, though. It was a state of isolation.

As much as everyone enjoyed the lighthearted notion that Seinfeld had no specific point to make, the reality was that an undercurrent of social apathy was present throughout. The finale was all about reaping what they sowed. The wrath of the fan base that felt so slighted by the story was misplaced. In the entire series the characters contributed virtually nothing to society; they are the representation of a whole generation of single, aimless people who have no purpose or direction.

We would be naive to think that the ending wasn't obsessed over for years. I'm convinced that it was exactly the way the story was meant to finish. Brilliant.

Brilliant way to end the greatest show ever

[licensetocurl · 9/10 · 21 March 2015]

I should mention first that I was very nervous to see this episode, not because I was afraid of my favorite show coming to an end, but because everyone I've spoken to says "The Finale" is awful. I couldn't disagree more. This episode brought back just about every minor (and major) character from all the seasons, and the fact that you just remember exactly who each character is proves how great this show really was. Every time a new character appears, you know immediately who they are and what they're there for, which is really magical. I understand the ending wasn't "good" for the main characters, but that doesn't really matter, at least for me. What I found brilliant about this episode, considering the fact that it was the final episode, was that it seemed to seal off the show really well. What I mean by that is that in most TV series, you're often sad when a show is finished, you find yourself desperate for more, and that leaves a bad feeling associated with the show. This finale, however, didn't leave that bad feeling at all, in a really weird way it removed that desperate feeling of wanting more, it actually left me satisfied with the show being over! Some people criticized this episode because the main characters didn't get much attention. Fair enough, but the returning of the minor characters brought back so many memories from past episodes, which I thought was a decent trade off. However, maybe a little more focus on the main characters would have been nice. All in all, this episode was great. Don't be afraid to watch it like me, I think this was a much-needed episode for Seinfeld fans, and a fantastic way to end a fantastic show.

After watching the finale for the 6th time

[rakanjazi · 10/10 · 29 July 2019]

After watching the finale for the 6th time, i gotta say it's the perfect ending. It's so seinfeld

Great finale to end the greatest show

[Kingslaay · 8/10 · 20 April 2017]

It can be a very hard task to end a popular and big show, especially an iconic one like Seinfeld. A show that spans close to a decade and is a memorable part of many people's lives. I think the producers nailed it and gave a fitting sendoff to the beloved 4.

I have been a Seinfeld fan most of my life and watched every episode at least 5 times. So when they showed a finale to be all the bad acts and memorable guest actors come back to haunt them you could ask for no better way to end this iconic show. It was a fitting end to four characters who cared nothing much about other people and as Larry David said each episode showed no learning or growth. What a brilliant way to tie it all together by bringing the soup Nazi and Babu to put the nails in the coffin. These memorable guest stars in the trial paid great homage to the show's run over a decade and the brilliant story lines and their characters.

I heard a number of people were upset with the ending as they expected well I don't know what but it seemed the perfect ending for this show and followed its style. This is not a Soap opera, its the greatest and most unique comedy in history and if you're a true fan you would enjoy the trial of the century.

Seinfeld: The Finale: Part 1

[sternn01 · 8/10 · 16 May 2006]

I think it's hard to judge the last episode because everyone was expecting something else, but when you really think about it - this was the only way they could end the series. There are hints and flavors from past episodes, and everybody made an effort to show us that goofiness that we all came to know and love.

This one was not one of my favorites, but thats OK - it makes me enjoy the ones I liked even more.

And who can argue with the idea of bringing back just about every major and minor character, in one form or another, to give the best show ever created, the proper send off?

Oh yeah, and not one drop of sentimentality in the entire episode - you gotta love it!

Extraordinary Finale that caps a perfect run

[dremler90 · 9/10 · 16 September 2017]

Seinfeld was a show that had a way of astonishing you in a good way and the finale lives up to the reputation. It's innovative and offbeat approach to a finale will prove that even the show about nothing can finish with an episode that gives you closure. That's what a great finale is all about - closure.

So the perfect show gets the perfect finale - the best I've seen for a TV show.

Season 9: A strong and funny conclusion – apart from the actual final episode itself (spoilers for final episode)

[bob the moo · 30 January 2013]

I came into this season with some concerns because I had originally watched this show in a very piecemeal and fragmented way due to how it was screened in the UK and as such didn't have strong memories of any specific season. So I wasn't sure if the season went out on a high or if it was typical of many shows where the networks push them till they start failing and then put them out of the misery in order to move onto something that will get advertisers in the door. I was very pleased then to find that the show was allowed to go out with dignity because this season really maintains the laughs and the invention right up to (but sadly not including) the end.

