Programming Note: Sean & Megan Watch Game of Thrones

With a heavy heart, I must report that the hit Cool Kids Table column "Sean & Megan Watch Game of Thrones" will not be returning for a second season at this time. Having recently become a full-time registered nurse in the NICU at [hospital name redacted], Megan cites increased professional pressure and resultant decreased free time as forcing her to give up her responsibilities.

"Why are you bothering me, Dance Moms is on," Megan said when asked to comment for this announcement.

Fortunately, you can still catch the illustrious Sean "Mr." T. Collins' thoughts on Game of Thrones at the Rolling Stone web site as well as MTV.com.

Will this feature return? Megan says if there is fan demand she will "consider coming back, but probably not."

Good night, and good luck.

Farewell to the(se) Teen Titans pt. 2

Picking up from where we left off…

As an interesting bit of trivia, just as New Teen Titans writer Marv Wolfman was chosen to helm Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1986, 20 years later Teen Titans writer Geoff Johns would get the nod for that classic event’s sequel, Infinite Crisis. Also parallel, both books’ original artists, George Perez and Mike McKone, would leave their Titans books around the kickoff of the corresponding events; however, while Perez would join Wolfman on the original Crisis, McKone headed over to Marvel to work on Fantastic Four (Johns would be assisted on Infinite Crisis by my good friend Phil Jimenez).

It spoke to the importance of the Titans franchise in both 1986 and 2006 that all or part of the creative team was transplanted over to the DC Universe-altering mega story of the day. There’s perhaps something to be said about DC operating at its peak when the Titans are flourishing and whether there’s a reason to that or if it’s just coincidence, but I’ll leave that to others (for now).

The first Teen Titans story of the post-McKone era was something of a full circle deal encompassing the first two years of the book as the “Insiders” crossover with Outsiders guest-illustrated by Matthew Clark came back around to elements of the Graduation Day limited series that launched both books and dealt with the long-gestating subplot of Superboy having Lex Luthor as of half of his DNA imprint that had been key to the series. It was an emotionally wrenching four-parter that I got quite invested in, watching poor Conner go mindless and attack his friends or Shift mercy kill Indigo; I was fully ensconced at Wizard by now and could read these books for free, but chose to buy them, knowing I’d want them for posterity no matter where my career took me.

As Infinite Crisis got underway across the DC line with tie-ins and lead-ins, Teen Titans acquired a new short term artist in the form of a blast from my personal past: Tony Daniel.

When I was younger and X-Force was among my favorite books, I was head over heels for the art of Greg Capullo, but then one month he mysteriously disappeared and was replaced by some dude I’d never heard of named Tony Daniel (as I relayed to Rickey on the train recently, as a young reader with Big Two tunnel vision, “going to Image” equaled “mysteriously disappeared” for me in the 90’s, and I was constantly wondering why so many artists “quit” comics in their prime). Within a few issues, Tony had won me over big time with ferocity of his work and landed a spot in my heart—before mysteriously disappearing a couple of years later, never to be heard from—by me—again.

Having not followed his work on The Tenth during or after my sojourn away from the medium, Tony working on Teen Titans really was a neat and surprising blast of nostalgia to me. I was speaking with Geoff pretty regularly at this point as I was covering Infinite Crisis for Wizard and would always impress upon him how awesome I thought Tony was when I was younger and how excited I was to see what he could do now; in turn, Geoff would send me e-mails with Tony’s beautiful pencil layouts (seriously, I sometimes wish his books came out in grayscale variants so people could see the raw work). Was I somehow responsible for Tony Daniel becoming the regular artist on Teen Titans and his subsequent success at DC? Next time I need a favor from him I’m going with yes.

Geoff landed a double emotional gut punch on me around this period with his handling of Superboy. First he penned the beautiful Teen Titans Annual #1, where Conner and Wonder Girl reminisced on and solidified the romance I’d watched build from awkward flirtations on the pages of Young Justice; it had a sincere ring of young love and again marked that well-handled aging process I commented on last time. It also made it even harder to read Superboy’s heroic sacrifice in Infinite Crisis, a death I’d been warned about months earlier but still had trouble reading. My then-girlfriend-now-wife, whom I had somehow kept it from and who loved Superboy and Wonder Girl, was furious and said she was going to write Geoff an angry e-mail. Teen Titans was the first comic she had ever read—she doesn’t read comics regularly anymore, but she read Geoff’s entire run on Teen Titans, which also got her reading Runaways, Buffy, Fables and a few others for a time—and this was her first brush with comic book death; she didn’t care for it.

