The Top TV Moments That Stole Our Souls & Banished Our Breath in 2013. – TV After Dark Time-Capsule.
It’s a fair call to say that doing what we do here at TVAD, means we watch a lot of television. We think it’s also a fair call to say that in 2013, viewers have been supremely blessed with some pretty marvelous television. So you know that if, amid all that, a singular scene or moment has had the power to stop us in our tracks and force an audible ‘WOW’ out of our (often clasped tight in shock) throats, it must have to have been pretty heart-stopping. Check out the post below to find out which were the moments that left the TVAD staff reeling this year.
1. “The perfect blend (that specials such as these should have) of reverence to the past and looking to the future.” ~ Graham Eveleigh
The top scene of 2013 for me was in Doctor Who’s MASSIVE 50th Anniversary special, and featured a past Doctor (Tom Baker) returning in the mysterious role as the Curator, to give current Doctor Matt Smith a nudge in the right direction. It was the perfect blend (that specials such as these should have) of reverence to the past and looking to the future, as it spun the whole drama off in a different direction. Doctor Who is now trying to get home! The scene itself was very emotional, with beautiful, swelling music and a stunning performance from Baker. He was witty and tragic at the same time, and lent the whole episode a sense of scale and class. Smith excelled too with wide-eyed excitement and a respectful, controlled performance. Here’s to another 50 years, thanks to scenes like that!
Curator: Perhaps, things do get lost you know. Now you must excuse me. You have a lot to do.
Doctor Who: Do I? Is that what I’m suppose to do? Go looking for Gallifrey?
Curator: Well, it’s entirely up to you. Your choice, I can only tell you what I would do. If I was you, oh, if I was you. Or perhaps I was you of course; Or perhaps you are me.
Doctor Who: Congratulations.
Curator: Or perhaps it doesn’t matter either way.
Curator: Who knows?! Who ‘Nose’!”
2. “One of the most graphic battle scenes I’ve ever watched on television between a male and female character.” ~ Romancia
Olek and Ana fight scene in Banshee episode 1.08 “We Shall Live Forever” was so intense and I mean ‘intense’ with a lot of fighting and blood splatter every where. It’s the kind of scene you’re grimacing and routing for the heroine the entire time to kick some ever loving ass out of her captures henchman and she does it in one of the most graphic battle scenes I’ve ever watched on television between a male and female character.
“I know you might it may not seem this way but your father loves you very deeply. He will still kill you I think but this is what love does right?! It kills us.” – “You betrayed your family. You do not deserve to have another one” – “You know I love you but there are things in life bigger than love.” ~ Olek to Ana
I can’t imagine how incredibly exhausting it must have been for both actors Ivana Milicevic who plays Carrie Hopewell (Aka Anastasia) and Christos Vasilopoulos as Olek to have done that entire scene but it was well worth it to watch that graphic scene unfold even if it was hard to watch but despite it’s violent nature that reminded me of Kathleen Turners and Michael Douglas “War of the Roses,” that scene had no other choice to end the way it did.
3. “That scene made me feel uncomfortable as it explored sexuality most of us find unimaginable and unacceptable, it’s beyond that of taboo.” ~ Romancia
It was breathtaking, sinfully captivating to watch; you simply could not take your eyes off the screen as The Borgias siblings Cesare and Lucrezia gave into their all consuming desire for each other. Watching that scene made me feel uncomfortable as it explored sexuality most of us find unimaginable and unacceptable, it’s beyond that of taboo but the chemistry between Holliday Grainger and Francois Arnaud is undeniable not just in this scene but because in every scene they are in together is powerfully magnified. Even though the brother and sister was in an incestual relationship, you saw the love, the pain, the unwavering loyalty. It was not just a commitment but a bond so fiercely apparent to not have had that be the outcome would have been dishonest.
“I am a Borgia and I feel unloved. Only a Borgia, it seems, can truly love a Borgia.”
Where the scene may have illicit a lot of morality shock, as Cesare Borgia says, “We are the unholy family.” – the writers doing this made the scenes between the two in the series authentic. While I’m still very upset with the decisions Showtime and the series creator chose to end the series in its third season. The Borgias siblings captivated and seduced their way into making it into my 2013 favorite television scenes which rocked me to the core. If you want to have an insight of what the scenes between Cesare and Lucrezia looked like. Check out the fan video.
4. “The acting was perfect. The music was perfect. This scene makes me cry every time!” ~ Stephanie Flasher
The Vampire Diaries 4×23 “Graduation” – ‘Damon gets the Girl’
In an unexpected move in a love triangle that has more corners that we ever expected in the show The Vampire Diaries. Damon decision to let Elena go was surprising. After all finally he had the woman, the woman Delena shippers dreamed of and Stelena shippers refused to concede that any other love besides Stefan and Elena was possible. As Elena returns from talking to Stefan and finds Damon pissed off tending the fire in the fireplace. He assumes she is going be upset with him for turning himself and the cure over to Vaughn. But what happened next was a Damon known for being selfish, did one of those most unselfish acts since his pursuit of Elena began despite his claim otherwise.