The show continues the rather wacky humor from the previous season but it does it so well it is hard to complain. The plots this time are mostly very good, providing each character with something good in almost every episode and I was surprised by just how sharp and consistent so much of it was – supporting characters are also really well used and bring plenty of laughs, with George's father remaining my favorite of the support. I loved the exaggerated tone to the humor and the continued physical comedy being part of it, mainly because this aspects suits Kramer the best, producing a lot of funny throwaway reactions and moves. It still does manage to retain the air of observational humor that the original seasons did best, albeit it not as accessible as it was – either way these aspects and fully engaged characters all work very well together.

The one really disappointing misstep is the actual finale itself; a show that even merited an in-joke dig in the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode with the Seinfeld reunion. This episode sets up closure but it sets it up and delivers it in an oddly harsh and uneven way; I like the idea in theory but in reality it doesn't feel right that the characters of the last 9 years are judged and sentenced for just being themselves – particularly as we have looked on and enjoyed it. There is a nice symmetry to some of it and it does allow memories of older laughs to come through, but mostly it doesn't work as is all the more evident for being the one big clunky episode in the whole season.

This aside the season is strong and the cast seem energized for it, with strong performances from all of the main four and the main group of supporting cast members really playing it strong throughout. With the exception of the final clip episode it does mostly avoid sentimentality as a season and it is only the final two longer episodes that see this come through – but this is understandable and forgivable. Overall season 9 is a very strong season and a really good way to bow out; it is just a shame that the actual final episode itself is quite a misstep and doesn't really work or fit, otherwise though it is a consistently hilarious season.

We All Know it Was a Disappointment

[wookietower · 6/10 · 24 November 2021]

Rewatching this 23 years after it first aired, I'm reminded of how disappointed in the Finale I was.

Yea the ending stunk, but this episode would have been a lot better if it was not essentially a glorified clip show.

I enjoyed all the returning characters but instead of the flashbacks, they could've just had everyone recounting the experiences with the group, it would've been a lot funnier and more of a payoff to the long-time fans who recalled even moment.

Seinfeld Ends In Style On Its Own Terms

[film_poster_fan · 8/10 · 24 October 2021]

So many people on this database whine that they are disappointed in the series finale of Seinfeld. One reviewer did not seem to realize that Larry David had returned to write this episode and took issue with the poor writing of the finale. It is well written and one of the best episodes of the final season. Also good to see so many of the supporting players return for the finale.

Too long.

[jcdw-88878 · 7/10 · 23 May 2022]

Too long. George's annoying as hell. Fat jokes aren't funny. Too long. Much stalling. The idea/concept was great but the result was atrocious. Too long.

Underrated finale

[kellielulu · 8/10 · 16 June 2022]

I liked it at the more than most people seemed to. I didn't think it was the best episode but a fitting end. I enjoy the foursome and laugh at their antics but it's not a bad thing that they got some payback.

I was not surprised Jerry and Kramer adjusted better than George and Elaine to there new circumstances.

The long line of witnesses and courtroom observers was a great walk down memory lane.

Now watching it again I have a renewed apperception for the finale .

Maybe the best series of all time.

Far from perfect but better with age

[chunkylefunga · 7/10 · 19 December 2021]

When I first saw the finale live I was a young child and I absolutely hated it, I felt it was out of touch with the show, was a glorified clip show, and was a real let down.

Now as an adult I can see that a show about nothing can't just finish with nothing, so this is the lil bit of something that had to give.

Overally it's not a bad episode, but the clip show aspect is annoying, the trial would have worked better with more characters shouting at them, and zero flashbacks.

If you haven't seen it already, there's a reunion special on curb your enthusiam, which you can search online for to see it in full.

Hated this ending

[vn_larsen1 · 3/10 · 26 October 2021]

This show is hilarious. It has some of the best one liners I can remember and reruns never get old. But this finale was just the worst. First, the concept of arresting and prosecuting bystanders for not interfering in a crime just doesn't make sense. Second, our main characters barely said anything throughout the entire second half of the episode. I don't know who thought bringing on a myriad of one timers and guest stars was a good way to end this series, but it wasn't. And last, the fact they end up going to prison for a year just didn't sit well with me at all. I can't exactly pinpoint why, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. Not how I wanted this great show to end.

The End of an Era

[Samuel-Shovel · 8/10 · 1 August 2019]

In "The Finale" the gang gets a free trip to Paris becomes the new head of NBC decides to pick up the show "Jerry". On the way, the private plane has technical problems and lands in a rural Massachusetts town. There the gang witnesses a robbery and stands idly by watching and making fun of the victim. They're placed under arrest under a new Good Samaritan law and the prosecution brings in all sorts of character witnesses from their pass who all bad mouth the group for their tactless behavior. The four of them are sentenced to a year in prison as the show ends.

Series finales are hard. They always have far, far too much build up for them to ever meet expectations. Sitcoms are a bit easier since there are no loose ends of season-long or even series-long threads that need to be tied up.

