SMALLVILLE
Sometimes
a television series is more than the sum of its parts. On
Smallville, the acting is sometimes great, but not always. The
writing is sometimes top-notch, but not always. And the directing is
sometimes movie-quality, but not always. Yet with this last season
of Smallville, the producers have made an amazingly straight line
from the very first episode until the end. As with Battlestar
Galactica and Lost, everything in the final season has been leading
up to the series finale. This season has not been about the Big Bad
(i.e. Darkseid) but about Clark struggling against himself and his
destiny. We see the culmination of all of his relationships with all
of his relationships, be it with Tess, Ollie, Martha and Jonathon,
Chloe, Lex, and Lois. In fact the wedding scene in the last episode
reminded me more of something from Dawson's Creek than anything else.
But that is the genius of the show: Clark is defined not by his
powers, but by his relationships. All of the adventures he had
during the 10-year series were his hero trials. But he passes those
trials because of his character that has been shaped by those whom he
loves. Jonathon's last words to Clark, “Hold on to Smallville”
as he hands him the cape of his destiny, resonate because we now see
the connection between the two ideas: the hero and the man. When we
see Clark fly, wear the cape, and rush to the roof to the
nostalgia-inspiring John Williams score, we accept what has happened.
Clark grown up and has earned the right to call himself “Superman.”
Runners-up
-The
Killing
-The
Walking Dead
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