Arrow, the founder of the Arrowverse, has officially come to an end as of January 28 when the Stephen Amell-led series aired its final hour. Following a massive buildup to Crisis on Infinite Earths and finishing off Oliver’s story, the series concluded the series that began The CW’s massive shared DC TV universe. While the Green Arrow mythology may live on in the potential Green Arrow and the Canaries spinoff, Oliver’s presence will leave a void for the Arrowverse going forward. As the series began in 2012, the Emerald Archer has gone through a massive amount of stories along with the show’s supporting cast. From intense big foes to game-changing stories, Arrow’s run has always started and finished its seasons with a bang.
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With most of the seasons (except the final season) being a 22-23 episode run, a lot still goes down following the premieres and ahead of the finales. But regardless, Arrow always knew how to wrap up a season on a major note. Some left it at cliffhangers while others were more focused on finishing everything off before starting a new season. As Arrow has now concluded, it’s time to look at all the season finales from the 8 seasons.
Schism (Season 4)
The fourth season of the series became one of the more controversial ones for Arrow. With an ambition to explore a magic-based big bad and let the show head into a brighter direction, “Schism” was the columniation of Arrow’s messiest season. Neal McDonough’s Damien Darhk started out as a promising antagonist for Oliver as the hero had to take on a new kind of threat. But with the series not really having a good grasp at the supernatural element, the finale didn’t do a lot of good for the villain.
“Schism” didn’t stand out as a wrapping point for a season of the series. With an expected showdown that didn’t shine a lot to the team going through a big status quo change, this was an underwhelming finish for season 4.
My Name is Oliver Queen (Season 3)
Arrow’s third season still remains as one of the darkest years of the DC drama of all time. Having Batman foe Ra’s al Ghul (Matt Nable) enter the Arrowverse turned out to be one of the most underwhelming adaptations of a DC character. Throughout the season, the drama increased as did the tension between the characters.
By the time season 3 had gotten to its final stretch of episodes, the storyline had overstayed its welcome. “My Name is Oliver Queen” was ultimately just a finale that ended one of the weaker seasons of the series.
Life Sentence (Season 6)
The sixth season allowed Arrow to experiment quite a lot. With the series no longer stuck with having to tell any further flashback-stories, season 6 had more room to explore the present more than ever. But it was also the year when they tried something new by doing a Legion of Doom-inspired story, uniting several familiar foes from the series. By the end of this season, Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) was the last baddie for Team Arrow to tackle. “Life Sentence” was one of the finales to change up the series forever with Oliver revealing himself to the world as the Green Arrow before being sent to prison.
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After a deal with the FBI to help capture Diaz in exchange for turning himself and granting his team immunity, “Life Sentence” ended big. Following this finale, it made the wait for season 7 even longer as this was truly going to change Oliver’s story for the rest of Arrow’s run.
You Have Saved This City (Season 7)
Having learned that season 8 would be Arrow’s final season, it made the season 7 finale even more special. The seventh year of the series was another experimental phase for the show with a new showrunner, Beth Schwartz, being in charge. Through new leadership, came new storytelling and approaches which paid off by the season finale. “You Have Saved This City” was one of the most emotionally charged hours as far as season finale goes.
For Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), it was the character’s final time being a series regular as Oliver’s fate for season 8 was revealed. Even though Emiko and the Ninth Circle saga didn’t get the best payoff, it was a strong finale for the main characters with Oliver learning about his future death in the coming Crisis.
Sacrifice (Season 1)
Season 1 will always be one of the stronger seasons for Arrow as it started and finished off fantastic. Using one of the most famous Green Arrow villains in Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) a.k.a. the Dark Archer was one of the best decisions for season 1. That paid off greatly in the season 1 finale “Sacrifice” as it really lived up to its title.
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While it wouldn’t be the last time the city was under big attacks, “Sacrifice” will always be one of the better ones. The biggest takeaway still is the tragic death of Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), even though this death is undone thanks to the Crisis. But it was Donnell and Amell’s heartbreaking performances that capped off a solid finale to what had been a strong first season.
Lian Yu (Season 5)
Season 5 served, in many ways, as a soft relaunch for the series after season 3 and 4 were received with mixed feelings. After returning to what made Arrow as strong as it was, the fifth season succeeded with powerful stories, a remarkable big bad in Prometheus (Josh Segarra) and more.
Having spent almost a full year with Adrian Chase as Oliver’s biggest challenge, the season finale “Lian Yu” became one of the most memorable finales. With the final showdown literally taking place at the infamous island, “Lian Yu” was another game-changing hour for the series. Despite ending Adrian’s run on the show, the baddie had one final surprise as he blew up the island. By that, it left Oliver forced to watch as Lian Yu gets destroyed, with his friends and allies still trapped there.
Unthinkable (Season 2)
Season 2 still gets recognized as being one of Arrow’s best seasons as it fleshed out this version of the DC Universe further. With Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) finally getting to take the lead as big bad, the Deathstroke arc was one of the more enjoyable long-arcs for the series in retrospect. While the show got fleshed out by expanding the main characters’ roles and introducing new players, season 2 was a bundle of joy. It was this season that began the official birth of the Arrowverse as Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen made his entry early on, setting up The Flash.
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For “Unthinkable”, the finale for season 2 culminated with several showdowns, including the one between the Arrow and Deathstroke. It also began the foreshadowing of certain characters’ evolution into their respective comic book counterparts.
Fadeout (Season 8)
The final episode of the series is the best finale for Arrow out of all of them that have happened. Following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, “Fadeout” continued the emotional fallout with Oliver still dead in this new Earth. The series finale reveals several changes that Oliver did to Earth-Prime’s continuity, primarily through the resurrection of a lot of dead characters who had been integral to Arrow since the start. But in the end, Oliver still stayed dead as the world comes to terms with the Green Arrow’s passing and the sacrifice he made.
Even though they held on to the stakes of Oliver’s decisions in the Crisis, fans of the character still got, in a way, the happy ending for the hero. The final scene reveals that Oliver gets joined by Felicity in the afterlife, thanks to the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) taking her there in the season 7 finale from 2040. It’s a refreshing way for a superhero series to end as Oliver’s legacy lives on through his allies and loved ones while he lives happily ever after with Felicity.
NEXT: Arrow: All 8 Season Premieres, Ranked
