On a September Monday in Los Angeles, television gathered at the Peacock Theatre to take stock of itself — and found, in the quiet ascent of a Welsh actor and a supernatural sleeper hit, a reminder that the stories audiences choose to share with one another carry a power no marketing budget can manufacture. Matthew Rhys made Emmy history, Mariska Hargitay reclaimed a stage long absent of women hosts, and the night offered what these ceremonies do at their best: a mirror held up to the culture, reflecting what we have been watching and why.