2011-2012 Rank: Unranked
There are two characters on Game of Thrones right now who I originally very much didn’t like but feel the characters are being brought in a direction in which I will eventually like them. The first of those characters is The Hound (the other is later on in the list). He was one of the strongest and most feared warriors who was also aligned with the Lannisters. At the end of the previous season he left Kings Landings and offered to take Sansa with him to get her to safety. Sansa refused, but ironically The Hound found himself in the company of another, younger female stark. After a series of events, he would eventually become at the very least a travel companion for Arya, but you can see he is also protective of her. Though they may have been on opposite sides of the war, his soft spot for her allows him to become a sort of guardian. I think that will continue to grow and she may grow to trust him.
2011-2012 Rank: Unranked
**SPOILERS** I know the death of Robb’s father, Eddard Stark, in season one was incredibly shocking to those who didn’t read the book (myself included), but that was only the beginning. In one of the most intense episodes for me (I had heard there were a few shocking deaths before I saw the episode), I was clung to the edge of my seat waiting for it to happen, not knowing who would perish. Then it all came crashing down for the Starks yet again as Robb, King of the North, his mother Catelyn and his baby-carrying wife were all murdered by who they thought were allies. This is a huge blow for the North and I’m not sure how they will recover. Until then, Robb had become a successful leader in the war versus the Lannisters. It seems power has shifted back in their favor. As for the Stark family, their numbers are dwindling, leaving siblings Sansa, Arya, Bran, Rickon and Jon Snow as the remaining surviving members.
2011-2012 Rank: New Show
The new show from Battlestar Galactica creators premiered this past season with a marketing campaign focusing on the interconnection between the show and its corresponding video game. Defiance takes place in a world after various alien races came to Earth and a war led to the terraforming of Earth, giving it a completely new environment. The main character is Joshua Nolan, who is a veteran of the war, adopted father of an alien girl and into the first episode becomes the Chief Lawmaker in the town of Defiance (which is formerly St. Louis). Nolan is for the most part a moral guy who is trying to do right as a lawmaker. He of course has his challenges in this wild west-like town, but he has been effective and solid for a new show that's yet to find its footing.
2011-2012 Rank: 15 (-2)
Things haven’t exactly been easy for Rick since the zombie outbreak first occurred. This season was certainly no exception. His group found a new home at a prison, but securing the large complex wasn’t easy. His wife Lori died while giving birth to a baby girl which might very well belong to his now deceased best friend. His son has become a bit messed up since he was forced to kill his mom who became a zombie shortly after giving birth. And to top it all off, he now has a major adversary in The Governor, a power-hungry guy who wants to kill everyone that opposes him. At the end of the season, Rick and his gang helped the people who were once ruled by the Governor, but the Governor escaped and is still a threat. Now he’ll have to not only help care for his group but also the many newcomers. With the deaths of Lori, Andrea and T-Dog this season, Rick has now seen much of his original group killed. The only ones that remain are himself, his son Carl, Darryl, Carol and Glenn.
2011-2012 Rank: Summer Shows Previously Not Ranked
Dwight is an interesting character. He first appeared after the Chief, and Nathan's father, dies. Dwight revealed himself as being a cleaner for the Chief, helping to prevent the aftermath of Troubled-related incidents from reaching the general public. He has become a valuable asset to Audrey, Nathan and company in the protection of the Troubled and everyone around them.
2011-2012 Rank: New Character
**SPOILER** I didn't want to reveal Dr. Thredson's alter ego in the title, but it is discovered a few episodes into the season that he is also the maniac killer Bloodyface. Fortunately for him, Kit Walker is accused of being Bloodyface and Thredson was tasked as his psyciatric doctor. He is eventually undone by Lana, who he kidnapped and in a twisted way wanted her to treat him like a child. He was a truly twisted character, but one that helped make the show interesting and scary.
2011-2012 Rank: New Character, Previous Character Was 16 (+2)
Kit was locked in the Asylum for being accused of murdering his wife and claiming aliens took her. We later find out he was actually telling the truth and alien did in fact take her. Throughout the season he maintains he is innocent, but unfortunately the powers that be at the Asylum are mostly crazy themselves. The surgeon who discovers the alien implant inside Kit is a former Nazi doctor performing cruel experiments on the patients, and the pysciatrist who is supposed to help Kit turns out to be the killer that everyone thinks Kit is.
