Neal Justin: ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ ends by re-making the ‘Seinfeld’ finale

Larry David has never apologized for the much maligned “Seinfeld” finale. And he’s not about to start now.

The acclaimed writer and actor used Sunday’s end of his long-running HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to double down on the last episode of the NBC 1990s mega-hit, daring viewers to hate it all over again.

The results were less than hilarious, but it was an appropriate, clever act of defiance.

More than 75 million people watched that 1998 episode of “Seinfeld,” but you might not remember the details. A quick recap: Jerry and the only three people on Earth that can stand him are arrested for breaking an obscure Good Samaritan law in Massachusetts.

They are imprisoned after characters from their past pop up to give jurors past examples of their extreme indifference to other people. David, who co-created the series, came back after a two-year hiatus to help write the send-off.

The entire 12th season of “Curb,” which had its debut season in 2000, has dropped hints that its finale would echo the end of David’s previous show. In the season premiere, Larry gets arrested in Georgia for giving water to someone in a voting line, violating a state law.

The trial, which took up much of Sunday’s 55-minute episode, consisted of characters from the past getting one last chance to gripe, triggering clips of Larry’s most cringe-worthy moments: Stealing shoes from a Holocaust museum, beating a black swan to death with a golf club, hiring a prostitute so he could use the carpool lane.

The trip down memory lane did give us one last chance to salute some beloved guest stars, from political whistleblower Alexander Vindman to Bruce Springsteen, but it felt more like one of those high school reunions. The series finale seemed like a good idea on paper, but once you’re there, you kind of regret making the trip.

What did work was watching David treat his ordeal as if he was trying to rub a grass stain off his pants.

He was too obsessed with killing a fly to listen to his defense attorney (Sanaa Lathan) present her opening statement. Instead of studying his case at night, he was browbeating Richard Lewis’ girlfriend (a brilliant Allison Janney) over claims that she tried to commit suicide.

He sealed his doom by making his star character witness turn against him after he and his manager (Jeff Garlin) steal her recipe for salad dressing.

This was “Curb” at its best, a curmudgeon so irritated by petty annoyances that he can’t — or won’t — see the big picture.

Those hoping for a full-fledged “Seinfeld” reunion had to be a little disappointed; only Jerry Seinfeld appeared, springing his longtime buddy from jail on a technicality.

“This is how we should have ended the finale,” Larry barks as he departs the cell.

The legacy of “Seinfeld” was prominent even without cameos from Kramer, Elaine and George.

In the finale’s most telling scene, a mom tries to get her son to apologize to Larry for accidentally hitting him in the head with a toy ball. David isn’t about to help her out.

“I’m 76 years old, and I’ve never learned a lesson in my entire life,” Larry tells the bemused kid.

That was theme of both classic sitcoms. And that’s the reason “Curb” will be missed.