Some Thoughts about the Arrow Series Finale and the Series as a Whole

I finished the series finale of Arrow and have been reflecting on it.  To be honest, as an episode, I can't say I really liked it.  The thing that I wasn't terribly fond of is that it was like the denouement of a movie.  But, if you look at the entire final season as one long episode then the episode becomes a lot better.  I appreciated that they brought all sorts of people back and that they reunited Oliver and Felicity.  I also appreciated that they wrapped up people's stories where Oliver was involved and how he impacted their lives.

I think what got me is that they wrapped up Oliver's story with the Arrow episode of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", so this episode felt a little superfluous.  In many ways, the way I felt about the episode mirror the way I felt about the series.

I loved this episode from the beginning.  The first two seasons were absolutely awesome and had two of the greatest Arrowverse villains:  Malcolm Merlyn and Deathstroke.  The third season was a let down because R'as Al Ghul was not that great of a villain, Season 4 gave us Damien Dahrk who is another awesome villain and season 5 gave us Prometheus, who I also enjoyed.  Unfortunately, Season 5 also gave us New Team Arrow who I cannot say that I liked.  Seasons 6 and 7 had the worst villains in Arrow, particularly Ricardo Diaz.  Season 8 was enjoyable, but not as good at the first 2 seasons since the show had lost some of its luster after seasons 6 and 7.

I do also love that Arrow spawned a whole universe of other shows and gave us the yearly crossovers.  For that alone, I will always love this show.  But that being said, I am in no hurry to rewatch the show again.  It's not that I don't like the show, but I think I need time between the show ending and me rewatching it.

If this seems ambivalent, it is because it is reflecting how I am feeling right now.  With most series finales, I get nostalgic about the show, but I don't have that with Arrow.  I am not sure how much of that is because the characters may carry on in other Arrowverse shows and how much of it has to do with the main wrap-up being during "Crisis".  I wanted to be sadder about the show ending, I wanted to feel a sense of nostalgia, but I don't. 

I was really hoping that writing this would help me sort through things, but it hasn't, so I suspect that only time will help me with that.  I may come back in a while with new thoughts, I am not sure.