14 Impressive TV Performances from 2018

As the agent and the assassin, Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer are as essential to each other as Peanut Butter and Jelly. They're made Killing Eve what it is, and while they are outstanding in every moment on screen, they're perfect when opposite one another.

J.K. Simmons makes it seem effortless to play opposite himself as the same characters who have taken different directions in life. It can't possibly be as he makes it out to be. He's even more remarkable when he's one of the two trying to pull off the other for the benefit of someone who doesn't know he's not who he says he is or when he's suddenly acting like his other without warrant. But given Simmons' history, would you expect anything different?

Julia Roberts chose her first television role very well. She's got all the material she needs to dive into a character wholly different than what's expected of her, and her signature smile only comes near the very end of the production, proving what she originally banked on is only a sliver of her talent.

On Tell Me a Story, Paul Wesley gets a chance to play an emotional man who fights for everything he needs in life, and nothing comes easy. Unlike the role for which he's best known, Stefan Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries, every decision has real consequences that a normal man can't always stomach. Wesley shows how different he can be in a role when everything is at stake and not at risk due to a stake. He's sure to make new fans as a result.

Real life married couple Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell haven't always walked in lock-step as Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings, but they took their characters through the ringer in its final season. Rhys came closer than ever to making us believe Phillip might turn on Elizabeth only to stand beside her through the most difficult trial of their lives, and Russell took Elizabeth through the most difficult realization a mother ever faces. They were stunning.

Julia Garner has snuck into our lives by taking some of the most significant bit parts on the best shows and proving herself indispensible. The more roles she takes, the more you hope she'll appear in the next show you watch. She gives vulnerability where it's least expected and working her way into the leading roles you didn't know she was born to fill.

Somehow, Yvonne Strahovski took one of the most vile women in Serena Joy Waterford and allowed you to feel conflicted over her fate. Although Serena Joy was at the root of all of Gilead's problems, she also found herself falling victim to the very rules she set in place, and Strahovski played the two sides of that conundrum with a surprising grace.

Ruth Deaver has lived all her life in a town whose trademark is a tragedy and who survived emotional abuse in her marriage only to develop dementia just when she is finally free to love a good man. Spacek takes what could’ve been a pitiable, fading character and imbues her with spark and intelligence and humor. She is spotlighted In Castle Rock Season 1 Episode 7, “The Queen,” where the audience experiences her world from her perspective — out of chronological order, unreliable in perception, and where the past never dies but the future is always at risk. Her final scene, flinging herself into the loving embrace of Alan Pangborn after seeing him die in her arms the night before, truly conveyed the desperate need to cling to the happiest reality possible.

Penn Badgley's performance is positively thrilling. He's so creepy it's seductive. He has the most riveting performance on the series, and the series could have quite the same allure without him.

James Roday is so often associated with comedic roles that his role as Gary makes him a particular standout on the series. He has the perfect combination of fantastic comedic timing and restraint during serious moments.

Justin Hartley has had some very weighty storylines but his character has, as The Is Us Season 2 Episode 11 declared him, always been the fifth wheel. Not only has Hartley been consistently overlooked in favor of Brown and Ventimiglia, but his character isn't taken as seriously. Hartley has proven time and again he's of the same caliber of his co-stars and deserves as much recognition as Kevin Pearson does attention in the family.

D'arcy Carden is so incredibly underrated. She's always been fantastic, but her performance in "Janet(s)" when she plays every character so perfectly that there's never any doubt which one she's portraying was easily one of the best performances of the year.

As Desna, Niecy Nash held her own with such dedicated scene-stealers as Dean Norris and Carrie Preston. Known for comedy, she showed unexpected dramatic depth in this breakout role.

Brittany Ishibashi killed it once again in her role of Tina Minoru -- she's one of the standouts from the group of parents. She's cold, calculated, and perfectly villainous/sympathetic as a character. Also, she easily bounced between stoic and the mysterious playful side of her character's personality during the second season.