SATURDAY, MAY 18

8 pm Doctor Who (BBC America) | Season finale: The Doctor’s secret is discovered. (Next up: a 50th anniversary special that will air later this year.)

9 pm 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (HBO) | Artists including Usher, Don Henley, John Mayer, Public Enemy, Carole King and Jennifer Hudson perform to honor this year’s class – which includes Heart and Quincy Jones — during the three-hour event.

9 pm Orphan Black (BBC America) | Sarah’s actions pit the Orphans against each other.

10 pm 48 Hours (CBS) | The news journal investigates gang and drug wars in Chicago.

11:30 pm Saturday Night Live (NBC) | Season finale: Argo star/director Ben Affleck hosts with musical guest Kanye West. (SNL will be back next season)

SUNDAY, MAY 19

7 pm The Cleveland Show (Fox) | Back-to-back season (series?) finale: Dr. Fist reveals that Freight Train’s newly nice nature may be the result of dementia, and the kids’ schedules overwhelm Cleveland and Donna. (Unofficially cancelled.)

8 pm The 2013 Billboard Music Awards (ABC) | Performers at the three-hour ceremony include Pitbull, Christina Aguilera, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Prince.

8 pm The Simpsons (Fox) | Back-to-back season finale: If the guy Marge meets online tonight sounds like Family Guy‘s Peter Griffin (or Stewie, Brian or Quagmire), it’s because Seth MacFarlane provides his voice. (Yep, renewed.)

9 pm All-Star Celebrity Apprentice (NBC) | Two-hour season finale: Trace and Penn put the finishing touches on their charity event, and then The Donald and his hair fires one of them.

9 pm ACM Presents: Tim McGraw’s Superstar Summer Night (CBS) | Two hours: The country-music star hosts an evening of performances by his wife Faith Hill, Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Ne-Yo and Pitbull, among others.

9 pm North America (Discovery) | Miniseries premiere: Tom Selleck (Blue Bloods) narrates this two-hour foray into “the incredible array of wildlife that lives in our own backyard.” (Side note: The New Jersey Meadowlands are in my backyard, and I’m fairly certain I don’t want to know what’s living there.)

9 pm Game of Thrones (HBO) | King’s Landing hosts a wedding, and Daenerys meets the Titan’s Bastard.

9 pm Mr. Selfridge (PBS) | Two-hour season finale: Tragedy strikes on the day polar explorer Sir Earnest Shackleton comes to the store. (British network ITV has renewed the series for a second season; no word yet on when/if it will debut in the U.S.)

9 pm Family Guy (Fox) | Back-to-back season finale: A time machine malfunction creates big problems for Stewie and Brian in Vegas, and the Griffins get tossed from the posh Barrington Country Club. (Yep, renewed.)

10 pm Mad Men (AMC) | Don is disrupted by a surprise visitor. Peggy looks for inspiration. (Maybe she’ll find it in Dream Ted’s smoking jacket?)

THE PERFORMER | Maggie Q

THE SHOW | Nikita

THE EPISODE | “Til Death Do Us Part”

THE AIRDATE | May 17, 2013

THE PERFORMANCE | Maggie Q was tasked with a difficult job in Nikita‘s season ender: to portray her typically tough-as-nails heroine as she fluctuated from hopeless to hopefulness then back again a few dozen times — and did she ever deliver. From forcing down heartache after bidding a subtle so long to her Division family to accepting Michael and Alex’s assistance against Amanda to being wrongfully implicated in the President’s assassination, the actress effortlessly kept viewers riveted with every emotional choice

The actress was never more stunning than in the episode’s final moments. Having just discovered that she was at the center of a nationwide manhunt, Nikita vowed to leave her friends in peace. “I’m putting you all in the line of fire,” she confessed. Though they claimed otherwise, Q’s meek smile said it all: Nikita had succumbed to the hopelessness. And that’s why the last shot of the installment found a tearful Nikita alone and on the run.

At first, all that appeared to be left was the shell of the strong and stalwart leading lady Q spent three seasons creating. Then, with a flick of the eyes and a gut-wrenchingly vacant stare, the actress summoned a familiar Nikita: one who, while struggling to find the hope in her current circumstances, is resolute on doing what she believes is best — because putting her loved ones’ safety first is what Nikita does best.

HONORABLE MENTION | Revenge‘s Nick Wechsler
For two seasons now, Wechsler has been proving that when called upon, he can bust out the waterworks and break our hearts in the process. And, sadly for Jack, that skill came in handy when his brother Declan died in Sunday’s season finale, pushing the elder Porter to his breaking point. When Jack confronted Victoria, Wechsler showed off the perfect mix of devastation, malice, sadness — that parting tear! — and venom (“I would break the news to Charlotte very gently. You know how she takes these things”).