Satisfied.

Yup, I'm satisfied with the ending. I've loved the show since the very first ep, and stuck with it through that 4-episode summer special.

I was watching this with a group, and some of them just didn't like it at all. I can understand why... I mean honestly, NBC hyped the hell out of this episode. Perhaps they wanted to give people the impression that this would be Newhart and Cheers ... COMBINED! I can see where some casual Seinfeld fans might be turned off. "That's it?"

Instead, we get what we have. I think it was good. There have been many, many comments over the years about how insensitive these characters have been, mostly from non-fans, and now the tables have turned. Sort of. The ending shows that these characters probably won't grow in that year's time. They never will. They've always been insensitive, selfish kids...

...but that's what's so great about them! This was ultimately a dose of revenge and "the real world" gaining on the guys.

If this was a typical sitcom, we would have seen the characters sharing a cup of coffee at Monk's, or hanging out at Jerry's place, as usual. But come on. This is Seinfeld. This is not a typical sitcom, and never has been. Why put a typical ending on it?

No, it's no Newhart, but that went for the laughs. This went for something else - closure - and succeeded.

Paul

I agree full-heartedly.

I've got to admit that for a moment there I thought the gang (or maybe one) would beat the rap when I saw Newman starting to choke on his cheese puffs in the courtroom. I thought for a moment that we were going to see Jerry jump over the bannister and give Newman CPR/Mouth to Mouth and save his life thereby showing he learned his lesson and would no longer be a guilty bystander and beat the rap. :P

I also have the feeling that a lot of the witnesses we didn't see on the stand actually took the stand during the filming and so "nobody" actually knew who was going to be seen.....

I found this to be a satisfying finale. Very Seinfeld-esque

Linda

On Fri, 15 May 1998 10:23:01 -0700, IrishRose wrote:

It was a very funny episode (probably one of the funniest they've ever made), but I think the ending was a bit weak. Just having them go to prison for a year didn't really live up to the creative and original talent the writers on the show have showed in the past. It seemed like they looked at this great script and just couldn't figure out how to end it. Otherwise, I loved it! -James-

The writer definitely wanted the ending to have some sort of symbolic significance. The last few lines spoken contained no laugh track. The camera pulls away with a solemn tone, and even though the stuff the characters are saying is as funny as everything else they say, no laugh track was present. I watched the episode again yesterday, and it was better than I originally thought. There were a couple of weak spots (Babu wagging his finger back and forth like a metronome acknowledged the audience's presence too much), and the pacing seemed off in a couple of spots. And I hated the Kramer-swimmer's-ear thing. But in the end, it was better than I first thought.

Yeah, they should have been sentenced to be the fat man's butlers.