As with the entire DCU, Teen Titans experienced a seismic shift following Infinite Crisis and the One Year Later gap. Familiar, friendly faces Superboy and Kid Flash were gone, replaced by the supposedly reformed Ravager and an inventive take on Blue Devil’s forgotten sidekick, Kid Devil. Robin and Wonder Girl remained, but had been hardened by loss and found comfort in one another. The book as a whole felt darker—a change probably spurred on by Daniel’s moodier art in place of McKone’s comparatively bouncy work—and had in many ways gone from the story of friends hanging out and having fun to survivors being there for one another, and there was mileage in that.

I thought Johns’ attempt to clean up the muddled continuity of the Doom Patrol and bring them back into the Titans’ world was very strong. His work with Kid Devil made for compelling reading, particularly the one-off spotlight issue drawn by Peter Snejbjerg, as Eddie Bloomberg was an optimist who belonged in the Titans during better days but made do with the hand he was dealt even as he hid his own personal tragedy. “Titans Around the World” introduced some great new characters, not the least of whom was Miss Martian, aka Megan Morse.

But despite these high points, you could feel an era coming to an end. Geoff was juggling a lot of books coming out of Infinite Crisis, including Green Lantern, a re-launched Justice Society, and Action Comics; something had to give. In the exit interview he did with me for Wizard’s web site, he said he enjoyed the post-Infinite Crisis period of Titans and had a lot of ideas he was sorry he wouldn’t be able to get to, but also admitted that losing Superboy and Kid Flash had been tough and made his decision on which book he had to drop at least a little easier.

As Geoff prepared to exit Teen Titans, I was finishing up my run as DC contact at Wizard. In one of the very last DC articles I did for the magazine, I pitched the idea of introducing the villainous Titans East through a series of sketches Tony would do exclusively accompanied by “dossiers” Geoff could write; with his schedule slammed, I offered to help with the bios, written from Deathstroke’s perspective as he was the group’s founder. I turned my drafts into Geoff and he paid me an extreme compliment saying they sounded “just like Deathstroke” and he made very few modifications; that piece remains one I’m extremely proud of—you can see it in full here—and Geoff’s kind words still resonate.

“Titans East” would provide a nice capper to the Geoff Johns era of Teen Titans, bringing the focus back to the Wilson family once more and providing some closure to the story that had begun back in issue #1. It also wrapped around the time I left Wizard for Marvel, so it felt like a chapter of my life was closing as well (I mean, one was, obviously, but a more Teen Titans-centric chapter).

I continued to buy Titans after I started at Marvel. The book was creatively adrift for a little while as Adam Beechen, Geoff’s co-writer on “Titans East” and planned successor, ended up leaving for other things after only a few issues. Sean McKeever, a writer whose work I wasn’t entirely familiar with—what I’d read, I’d liked—but also a fellow I knew from conventions and got along well with took over for a solid year and a half, with most of his run drawn by Eddy Barrows. Sean had a knack for writing Ravager in particular and did some neat stuff with revisiting the Titans of Tomorrow, bringing back Brother Blood, and adding some interesting new members such as Kid Eternity and Static. In retrospect, a lot of art shifts, roster changes and event crossovers threw some instability into Sean’s run that was a bit of a shame, because I remember his high points fondly and will always wonder what more he could have done with just a touch more traction.

Following Sean’s departure, Teen Titans gained something of a revolving door. Bryan Q. Miller, a name I recognized and appreciated from Smallville, stepped in for a bit, but didn’t stay long enough for my liking. Felicia Henderson took over for a spell and seemed to have some cool ideas, but never quite nailed the voices of the characters for me. It was a strange thing to watch a book like Titans, which had such a solid sense of self and cohesion for the first few years of its existence, bounce around so much between creators and characters. Geoff and Mike McKone came back for a short untold story of their team for issue #50, and with all due respect to the creators who followed them, the “those were the good old days” message couldn’t help but resonate a bit. I could hardly believe when issue #75 came around and I felt like while the past two and a half years had been packed and eventful in my life, they flew by for the Titans.

I own just about all 100 issues of Teen Titans, but there’s a gap of a few issues I kind of regret now that I don’t own in the mid-80’s; I was still reading monthly, but feeling more and more removed from characters I once felt so close to—Superboy and Kid Flash had both made their way back but seemed like strangers—I pulled back to just reading the office copies.

I came back with issue #88 when J.T. Krul and Nicola Scott took over. I had exchanged pleasantries with J.T. back in the day and he left a solid enough impression that I wanted to give him a shot (that’s all it takes sometimes!). Nicola was a different story as I had “met” her via the Comic Bloc message board back when she was still trying to break into the business and pitched a quick “Introducing” bit for Wizard centered around the unique fact that she had been a Wonder Woman model in her native Australia but that also provided a chance to show off her art; Nicola’s undeniable talent and winning personality no doubt got her where she deserved to be drawing comics in the big time not long after the article, but since I’ve already taken credit for Tony Daniel’s career, let’s go ahead and chalk this one up to me as well.

