2012’s Highlights and Lowlights According to the Wetpaint Entertainment Editors

Highlight: Game of Thrones Season 2, Episode 9: "Blackwater"
Balancing explosive spectacle and some of the best character moments of the season, Game of Thrones Season 2's penultimate episode, "Blackwater," was unquestionably one of the most exciting TV events of the year. The titular battle spanned many chapters in the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, but the episode blew my sky-high expectations out of the water — literally and figuratively.

Lowlight: Christina Hendricks Doesn't Win the Emmy. Again.
I really thought this was Christina Hendricks's year, and I'm still angry she didn't take home the statue for "The Other Woman," where she turned in one of the best performances of the year in any category. I know this is blasphemy, but I honestly don't think Dame Maggie Smith's work on Downton Abbey — which is largely comedic — holds a candle to what Christina does week after week on Mad Men, at least not when we're talking about displaying dramatic chops.