Seinfeld: Season Nine

Closing out a series isn’t easy — most shows miss the mark that satisfies everyone — but rarely does a show hit the mark that satisfies no one. Well, somehow Seinfeld — the "Greatest TV Show of All-Time,” according to TV Guide — accomplished just that in its two-part finale. And yet even after nine years such a blunder fails to tarnish its legacy. The final season took the shows cascading weirdness to new heights, despite keeping the storylines coherent and hilarious. Highlights include unforgettable moments such as the "two face” girlfriend, "serenity now!,” a guest appearance by Wilford "Quaker Oats” Brimley in Kramer’s stand-off with the postal service, George re-enacting Frogger, and the backwards episode "The Betrayal,” which here has the option to watch forwards. Unsurprisingly, it loses all of its charm. The standout episode though is "The Reverse Peephole,” which introduced the "man fur” and "European carry-all” into every day language. The commentary with Alexander, Dreyfus and Patrick Warburton (Puddy) reveals Joe Mayo, the other "man fur” owner, was the name of a stage hand on the show, as well as the ironic fact that Alexander actually injured his back carrying the giant wallet in his back pocket. It’s oddly fascinating stuff, in the most Seinfeld-ian of ways. "The Last Lap” and "Scenes from the Roundtable” look back at certain elements of the series. The latter, however, gathers the fab four and Larry David for a discussion that’s full of typically wistful laughs, but it’s funniest to see David semi-bitterly discuss the material that followed his departure. The best bit though has to be the discussion about the finale, where Seinfeld explains it was "big,” whereas the show was used to working on a "small” scale, and it needed a "distinctive, potent finish.” They admit the hype and expectations were out of control and nothing would satisfy everyone, as well as whether or not the timing was right to say goodbye. Sadly though, there isn’t a commentary for the finale, which is disappointing, considering it’d be nice for someone to explain why basically every decision was the wrong one. As usual, the rest of the fixings are there, including "Yada, Yada, Yada,” "In the Vault,” "Sein-Imation” and "Notes About Nothing.” (Sony)