After 12 seasons and 24 years on the air, HBO’s long-running sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm lastly ended on April 7, 2024. Atoning for the poorly-received finale of Seinfeld in 1998, collection creator Larry David gave followers loads of amusing callbacks to Curb‘s funniest moments and most iconic characters. As an illustration, Jerry Seinfeld seems within the finale to assist Larry get out of jail, and so they joke that their authorized maneuvering is how they need to have ended Seinfeld three many years earlier.

After all, Jerry’s look within the finale of Curb calls to thoughts the Season 7 finale, aptly titled “Seinfeld.” Within the Season 7 finale, Larry tries to win over his estranged spouse Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) by providing her a number one function in a fictional Seinfeld reunion episode. When the plan backfires, Larry is compelled to rewrite the script and alter the plot of the metafictional reunion. In the meantime, authentic Seinfeld actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards play themselves and reprise their iconic characters Elaine Benes, George Costanza, and Cosmo Kramer. The entire episode is so wild and self-referential that it begs the query: is the Seinfeld reunion on Curb thought of canon? It is time to discover out as soon as and for all.

What Occurs in The Seinfeld Reunion on Curb?

Written by Larry David, “Seinfeld” is the Season 7 finale and seventieth general episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry has rounded up the unique forged of the hit ’90s sitcom, Seinfeld, to tape a stay efficiency of a fictional reunion present. The fictional reunion takes place after the 1998 finale of Seinfeld, which was infamously panned by followers and critics. The Curb episode goes backwards and forwards between the taped reunion and the backstage drama behind the scenes.

To win his spouse Cheryl again, Larry guarantees her the main feminine function within the Seinfeld reunion. Larry casts Cheryl as Amanda, George Costanza’s (Jason Alexander) ex-wife. George and his spouse made a fortune by creating iToilet, an iPhone app that directs customers to the cleanest public rest room in any metropolis worldwide. Nonetheless, George misplaced his wealth by investing in Bernie Madoff’s unlawful Ponzi scheme. Earlier than he misplaced his fortune, Amanda left George and took half of his cash in a divorce settlement. Many of the episode entails George attempting to win Amanda again and guaranteeing that she did not marry him for cash.

Elsewhere, the reunion episode reveals that, someday after 1998, Jerry donated sperm that was used to impregnate Elaine. Their daughter is stored at nighttime and refers to Jerry as “Uncle Jerry” till he learns the reality about her actual father. On the finish of the fictional reunion episode, the kid refers to Jerry as “Daddy.” Whereas George’s try and win again Amanda parallels Larry attempting to win again Cheryl, the plot involving Jerry and Elaine’s parenthood is extraordinarily far-fetched in any context.

What Occurs Behind the Scenes of the Seinfeld Reunion on Curb?

Aside from the taped model of the Seinfeld reunion, the episode depicts the actual actors taking part in themselves behind the scenes. Julia Louis-Dreyfus performs as herself and throws a gala for the discharge of Jason Alexander’s memoir, Appearing With out Appearing, which Larry and Jerry make enjoyable of for being too transient. In the meantime, when Larry witnesses how shut Cheryl and Jason turn into throughout rehearsals, he turns into jealous and tries to drive them aside. To take action, Larry rapidly rewrites the Seinfeld reunion script and makes it so George and Amanda don’t get collectively on the finish.

Jason storms off the set in a huff over the rewritten script, forcing Larry to take his place. Whereas George Costanza has all the time been thought of to be based mostly on Larry David, Larry’s efficiency as George is so unhealthy that he leaves the present as nicely. When Cheryl overhears Larry admitting that he solely wrote the episode to win her again, she additionally pulls out of the present. Larry watches the episode’s premiere and is shocked to be taught that Amanda is being performed by an actress named Virginia (Elisabeth Shue) as a substitute of Cheryl, a lady they met one episode earlier.

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Cheryl arrives at Larry’s door, and regardless of blaming her departure on the brevity of Jason’s e book, she admits that it wasn’t the identical after Larry left. Larry confesses that he prefers the unique ending of the episode that he wrote, by which George and Amanda reunite, which is a thinly veiled reference to their very own marriage. Larry and Cheryl kiss and make up at the tip of the Season 7 finale, though Larry can not help however be aggravated by the ring stain Cheryl induced on the espresso desk.

Is the Reunion Episode of Seinfeld on Curb Canon?

Whereas arguments could be made between each side, the Seinfeld reunion on Curb just isn’t thought of official canon. There are too many metafictional shifting components to contemplate it such. For instance, Cheryl David is the one who takes middle stage within the Seinfeld reunion, not real-life actress Cheryl Hines. Casting a fictional character in a phony reunion episode hardly constitutes canon. Since Cheryl David doesn’t exist throughout the parameters of Seinfeld‘s overarching universe, the episode cannot be thought of an actual extension of the world Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer inhabit.

Equally, the character of Virginia (Shue) originated in Curb, solely to seem as Cheryl’s substitute within the Seinfeld reunion episode. It is practically unattainable for a personality from one present who by no means appeared in Seinfeld to out of the blue seem within the reunion and fake she’s been a serious a part of the continuity for years. It is easy to just accept recurring characters like Newman (Wayne Knight) showing within the reunion, however Virginia starring as Amanda after changing Cheryl is a bridge too far.

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Furthermore, Larry David has all the time insisted that he is by no means been fascinated with making an actual Seinfeld reunion. By making a quasi-reunion on Curb, he is been capable of finding a center floor and appease followers with out formally extending Seinfeld‘s canon. It is a type of cake-and-eat-it-too hedge David makes to offer fan service whereas staying true to himself. Within the episode, Jerry even jokes, “We already screwed up one finale” and insists on not repeating the error.

How Curb’s Finale Rectifies Seinfeld’s Finale

Within the excellent Curb finale, Larry is distributed to jail in Georgia for illegally giving water to a voter in line on a scorching day. After being jailed for the sort act, the finale appeared to take an analogous course because the ill-fated Seinfeld finale. Alas, it is fairly the alternative. Within the Seinfeld reunion, Jerry and his associates are despatched to jail for avoiding good Samaritan regulation by laughing at an overweight man being robbed at gunpoint. Quite the opposite, Larry was imprisoned within the Curb finale for doing an excellent deed deemed unlawful in Georgia.

Within the last moments of Curb, Jerry will get the decide to declare a mistrial and Larry is ready free after recognizing a sequestered juror breaking the regulation. As Larry and Jerry stroll out of jail, they joke that that is how they need to have ended the Seinfeld finale 26 years earlier, however declare they did not consider it again then. Whereas it is unclear if the Curb finale shall be thought of Seinfeld canon, in a roundabout method, Larry and Jerry rectified the poorly acquired ending of Seinfeld in a way more satisfying method. As a substitute of conscripting the characters to a chronic jail sentence, Larry walks away a free man because of the intelligence of his good friend Jerry Seinfeld. All advised, the Seinfeld reunion in Curb Your Enthusiasm is extra meta than canon.