Brutal deaths. Unexpected family reunions. And dopplegangers galore.
The 2013 television season was filled with one shocking moment after another, so various members of the TV Fanatic staff have gathered below to debate which was the most shocking of them all.
Scroll down for our responses and then weigh in with your own...
Miranda Wicker: The final scene of Scandal Season 2! Olivia's "dad?" followed by the fade to black was fantastically shocking. Loved it!
Kate Brooks: I'm going to go with the death of Tommy Merlyn. The Arrow Season 1 finale was crazy, with the Glade nearly destroyed and The Hood unable stop it. The death of Tommy had me in tears, the ugly face kind of sobbing.
Michelle Carlbert: It has to be Hershel (quite literally) losing his head at the hands of the Governor on The Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 8. It was the moment that drove home the fact that any scrap of humanity the Governor may have gained back was gone. Knowing that any character on the show is liable to die didn't make seeing the Governor hack off Hershel's head any less shocking.
Matt Richenthal: Walt and Hank coming face to face on Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 9. We all knew this confrontation would take place eventually, but we figured it would come on the series finale. Instead, it served as the first stop on the greatest concluding ride in television history.
Carissa Pavlica: I'm going to go with the season (and series) finale of Southland. When John Cooper was shot and left for dead in an alley (not even while on the job!) in the final scene. It was a fitting ending, overall, but shocking nonetheless.
Christine Orlando: Ooh, Carissa. You took one of my top picks with that one. So I'm going to go with the Sons of Anarchy Season 6 finale. I knew going in that there was the possibility that Tara wouldn't survive the episode, but it was the way it happened. Having her head held in a sink of dirty dishwater while being stabbed in the neck with a carving fork by her crazy mother-in-law was as brutal and shocking as anything I've ever seen on TV. It's been weeks and I'm still not over it.
Leigh Raines: Let's throw up onto the board the fact that The Vampire Diaries writers brought a THIRD Petrova Doppleganger into the mix. Three Elenas, one episode, WTF.
Doug Wolfe: I was startled by Brody getting his neck stretched on Homeland. There was the brutality of the act itself: traditionally such hanging executions are done by allowing the body to fall, thereby breaking the neck. I thought for sure after he completed his mission, the CIA and President would find a way to bring him back. To see them throw him under the bus like that was disappointing and about as dark as it gets.
YOUR turn, TV Fanatics: What was your most shocking moment of 2013?