Despite the million and one cancellations, the 2012-2013 TV season was pretty spectacular. Next week are the Emmy nominations and you’ll be able to see my fake Emmy ballot next week, but I thought we were due for a bit more introspection regarding the TV season. So now, without further ado, here are the top 10 moments from the past year in TV!
SPOILERS…obviously.
10. Teen Wolf heads to a Gay Club (Teen Wolf 2.06 “Frenemy”)
Of all of the foolish things that happen on Teen Wolf, this might be the most foolish thing the show every attempted. It wasn’t just that these underage characters were in a gay club, or that the main gay character on the show (Danny) was trying to get over his ex, but that the show did this with so much less fanfare than one would think and manage to put some terrifying action in it as well.
9. Jess and Nick Have Sex (New Girl 2.23 “Virgins”)
There were many moments from this season that could have landed here but this moment was so pivotal and well done I had to give it kudos. I want to applaud the creators of New Girl for not being afraid of the crazy chemistry and actually making their first time feel organic and special.
8. Carrie Arrests Brody (Homeland 2.04 “New Car Smell”)
I thought about going for that crazy bananas explosion at the CIA headquarters here, but this moment was so therapeutic for both the audience and Carrie Matheson, who finally got to arrest the man who had basically driven her to the brink last season. It was an amazingly tense scene the led to one of the best episodes of Homeland.
7. “My husband doesn’t apologize. Not even to me” (House of Cards)
More than any other moment on House of Cards, the conversation that contains this quote really set the tone for how dark, twisted and well written this show was. Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey made for the perfect Machivelian duo and Wright’s ice queen performance was just stunning.
6. Alicia leaves Lockhart Gardner (The Good Wife)
The Good Wife went barreling into it’s season finale with episode after episode of high quality material, so it only made sense that the season would end with Alicia making a bold decision to join Cary in his venture to start a new firm. Even though during the episode you could see the decision coming from a mile away, but the editing and the impact it had on the show make it a wonderful moment.
5. Jaime gets his hand chopped off (Game of Thrones 3.03 “Walk of Punishment”)
Had the #1 event not happened, this would have been the most shocking thing to happen on this season’s Game of Thrones. One should never watch a show like this and expect bad things not to happen to characters, but the Kingslayer losing his sword hand after managing to save Brienne from rape was particularly hard to watch.
4. Sister Mary Rapes the Monsignor (American Horror Story: Asylum 2.10 “The Name Game”)
This past season of American Horror Story was a bit hit or miss for me but my mouth was on the floor when they pulled the trigger on a possessed Sister Mary raping the Monsignor. Everything from her wearing Sister Jude’s red negligee to the coarse language she used to one of the few instances on TV where a woman raped a man, this was one harrowing scene.
3. The President kills Supreme Court Justice Verna Thorton (Scandal 2.13 “Nobody Likes Babies”)
Scandal is good for giving you a cliff hanger at the end of every episode and there are PLENTY of moments from the final few episodes that could have made it. But nothing had a bigger implication on the plot than when President Fitzgerald Grant murdered Supreme Court Justice Verna Thorton after she revealed to him about the election rigging. Not only did we see a president murder someone on TV, but also it provided us with this excellent fan video set to Chris Brown’s No Air.
2. The Name Game (American Horror Story: Asylum 2.10 “The Name Game”)
We expect crazy shit to happen to happen on American Horror Story, but nothing was more surprising than this musical interlude that sprung up in the middle of an episode post-Sister Jude’s electroshock therapy session. Jessica Lange was amazing in this scene and Evan Peters was so much fun.
1.The Red Wedding (Game of Thrones 3.09 “The Rains of Castamere”)
There is no other moment from the past season and I’d argue any season of any TV show that so upended my expectations, so crushed my spirit that I can’t even think about this scene without wanting to jump off a cliff like Pocahontas.
I wrote about my feelings regarding this scene a while back and while my spirit has regained some of it’s joy, it’ll never be fully whole.
Sidenote: One of y’all miscreants actually posted The Red Wedding scene on YouTube and I just…I shan’t watch this scene ever again but if you were wondering just how powerful it was give it a look. Then chase it with this fan reaction video.