Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 7 Finale

Post date: Nov 25, 2009 2:30:54 AM

Sunday was both a sad and happy day . . .

Sad because Curb Your Enthusiasm's seventh season came to an end, and God knows when we will get an eighth. Larry David keeps us waiting far too long between seasons of what is probably the best comedy on television right now. Happy because it was the long-awaited Seinfeld reunion show!We've seen a few Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards cameos over the years in Curb, but finally we get them all together back on a near-perfect replication of the old set. Evidently, Monk's Diner is exactly the same as before, and Jerry's apartment is mostly the same with a few upgrades in furnishings and electronics. Kramer's back with the hair, George is still struggling with love and wishing ill on his mother . . . It's good stuff. Not quite great, though. I have to admit, this new final episode of Seinfeld has its moments, but I wouldn't call it brilliant. We only see a few minutes of it, and that may be why. The idea is that George made millions for inventing a new iPhone app that tracks your location and leads you to the nearest public bathroom, but he lost it investing in the Madoff ponzi scheme. We find out that Jerry is the father of Elaine's child via sperm donation. Why he didn't just just donate his man juice the natural way, we don't really know. And there's a classic Seinfeldian riff about restaurant napkin etiquette. Always great to see Jerry and George do some verbal ping pong for old time's sake.

All in all, it was an OK reunion show that wasn't all it could have been. Not that I counted, but I would guess that I laughed out loud less than on an average Curb episode, and far less than the average Curb season finale. It spends a little too much time with the setup and the behind-the-scenes Larry, Cheryl, and Jason love triangle in order to make sure we, the adoring audience, know that this isn't "your average reunion show" and that it fits within the regular arc of the storyline.

A month ago, I would never have thought I'd be saying this now: Although I enjoyed the reunion story arc, but the ending just didn't knock me off my feet. That's what I've come to expect from this show, so the bar is pretty high. I'll be glad for Curb to move on to a new theme . . . whenever Mr. David decides he wants to make another season, anyway.