Final not so bad on repeat viewing.

Like most of you I sat through the final episode hoping for something great and was dissapointed. What really bothered me was the ending and having them jailed for actions that we found enjoyable throughout the years.

However after watching it again with the perspective of it being just another episode I found it enjoyable. Skip the last 5 minutes and it could pass for any other episode out there. As for my botherment about them being jailed - it went away when I realized that their reactions fit perfectly with their characters. They just didn't care that they were going to the bighouse. Most people would be going apeshit about it and these people thought it would be a relief to get a vacation from it all. Even being thrown in with more "hardened criminal" types didn't bother them, well maybe George was a little nervous. Now that's the characters we love and enjoy, at least I do. Although I did think Elaine should have been in the final jailhouse stand-up though.

As for the critics of the ending, what else could they have done? Newhart pulled the dream ending (best of all time IMO.) Countless others have had the final marrage or move endings. St. Elsewhere had the kid's imagination ending. Even a death ending has been used before by Magnum PI (even though it was revised when it was picked up again the next season.) And then you have the life goes on happily endings of just about every other show. No one has done a "everybody goes to prison and likes it" ending before so I give Seinfeld a big pat on the back for that.

Face it, no matter what they would have done people would be bitching about it anyways.

Melissa "Budgie" Dirmeyer wrote:

I don't think so. A mediocre episode would have satisfied a LOT of people. That was PAINFUL!

If somone suggested this ending beforehand that their self centered selfish characters get their desserts in the end, it would have sounded brilliant to everyone in theory. An anti climatic ending is exactly how Seifeld was to end. I have a deja vu kind of feeling like I;ve seen Jerry doing a stand up routine in jail and that is good karma.

I completely agree!

Watching the finale a second time (and I, as many others, was dissapointed the first time), I found the show entertaining and very appropriate.

It was an entertaining "flashback" through the years (revealing, even with the pre-finale clip show). And, most of all, it was justice. These folks, who we all have grown to love over the years, truly are assholes. For them to finally receive punishment for their years of apathy towards everything and everyone was perfectly fitting.

Just like a song that you don't like the first time you hear it, this episode seems to take a bit of reviewing. I went to work this morning, trashing the episode just like everyone else, but got home tonight and changed my mind.

If you're really a fan, watch it at least once more - maybe you still won't like it... but, at least some fans may feel a bit of closure.

BTW - the post-show standup was GREAT even the first time. How can you not think that was funny?

the

the

we

finally

Just like Co-stanza.

Exactly! That's what I thought the first time I watched it, and loved it, and that's still what I feel after a second viewing (except for the fast forward through the Geraldo parts--I just couldn't watch that again). The closure was the most important thing, and why I didn't want it to just be another episode.

Apparently they didn't. Tastes vary. I thought it was great both times. I think the bottom line is you can't please all of the people all of the time.