I think the writers had two goals in mind with this episode: bring back fan favorites and have the gang end up in jail. They were able to come up with a plot to accomplish this. I do find them ending up in prison funny. It's very subversive from your average sitcom where the finale would be one big, happy reunion. We get the new nostalgia of past episodes but with the twist that they all despise the main cast. I'm not sure what finale would have satisfied fans but I'm completely okay with the way this ended.

The show is about nothing.

[avana · 31 December 2015]

This is not Friends. This is not that love-splashing emotion-playing kinds of craps that you usually expect, otherwise it'd be something but THE SHOW IS ABOUT NOTHING. This was the best finale that I have ever seen.

I ended the finale moments ago. Before I watched it, I said to myself: "Oh God, I am about to get so emotional at the end and I am gonna miss those lovely characters so much". At the end of it, not only I didn't feel sad, but actually I was laughing so hard that all of my neighbors, even those three blocks away, noticed. I was laughing out loud at how they have been tantalizing me for several years. The whole show was it self a joke; it did not have any stupid testosterone-rising story. This way I will not miss Seinfeld . . . GREAT!!!

The finale was AMAZING

[khansaeed-21539 · 10/10 · 21 September 2019]

The only reason some people didn't like it is because it was DIFFERENT. Not like a regular episode. It was a FINALE So they had to go big And it was not bad It was good

Larry David nailed it

[joebondo · 10/10 · 21 June 2021]

What did people really expect for a series finale on a 30 minute sitcom about nothing? This 2 part finale was brilliant but reception was mainly negative and it even has the stars of Seinfeld & Larry David brainwashed that it was bad. What else could you possibly do for a 30 minute sitcom finale? Bring back all the people on the show throughout the years who the main cast butted heads with. Absolutely brilliant! Keeping in mind this was not a 1 hour drama where suspense and tension drew to some unexpected twist at the conclusion. Did people really want another 30 minute episode of the usual? Because other than coming up with what Larry David did that's pretty much what you would've gotten. Because the series was ending I believe the bar was set so high with expectations it was doomed to fail in the eyes of the majority no matter what other finale would have been presented to them.

Now I will be honest, as a Seinfeld fan, I was unable to watch the series finale when it aired due to travel and because we didn't have the convenience back then as we do today to watch anything on demand, I actually finally got to see the finale 4 years after it aired and I was very pleasantly surprised as well as impressed by the innovation of the script. I can't say for sure if the delay impacted my decision (I don't think it did) all I know is that Larry David nailed it and I only wish they would've aired the full 75 minutes as I still have yet to see the deleted scenes. The cast, crew & especially Larry David should all be very proud of this finale instead of what they currently think of it-brainwashed by the public after reception drew criticism thinking this 2 part masterpiece was a failure.

Genius ending

[Med-Jasta · 10/10 · 22 April 2023]

All shows want to have a profound conclusion to their series. But how do you have a conclusion to a show about the mundane? There's no arch to the show. No one is trying to find the one armed man. The show has never really changed. This ending is a bigger story than the rest. It ends so the show is in a far different place than ever but when you think about it, things are going to go back to normal in a year.

The is a great way to have the show go full circle in a way because it puts everything these characters have done under a microscope and makes it so they have to pay for their callousness . Which is what they're always getting in trouble for anyway. And you know they aren't going to change. During these wild events they remain unchanged. As we see in the very last scene.

This is an amazing way to bring everybody back. This is the perfect excuse for callbacks. Try and find a better reason to bring everybody back. I bet you can't do it. And this doesn't feel any different than the rest of the series. A lot of times the last one does because it's so different. This one is different but doesn't feel like it.

No one wants a show that they love to end. Especially this show. And the last season really comes out on top. So when it finally does end we're upset. No matter how good it is we are upset that it's over. Would people have been happy if it was just a regular show? If Jerry found true love? What would they have been happy with? Larry David is a visionary. This show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and this episode are all examples.

They Didn't Get to Stretch Their Legs

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 4 July 2023]

I'm not going to diminish one bit of the show because the Finale was lacking. Let's face it. The four characters on Seinfeld are about as insensitive as they can be. From Kramer's nuttiness at the expense of everyone else, to Elaine, the princess who has vengeance in her heart, to Jerry who tosses women aside because of their little quirks, to George, who is one of a kind when it comes to insensitivity. And, by the way, the funniest comedic group ever on TV. The trial was a decent idea, but it took the ability to speak away from the four. The writers could have come up with a twist, a few funny responses from each, a way to get them off that was totally inappropriate. But I would watch every one again. Oh, by the way, there are Good Samaritan laws, but they are there to protect those who help and cause further damage.

Colorful finale to a colorful series.

