Last night I watched the season finale of “Smallville” and the final episode of “Angel.”

I was really impressed with “Smallville” — particularly the last few minutes, in which they managed to juxtapose at least seven different cliffhangers:

1) What will happen to Clark (naked, ooh) on the other side of the cave wall?
2) Who poisoned Lex and what will happen to him?
3) Will Lionel be executed?
4) Will Lana really get on the plane to Paris? (God, I hope so.)
5) Will Chloe and her father survive the explosion?
6) Will Jonathan survive Jor-El’s attack?
7) What’s that big symbol doing on the ground of the Kent farm?

Also, is Clark’s friendship with Lex really over?

It was neat that the writers managed to bring in Kara, who, in the original Superman mythology, was Supergirl. I was disappointed that she turned out to be human, though. And I loved hearing the opening movement of Mozart’s “Requiem,” one of my favorite pieces of music, during the last few minutes, even if I was distracted by the editing of the music.

As for “Angel” — what a way to go. I wasn’t looking at the clock, so I was utterly floored when the words “Executive Producer: Joss Whedon” suddenly appeared on the screen at the onset of the huge apocalyptic battle. There won’t be a Buffyverse next fall, so we’ll have no idea what happens, unless there’s a Spike spinoff (unlikely) or a TV movie (unlikely) or a comic book series (possibly). If none of those pans out, the surviving characters will be frozen in time, forever on the brink of battle. I liked it — well done.

Poor Wesley; he really didn’t have anything to live for anymore, did he? His character has come so far since he first appeared in the Sunnydale High School library in season 3 of “Buffy.” As for Lorne, I was moved by his elegant, disillusioned “Good night, folks.” And Spike — he unfortunately never had much to do during his one season on “Angel,” which was anticlimactic given his heroic sacrifice at the Hellmouth last spring. But I loved his recitation of the “effulgent” poem. It’s so much fun when Joss winkingly alludes to prior events.

Anyway, just one more finale to go — “Alias” on Sunday (although I have to catch up on the three most recent episodes first) — and then that’s it until the fall. Oh, the vast TV-less wasteland of summer… I guess I’ll finally be able to make some headway on my Netflix list and start tuning into Turner Classic Movies again. My TiVo will not go gently into that good night.