”But you know what I really am? Selfish. Because I make bad choice that hurt you. Yes, I would rather have died than be human. I’d rather die right now, then spend a handful of years with you, only to lose you when I’m too old and sick and miserable and you’re still you. I’d rather die right now than spend my last, final years remembering how good I had it and how happy I was because that’s who I am, Elena, and I’m not gonna change, and there’s no apology in the world that encompasses all the reasons I’m wrong for you.”
What makes the feelings between Damon and Elena elevate to that level of tragedy and love much like the old adage let it free see if it will come back to you. Elena doesn’t fight him she does something equally as loving when she tells Damon, “Fine, then I’m not sorry either. I’m not sorry that I met you. I’m not sorry that knowing you has made me question everything. And, that in death you’re the one that made me feel the most alive. You’ve been a terrible person. You’ve made all the wrong choices, and of all the choices that I have made, this will prove to be the worst one, but I am not sorry that I’m in love with you. I love you.” And eyes welled up and hearts melted across the world. After four seasons, Damon had finally got the girl! The acting was perfect. The music was perfect. This scene makes me cry every time!
5. “A spooky turn and a Halloween treat.” ~ Stephanie Flasher
Pretty Little Liars Season 4 Halloween Special – ‘Ali’s Alive’
How many times have you spotted that red coat? How many times have you watched each episode knowing that the reveal of Ali being alive is possible and maybe just around the corner. If you suspected that Ali’s death might be realized finally to see it happen in Pretty Little Liars Season 4 Halloween Special. In a spooky turn and a Halloween treat of one of our ghostly companions, she’s not dead was confirmed when Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hannah return from their trip to Ravenswood. They see a to find a girl in a red coat and follow her to Spencer’s backyard. It’s Allison!
6. “This scene made me cry for over an hour, have nightmares, and completely made me depressed. ~ Tiffany Brown
”The Red Wedding” – Game of Thrones
In one of the most shocking moments in television (and arguably literary) history, HBO’s Game of Thrones kills off not one but a room of their main and supporting cast in one scene of episode 3×09 titled, “The Rains of Castamere.” Having read the books, newbies to the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, always ask me after Ned’s death if that’s the worst the books have to offer. Coyly, I always replied, “No, a scene in the third book made me throw my book across the room.” To those of you who asked, this was that scene. Having read the books I believed I was prepared for what was to come, and boy was I wrong! This scene made me cry for over an hour, have nightmares, and completely made me depressed. Reading it was horrible because George R.R. Martin writes with so much detail that you couldn’t help but imagine everything in its entirety, but watching it broke my heart. This scene is so horrific that it will undoubtedly remain in my memory for the rest of my days.
Walder Frey: “Your Grace, I feel I’ve been remiss in my duties. I’ve given you meat and wine and music, but I haven’t shown you the hospitality you deserve. My King has married and I owe my new Queen a wedding gift.”
7. “The moral center the survivors have rallied around since Dale’s death in the second season.” ~ Tiffany Brown
“We Get to Come Back” – The Walking Dead
Father. Mentor. Teacher. Farmer. Hershel Greene was all of these things and more. So when The Governor beheaded him in The Walking Dead’s mid-season finale, “Too Far Gone,” screams were heard in living rooms everywhere. Hershel has been the moral center the survivors have rallied around since Dale’s death in the second season. He’s helped Rick deal with decisions he’s made, given Carl perspective on the situation they now find themselves in, and a caring father-in-law for Glenn. Hershel’s death seemed so unnecessary and pointless, but that’s what made it all that more powerful. He didn’t die at the hands of the zombies he fights, but at the hands of another human being. Hershel seemed to know before Rick that his death was imminent, but hearing Rick plead for his and the Governor’s troops peacefully co-existing at the prison gave Hershel a sense of pride. For he knew he changed someone’s life for the better and wouldn’t die in vain.
Rick Grimes: “Look, I’ve fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends. They’ve become leaders in what we have here. Now you put down your weapons, walk through those gates… you’re one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who’s alive right now. Everyone’s who’s made it this far. We’ve all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We’re not too far gone. We get to come back. I know… we all can change.”
8. “Peter Rumancek shows his grotesque shift from a human to a wolf is not for the squeemish.” ~ Connie Allen
S1 episode “Angel” Werewolf transformation (Hemlock Grove)
Easily one of the best wolf transformations in recent memory, at least for me. Aside from the eccentric dialogue and storytelling, Netflix’s Hemlock Grove totally caught my attention. This scene where Peter Rumancek shows his grotesque shift from a human to a wolf is not for the squeemish. You see in graphic detail that the change isn’t about some enlarged muscles or quick shift; it’s painful and literally has Peter falling to pieces. It definitely is a highlight of the series’s debut season.
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