[m-47826 · 8/10 · 2 July 2020]

I'm fine with how it ends. Because outside of sitcom logic, they were really awful people. I wasn't very convinced at first. It was as if the show was back to everything I hated about it. The whole show inside a show thing... So I wasn't very pleased they got to that again. Fortunately, they didn't. And despite the acting/writing looking off, during the first part. This finale episode turned out to be a very original way to put an end to the story. And makes you want to rewatch the whole thing all over again, later.

I for one loved it

[dgornjakovic87 · 9/10 · 29 May 2022]

I dont know if it was the low expectation I took into watching the finale based on other reviews, but I felt it's the perfect ending to a show about nothing.

The group faces karma for all previous mishaps, but as we see in the final minutes, it doesnt really cause them any remorse.

It was lovely seeing so many characters from previous seasons together and interacting with one another in their spitefull reappearances.

Anyway the fact I finally got to enjoy this in 2022 speaks volumes about how great of a show this is.

Pretty Disappointing

[SourGreenapple42 · 2/10 · 12 June 2011]

The final episode of Seinfeld from 1998 was an extremely disappointing end to a fantastic show. A lot of people say it's because everyone in America was expecting such a fantastic finale and nothing can live up to their expectations. I don't believe that at all... well, even if that is the case- it is just a genuinely bad episode.

The major problem with the finale, especially the 2nd half hour, is its lack of focus on the main characters.The entire 2nd part of the episode is the past one-timer/minor characters (The Soup Nazi, Babu, Mr. Pitt, Marble Rye lady etc.) testifying against the gang in court and how the gang screwed them over- the four main characters barely speak at all except to make little comments between the testifying! They just sit there the whole time. And why do we need to hear these one-timer characters restate how the gang screwed them over? It made the episode so unengaging. Isn't that why we have clip shows? To some degree reminiscing about the past and including past memorable one-time characters is fine, but at least it would be better if the plot more constructively involved the main cast and just didn't have them sitting there.

The whole plot of the episode is a huge mess in itself; why would these minor characters's stories be relevant in a case that has nothing to do with them? The episode's excuse for this is because according to the prosecution "the trail of antisocial behavior by the gang goes back several years and is therefore relevant to the charge". How the hell is that even possible in any legal system, and how is the judge okay with that?! And how would the prosecution team find all these random people? And what kind of horrible lawyer is Jackie Chiles, he doesn't even call the four up to defend themselves. It's all very contrived.

And worst off at the end we have to see our "anti-heroes" go to jail because of these a-holes who had no relevance to the case whatsoever and couldn't run a court. It's a real downer the last couple of minutes. Not in a typical comical Seinfeld "we're screwed situation" either, it's just plain sad to see we had to leave on this note with these characters we love. Overall a real disappointment, but thankfully it doesn't hinge on the other wonderful memories we had of this show.

About that Law

[thatsweetbird · 8/10 · 8 February 2019]

As mentioned in the trivia for this episode The federal law with the Samaritan name Actually states the opposite of what it is in this episode .

The real law says that you do not have to give help to someone In need . And not that I think there should be a law that says you do have to, But it makes me so proud (that's sarcasm BTW) to be in a country That finds it necessary to make a law saying "Hey you don't have to help people !"

This review has a bunch of different opinions as the days passed by.

[aqeoigor · 10/10 · 15 September 2019]

I wasn't waiting for an episode that everybody 'wins' because Seinfeld is not about that, but man... This was a weird lost. The episode was actually really funny. It was really good to see all the characters recurring to this episode, really memorable, the only problem that I had with this finale was only the way things ended. They are in prision and that's it. Seinfeld.

edit 19/6/20

Alright, this episode grew on me. Yes, they are in a prision and that is it. It's the ideal ending. But still, it's not completely great, the timing of this episode was very odd and it didn't make me feel like I was hoping an ending to the series at all. Someone that never watched Seinfeld could easily misunderstand this as a regular episode, not a finale.

edit 16/11/2020

Yeah, I was stupid. This finale actually ends the purpose the show is trying to show. I guess I was focusing too much on the comedy side, while there is a whole meaning to this show about nothing... Even though it is indeed a show about nothing, it shows a different way the reality in the show could've ended: which is an absurd, that's why it fits perfectly. Everything in this show is an absolute absurd and at the same time relatable, because it shows how people really are in the inside, except in Seinfeld the inside of people is portrayed in real life by Elaine, Seinfeld, George and Kramer. Of course, people doing all these selfish and bad things that people always wanted to do but never did would be something to laugh at, because of the comedy and how relatable it can be. It's like if every character in the show were unique, never did anything someone would do in real life. That is why they end up in jail for being "super jerks". And still, at the end, nothing changed. No character development, everyone is still the same and nothing/no one will change the way they are.

Yeah, this finale grew on me. I'm giving it a 10.