Once Upon a Time and Arrow are two of my favorite shows, but one ended stronger than the other. I’ll start with Once Upon a Time because that one I found to be aggravating.

The focus for the second half of this season has been on keeping Emma from going dark. Everyone acted as though Emma was pure of heart, which all you have to do is look at her past to see she has a dark side. Granted, she’s turned her life around, but still she angers easily and isn’t trusting.

Before the finale, we saw Emma successfully fight off going dark. She wouldn’t let Gold win. Here comes the annoying part. In the end, he did.

I’ll skip the first half of the finale. While entertaining, the only major thing to come out of it is that Henry is now the author.

In the second half, Belle finds out the darkness is completely taking over Gold. She gets help and the wizard takes the darkness out of Gold and puts it into the hat. But it is too much darkness for the hat to hold. The darkness escapes and eventually surrounds Regina. I thought for sure Regina was going bad again. A bad Regina is so much fun.

But would I get my bad Regina back for next season? No. Emma, ever the hero, saves Regina by sticking the dagger into the darkness and allowing it to claim her. Emma is now the Dark One.

After wasting half of a season on keeping Emma light, she ends up dark anyway. I’m annoyed and wonder how long I’m going to have to watch Emma as the Dark One. I hope it’s only for the first half of the next season.

Now, it’s time to discuss Arrow, which was awesome. Oliver’s plan to take out the virus and Ra’s al Ghul before getting to Starling City fails. He returns to his lair with Nyssa where he’s greeted by an angry Diggle and Felicity.

Despite the anger, they all work together to come up with a plan to stop Ra’s before he can release the virus. Unfortunately, the plan fails, but it leaves a clue as to the next season’s villain — Damien Darhk, a former member of the League of Assassins.

Malcolm and company are able to contain the virus threat and Oliver has a final battle with Ra’s. Oliver beats Ra’s only to be shot by the police. He goes over the bridge and Felicity, in Ray’s Atom suit, flies in and saves him.

The last few minutes gave us a new hero and a new Ra’s. Thea becomes known as Speedy. I love that she is part of the team keeping Starling City safe.

As part of an agreement with Malcolm, Oliver gives Malcolm the Ra’s ring, making Malcolm the head of the League of Assassins. I figure nothing good can come of that.

It looks like Diggle will have a costume next season and Ray will be getting his own show, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Also, we finally have Olicity. Oliver gave up the Arrow to drive off into the sunset with Felicity. I don’t expect his retirement to last, but it’s nice to see Felicity and Oliver together for now.

What did you think of these finales?