Sunday Best: Drama TV Show 2011

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