Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-35206895-20180823151924/@comment-31231929-20180824020456

I much prefer The Final Battle to Leaving Storybrooke. While the actual series finale was good as a season finale, the season 6 finale felt more like a true series finale. It encapsulated the previous six seasons in an emotional and epic 2-episode adventure that brought Emma and everyone else's stories full circle. Leaving Storybrooke focused mainly on Regina, Henry, Rogers, and Rumple as well as Alice and Wish Henry, but because Regina wasn't the main character and I feel she didn't have a lot of development, the series finale focusing a lot on her didn't sit right with me. Of course, since season 7 was a reboot and didn't have most of the main characters from before, I don't think the finale would have felt like a series finale without focusing on the main-main characters. Meaning I felt like there should be more of Emma, OG Killian, and Snowing. But that wasn't possible due to actor availability and the fact that the show needed to wrap up the new character's stories. I think that if Season 7 didn't happen, The Final Battle would be a bit different. For instance, the Darkness would have been destroyed and there would be flashforwards showing Baby Hope, maybe Henry leaving home (like the beginning of season 7), and little snippet's of the characters' future's in general. I don't think the United Realms would have been a thing, but I do think that there would have been a celebration of sorts. I would like to have seen a naming ceremony for Hope or a birthday party for Emma. Or maybe a combination of the two. The show starting with Emma celebrating her birthday alone and the show ending with her celebrating it with her loved ones and naming her daughter after the essence of the show would have been perfect. But, alas, that was not to be. Leaving Storybrooke was a good episode, but after watching it, I felt kind of empty. I think it was because Regina's coronation and the camera panning down Main Street didn't give me as much feelings as the happy ending montage of The Final Battle. The only thing I was really happy about during the final scene was the Swan-Jones family stuff. I enjoyed the scene a lot, but it didn't feel like what I think the final scene of my favorite show should have felt like.