2011-2012 Rank: Unranked
As I mentioned with The Hound earlier in the list, Jamie is one of two characters on Game of Thrones this year then made a quick turnaround in my eyes. Last year I would have said he is one of my most despised characters on the show, but after a season of struggles and making some good decisions, he is becoming so much more likeable. The end of the season found Jamie finally getting back to King's Landing after an adventure in which he lost a hand and bonded with the right hand of one of their enemies, Catelyn Stark. I'm hoping Jamie gets away from is poisonous sister and partners up with Brienne.
2011-2012 Rank: New Character
The best new character addition to an already existing show was definitely Captain Hook to Once Upon a Time. He can certainly be frustrating at times as he is constantly going back and forth between sides, always looking out for his best interest. Though he isn't too loyal, he was given an interesting backstory that turned out to have a major impact on Rumpelstiltsken's backstory. Now the lead in to season 3 ended up revolving around him, as a small group of the main characters are travelling to Neverland to find Henry who was kidnapped by Hook's enemy, the EVIL Peter Pan. This makes me excited for season 3. A new direction and a really interesting twist on the classic fairy tales (as Once Upon A Time always does well).
2011-2012 Rank: Summer Shows Previously Not Ranked
Nathan is the sheriff of Haven and also happens to be troubled himself. He is unable to physically feel. He does however share an interesting bond with Audrey, as since she's immune to the Troubles he is able to feel her touch. This past season Nathan infiltrated a secret organization who violently protect troubled people. He also watched Audrey go away, as seems to be the only way to get rid of the Troubles. This is especially difficult for Nathan as he has fallen in love with Audrey.
2011-2012 Rank: Summer Shows Previously Not Ranked
"Jinksy" is a former ATF agent who was originally brought into the Warehouse as Pete's new partner when Myka left the Warehouse. That was a few seasons ago and since then Myka returned and Steve became partners (and best friends) with Claudia. At the end of the previous season, Steve was killed, but Claudia brought him back to life with the help of an artifiact. As with all artifacts, there was a catch. Steve and Claudia were bonded with each other, so every time one got hurt the other one did too. There were fortunately able to find a way to break the bond and everything is relatively back to normal...by Warehouse standards.
2011-2012 Rank: Summer Shows Previously Not Ranked
At the beginning of last season, the Warehouse was destroyed and the team went after a way to save the Warehouse and the entire world from imminent doom (it happens a lot). Artie was forced to use a very powerful artifact known as the Astrolade, which reset time to a certain point. The problem was he would be the only one aware of what happened and he would be cursed with some sort of eventual doom of his own. Artie began to face off with a member of the secret society whose purpose is to protect the Astrolade. Or so he thought. It turned out an evil within him caused all the trouble, that included attempting to hurt his friends. At the end of the season, the team was forced to chase after Artie and try to stop him (or at least his evil side) from releasing a deadly plague onto the Earth. Claudia stabbed him with a knife (read: Artifact) that would remove the evil from Artie, but it may have been too late. He was able to unleash the plague and sadly killed Leena in the process.
2011-2012 Rank: 3 (-5)
At the end of last season, Mr. Gold got exactly what he wanted, for the curse to be broken and magic to exist in Storybrooke. With his newly recovered power, he’s able to have more control over the people of Storybrooke. There was one thing that he did not account for however, and that’s if anyone from the Fairy Tale land steps outside the border of town, they lose all their memory of the former selves and permanently become the person they were in Storybrooke. This made things a bit challenging in finding his son, but he found a way and reunited with Baelfire. Another unexpected turn of events led him (and everyone else) to discover that his son is Emma’s ex-boyfriend and Henry’s father. Gold’s a grandfather and in a weird way related to his nemesis
Regina! There is so much more that happened to Gold this past season, more than most characters. I could easily talk about him relating to Belle, Cora and so many other things but I won’t. Now he finds himself off to Neverland with Emma, Snow, Charming, Regina and Hook looking to track down Henry’s kidnapper…Peter Pan. Crazy!
2011-2012 Rank: 6 (-1)
Aiden missed a lot while he was buried between seasons. When he finally emerged for his coffin, he was surprised to discover that both of his roommates were human again. On top of that, the vampire race was diminishing fast due to a virus found in the blood of their victims. During the season, Aiden befriended a boy at the hospital who had to be quarantined due to a non-existent immune system. Aiden realized that since the boy was isolated from the outside world, he was also isolated from the virus that was killing vampires. Aiden used the boy as a source of food, only taking small amounts as to not kill the boy. Oh, and Aiden is now dating Nora's human friend.
