The Juiciest TV Hookups of 2012
Sometimes the waiting is the hardest part, as with the long-simmering attraction between The Vampire Diaries' Damon and Elena or Downton Abbey's Anna and Mr. Bates. And sometimes they don't wait at all, like Stannis and Melisandre in the heat of battle on the planning table in Game of Thrones. Here are our favorite TV hookups of the year.
By Sean T. Collins, Katy Kroll, Halle Kiefer and Sarene Leeds
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‘Downton Abbey’: Anna and Mr. Bates (Season 2, Episodes 1 and 8)
Most of the relationships on Downton Abbey could be described as long-simmering, since it usually takes several years before the show's upstairs-downstairs couples have their first kiss. But it was especially fun watching the romance play out between kindhearted housemaid Anna and her perpetually unlucky paramour, the crippled valet Bates. After circling each other the first season, these two finally smooched in the second-season premiere – pretty scandalous by Downton standards, as it only took them four years to swap spit, whereas Lady Sybil and her controversial beau, chauffeur Tom Branson, took six. But it was their hastened wedding in Episode Eight that cemented the depth of their love, as Anna pushed Bates to marry her so she could be his next of kin when he was inevitably arrested for the murder of his insidious wife, Vera.
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‘Boardwalk Empire’: Richard and Julia (Season 3, Episodes 9 and 10)
Romance isn't exactly a word that comes up often during the shoot-'em-up action of Boardwalk Empire, especially when it concerns a cold-blooded killer like Richard Harrow. But despite his proficiency with a gun, all this WWI veteran has ever wanted is a loving family – more than a little difficult, considering he goes through life wearing a tin mask to hide his half-missing face. So when Richard made the acquaintance of Julia Sagorsky, a lonely woman hiding plenty of her own demons, his dream of normalcy became less of a fantasy and more of a reality. Sure, they had the requisite sex on the beach, but the sight of them waking up under the boardwalk paled in comparison to Richard noticing Julia's lipstick on his mask after a night out.
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‘Smash’: Ivy and Dev (Season 1, Episode 13)
By the time Broadway ensemble veteran Ivy slept with rival Karen Cartwright's boyfriend, the only thing shocking about this hookup was that it didn't happen sooner. Ivy had spent the entire season trying to trip up the fresh-faced ingenue as they vied for the part of Marilyn Monroe in Smash's show-within-a-show, Bombshell. So when she bumped into a heartbroken Dev at a bar, drowning their sorrows in booze and each other seemed intuitive: Karen had waffled at Dev's proposal, while Ivy had learned her on-again, off-again boyfriend was banging Uma Thurman. But Ivy's one-night stand with Dev wound up being the best thing that ever happened to Karen. Once the Iowa transplant learned the truth, she grew a pair and kicked Douchey Dev to the curb. Permanently: He's not returning for Season Two.
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‘Game of Thrones’: Melisandre and Stannis (Season 2, Episode 2)
Subtext, schmubtext: When Game of Thrones wants to show you how the rich and powerful fuck over the land of Westeros, they show you the rich and powerful literally fucking over the land of Westeros (or a table carved into the shape of a map thereof). Even an uptight guy like Stannis Baratheon will give into temptation when the chance to produce a son and heir to the Iron Throne with a gorgeous, magically-powered fire priestess is on the table. So to speak.
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‘True Blood’: Tara and Pam (Season 5, Episode 12)
Mix one angry baby vampire and her bored, unwitting maker and what do you get? The hottest hookup of True Blood's fifth season. The intense relationship between Tara – forced to become a vampire after crazy-pants werewolf Debbie Pelt shot her in the head – and Fangtasia proprietress Pam was a fan favorite this year. First it was more like a tender mother-daughter connection, as Pam gave her progeny tough-love lessons on her new thirst for blood. When they started sporting matching geisha dresses and giving each other the side eye, that's when their feelings went beyond that of parent and child. In the season finale, when Tara rescues Pam from the Vampire Authority prison, the two don't even bother with pleasantries. A steamy lip lock was all they needed to declare their love.
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‘The Vampire Diaries’: Damon and Elena (Season 4, Episode 7)
It was the moment Delena fans had been waiting for: Damon and Elena finally got it on. And, after a few fake-outs, it was the real deal. The Vampire Diaries duo – a real-life couple – have done a lot of flirting over the past four seasons, despite Elena dating Damon's brother Stefan. But after revealing she's single (again), Elena and Damon shared a drink, a romantic dance in front of the fireplace and some seriously steamy vamp-on-vamp sex. It was a slow build to this moment, starting with that motel kiss last season – or, some would argue, the series' very first episode. Now the question is: is it true love, or is Elena falling victim to Damon's mind games?
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‘Castle’: Castle and Beckett (Season 4, Episode 23)
After four long seasons of sexual tension and a couple of faux lip-locks (look, 1940s doppelgangers! Quick, distract that security guard!), "Caskett" shippers got what they wanted: a bona fide kiss. And what a kiss it was. After showing up on Castle’s doorstep soaking wet after a fight, Beckett made the bold move, which quickly devolved into a full-blown make-out session. But the best part? The tender moment where the crime-solving duo held hands as the screen faded to black, closing out the Season-Four finale. Like Mulder and Scully and Bones and Booth before them, it's proving to be a relationship that keeps on giving.
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‘Girls’: Hannah and Adam (Season 1, Episode 8)
Just when the grinding desolation of Hannah and Adam's off-putting relationship on Girls seemed like too much to bear (the series pilot, the lunchbox fantasy, doing it "for the story"), it . . . just got better. Pulling an epic switcheroo after repeatedly hammering home the bleakness of their bone zoning, Hannah and Adam finally figure out that they are two weirdos meant for each other and get down to some quality business. The abrupt change in tone made this hook-up the most surprising moment of Season One. Forcing a newly single Marnie to hear her roommate orgasm through the walls only made it that much sweeter.
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‘Mad Men’: Roger and Marie (Season 5, Episode 7)
Sally Draper said it best. Most of the hookups that went down on Mad Men this past year can be summed up in one word: "dirty." There was Don and Megan's hate sex on the living-room floor, Joan sleeping with the Jaguar exec in exchange for the account and a partnership, Pete's affair with his commuting buddy's wife (who then underwent electro-shock therapy, wiping the entire relationship from her memory), and Harry's backdoor office tryst with that creepy Hare Krishna lady. But the seamiest hookup of all had to be Megan's Québécoise mom, Marie, giving Roger a blow job during an American Cancer Society gala – not in the least because it was witnessed by impressionable 12-year-old Sally, who will singlehandedly keep therapists in business for years to come.
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‘Homeland’: Carrie and Brody (Season 2, Episode 8)
Total cost of the War on Terror to date: $5 trillion. A night at a cheap motel outside the Washington, D.C. area: $70. The look on Saul Berenson's face as he listens to his protégé and a Marine-turned-POW-turned-terrorist-sleeper-agent-turned-Congressman-turned-vice-presidential-pick-turned-CIA-informant slam their bathing-suit areas into one another, like if they do it hard enough one of them will crack open and the cure for cancer will fall out: Priceless.