Awards season is in full bloom, with the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes both leading up to the Academy Awards on Feb. 24, the most coveted and esteemed award in the movie industry. So far, there have been both shocking and expected wins, along with several letdowns, all contributing to a great start of a year of entertainment.

The Golden Globes, which reward excellence in television and film, shed light on the terrific works debuted in 2012. In the actress in a comedy or musical series category, comedy vets Tina Fey and Amy Poehler lost to Lena Dunham of HBO’s comedy hit “Girls,” shocking both audiences and Dunham herself. However, Tina Fey snagged the SAG award for “30 Rock,” joking with her longtime pal Poehler, saying, “I share this with my sweet friend Amy Poehler … I’ve known you since you were pregnant with Lena Dunham!” Alec Baldwin also won the SAG award for male actor in a comedy series for “30 Rock,” coinciding with the end of the show.

The CIA drama “Homeland” once again reigned victorious after its Emmy success as leading actors Claire Danes and Damian Lewis both took home Globes. Danes went on to win the SAG award as well, but Lewis lost the SAG to Bryan Cranston of AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” Upon accepting his award Cranston said, “It is so good to be bad.” Longtime actor Dick Van Dyke received the SAG Life Achievement Award for his great career in acting.

In perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the night, “Homeland” did not take home the SAG award for outstanding ensemble in a drama, losing it to the cast of PBS’s “Downton Abbey.” Certainly Downton’s cast deserves this award; however, viewers and the Downton cast itself were surprised as they defied the odds against giant contenders, such as AMC’s “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” and HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Concluding the television category, Julianne Moore and Kevin Costner both hat-tricked the Globe, Emmy and SAG awards for lead female and male actor in a TV movie or miniseries for “Game Change” and “Hatfields & McCoys,” respectively. The smash-hit comedy “Modern Family” earned its third consecutive SAG for outstanding ensemble in a comedy.

Now for the movies. Christoph Waltz won the best supporting actor Globe for “Django Unchained,” and director Quentin Tarantino took home the Globe for best screenplay. Daniel Day-Lewis won the Globe and SAG awards for male actor in a leading role for his portrayal of the president in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” He beat out Hugh Jackman, who gave perhaps his greatest performance in “Les Miserables,” for the SAG award, but Jackman won the Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical.

Anne Hathaway has also been unstoppable, winning both awards for best supporting actress in “Les Miserables,” modestly accepting her awards and thanking fellow nominee Sally Field, who played Mary Todd Lincoln in “Lincoln,” for showing her how to escape the typecasting trap. Rising star Jennifer Lawrence won the Globe for best actress in a comedy or musical and the SAG Award for leading female actor in a leading role. She beat out early favorite Jessica Chastain for her role as the rock-hard CIA agent in “Zero Dark Thirty.” While Chastain won a Globe for best actress in a drama, the SAG award suggests that Lawrence will win the Oscar over Chastain. Lawrence thanked MTV, where she first scored her SAG card, and her fellow actors, saying, “Now I have this naked statue that means some of you even voted for me, and that is an indescribable feeling. Thank you.” She also beat out Naomi Watts for her incredible and perhaps underrated performance in “The Impossible.”

Ben Affleck’s “Argo,” a film about a CIA specialist who risks his life to rescue hostages during the Iran hostage crisis, is expected to win the best picture Oscar after winning the SAG award for outstanding cast in a motion picture. While Affleck was not nominated for the best director Oscar, he has so far rubbed his best director win from the Globes and his SAG win right back in the face of the Academy. With such a wonderfully tumultuous awards season, one can only watch the Oscars with eager eyes.