2011-2012 Rank: Summer Shows Previously Not Ranked
Duke has an interesting season. He recently discovered he is troubled and has had to use his power a few times, though he doesn’t really want to. He knows he is supposed to kill Audrey and those who are troubled (as his father did before him), but would never do that. Duke and Audrey went on an adventure to Colorado that included a shared kiss and discovering Audrey has a son. Unfortunately Duke eventually confirms that Audrey loves Nathan, which he is generally ok with cause he loves her and wants her to be happy. Then in the final scenes of the season he and Nathan lose Audrey as she disappears into the mysterious cabin that is supposed to help make the troubles go away. Duke has really developed a lot over the seasons from a selfish criminal to a much more selfless person. Fortunately he still has his sarcastic, bad boy charm and law-bending moral lifestyle that makes him such a fun character.
2011-2012 Rank: 11 (+6)
Jon Snow spent much of this past season on the enemy’s side. He was captured as a prisoner, but pretended to be a traitor and want to switch sides. Though as a viewer it still seemed pretty obvious he was pretending, Snow started to show signs of considering a permanent switch. He fell for Ygritte, a wildling woman, and she fell for him. Unfortunately for her, Snow was forced to show his cards and turn on the wildlings while leaving her behind. She was even willing to run away with him. You could see it in his eyes that he didn’t want to leave her behind, but it seemed to be a matter of life and death at the time. Now Snow knows the war that the wildlings intend to bring to the wall and he must help the Night’s Watch prepare.
2011-2012 Rank: Summer Shows Previously Not Ranked
Though Pete is often the comic relief on Warehouse 13, he is also a very competent agent for the Warehouse. The poor guy seems to get the brunt of artifact attacks more than any of the other agents. He recently found out that he was always destined to be a Warehouse agent, as his mother used to be one and is now a Regent (secret council protecting the Warehouse).
2011-2012 Rank: 1 (-2)
In the words of Dr. Awkward on his song FUF 4…”Who doesn’t f***ing love Tyrion?” To me he has always been the only likeable Lannister, but this past season his brother Jamie has started to sway to the side of good as well. Tyrion now sports a magnificent scar on his face and he believes his sister Cersei is the reason for that. Though Tyrion doesn’t believe in his nephew as a King, he maintains loyalty to his family. That led him to be forced by his father to marry Sansa Stark in order to eventually become ruler of the North. This is difficult for Tyrion as he has a secret lover (Shae, who happens to be Sansa’s personal assistant/caretaker), and he would much prefer to marry and run away with her. Fortunately for Sansa, Tyrion is a kind person and has not forced himself onto her. I’d like to think eventually Tyrion is going to reach a breaking point with his family. Mentally he seems to have reached that point, but he hasn’t acted on his feelings yet.
2011-2012 Rank: 4 (+2)
Darryl has definitely become the fan favorite of Walking Dead. He has always been a great character, but he has elevated to the status of “immortal.” What I mean by that is that if the writers chose to kill off Darryl, as they do so many other characters on the show, there would be a major outcry. I think many fans would legitimately stop watching the show if that was to happen. Darryl has become so likeable that it was excusable for him to want his deranged brother allowed back into the group. And it was truly sad to see said brother killed only to feel bad for Darryl.
2011-2012 Rank: 5 (+4)
Ever since Josh became a werewolf at some point in his life, he has done everything he could to study and research to find a“cure” so he can become human again. Well he finally found his opportunity when he killed his maker at the end of the previous season. So this past season Josh started off as human again. Though this was an incredible relief for him, his girlfriend/fiancée Nora was still a werewolf. Not only that but since he was her maker, she wouldn’t be able to easily become human again. Sadly for Josh, he did not remain a human for too long. He was forced into a situation in which he had to protect Aiden, and in doing so was scratched and once again became a werewolf. What transpired after that though was a huge step forward for Josh. He started to learn how to communicate with his wolf by meditating, and in doing so building a better relationship that would lead him to having more control.
21. Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) on The Walking Dead
22. Jorah Mormont (Iain Glenn) on Game of Thrones
23. Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) on Falling Skies
24. Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell) on American Horror Story: Asylum
25. Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker) on The Walking Dead
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