Mireille Enos, "The Killing"

Nomination Status: A solid possibility that may depend on how many episodes Emmy voters have seen.

In Her Favor: Two or three weeks into the season, this nomination probably seemed like a slam-dunk. As the well-regarded lead on a well-regarded AMC show, surely Mireille Enos would have no trouble cracking the field, right? The tone of "The Killing" is anchored in Enos' performance, which has also been a double-edged sword. Nobody has doubted a the character's grim, dogged determination for a second, but Enos' big breakthrough episode only aired two weeks ago, which may be too late to even influence votes in the Emmy decision.

Working Against Her: Enos' performance has held up even when "The Killing" has wavered and most of the problems people have with the character are writing-based, not performance based. But some voters may not be able to distinguish and may blame Enos for making her a Gloomy Gus and for sucking the show into the black hole of her gloom, rather than the other way around.