J.T. and Nicola also brought back a pared down and familiar roster consisting of Wonder Girl, Superboy, Kid Flash, Raven, Beast Boy and Ravager. They threw in the novel wrinkle of adding Damien Wayne, the new Robin, as a wild card, which provided some really fun stuff, before completing the reunion by returning Red Robin to the book as well. It truly did feel like a return to form, as the characters I dug sounded like themselves again, the balance of soap opera with action felt right, and the art shined to accompany fun, heartfelt stories.

The icing on the cake was that right there in the credits, my buddy Rickey Purdin’s name now appeared as the assistant editor. It had been wild enough for me to go from simple reader to a dude who knew the writer and artist, but it honestly felt even crazier in the coolest of ways that a friend who had been in my wedding and whom I talked about Teen Titans with in the cafeteria at Wizard and the train into New York City was now playing a role in controlling their destinies.
And I may be biased, but Rickey Purdin writes the best damn non-Steve-Wacker letters pages in the business (Steve gets his own special division).

Of course that brings us pretty much up to speed, as J.T. notched 12 issues of Teen Titans to be proud of, wrapping with the landmark #100, but the sun has now set as we prepare for the dawn of a new DC Universe.

I’m glad I took this look back at Teen Titans and me, as it reminded me of a lot of the good times the book and its creators provided me over the past eight years, as a fan and a professional. I’m glad in my own small ways I got to be a part of the series, even if it was from off to the side and behind the scenes. I’m also glad that at the end of the day, this book and these characters finished up in a place I’ll fondly remember; as we move to the next step, I’m able to picture those final pages and be happy knowing Conner, Bart, Tim, Cassie and the rest ended up miles away from Young Justice and even their early days as Teen Titans, but recognizable and still together.

Speaking of that next step, I’m pretty excited for the new Teen Titans #1 headed my way, certainly a changed attitude from 100 issues ago. Scott Lobdell—another favorite from my formative years—and Brett Booth are taking these characters even further abreast from where they’ve been than Geoff and Mike did the Young Justice gang nearly a decade ago, but as I was shown back then, change might be scary, but it can also be awesome. Superboy isn’t the only one who did some growing up over the last decade.

Geoff, Mike, Tony, Sean, J.T., Nicola, Rickey, et al., thanks for an awesome ride.

Bring on tomorrow.

My wife the nurse

Nothing to say on comics, movies or even Subway today (soon though); instead, I'd like to write a quick blog on where I spent the morning, and that was watching my wife Megan graduate from the Accelerated Nursing program at William Paterson University.

A little over two years ago, Megan informed me she wanted to become a nurse. She already had a B.A. in Theater and was looking to potentially continue down that path in grad school when she decided instead to fork left. I admit that I was skeptical at first, as she hadn't even held a full-time job more than a few months yet at that point and now wanted to switch career paths, but she was adamant.

She proved any initial doubt I had in her or her resolve wrong in spades.

Through nine months of pre-requisite classes and then 15 more of lecture courses, simulation labs, and clinical time spent on hospital floors, not to mention countless nights, early mornings and weekends spent studying, writing papers and studying some more, she persevered and not only achieved success, but thrived. She not only received the pin representing her BSN this morning, she was also awarded for being at the top of her class in Clinical Excellent as selected by her professors (an honor she did not know she was getting prior to having it handed to her a few hours ago).

Words can't express the pride I feel for my wife and what she has done. I have never seen anybody work as hard and as tirelessly as she has over the past two years. It has been challenging, emotional, and sometimes seemingly impossible, but she overcame every obstacle and reached her goal. She dedicated her pin in part to the support I gave her, but I was just happy to be on her team. She is my hero.

Congratulations, Megan Morse--you're a nurse, sweetheart!

Sean & Megan Watch Game of Thrones: Fire and Blood

From the blog that brought you "Lynn Phegley Watches Lost," get ready for another experience that redefines the art of recapping TV shows!

Sean T. Collins is a friend to the Cool Kids and avid devotee of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" series of books, upon which the HBO television show Game of Thrones is based; he is currently chronicling the series on two separate blogs, one with book spoilers and one without.

Megan Morse is Ben's wife who has never read the Martin books and does not typically go in for the fantasy genre but loves Game of Thrones for reasons she doesn't even fully understand.

Each week, Megan will provide her analysis of the show from a neophyte's standpoint and then Sean will interject with his informed reactions and insights, answering her questions and commenting on her observations.

Whether you're a nerd or a newcomer, if you're watching Game of Thrones this is the recap for you!

Megan: Have to be honest, feeling a little disappointed as I write this, but that's just because this was the season finale, which of course carries with it certain expectations, and for me, those were not met. It was not the worst episode, it wasn't even a bad episode, but it was not in my top three, and since it was the climax of a 10-episode season I really enjoyed, that's a let-down for me. I was hoping for a more intense conclusion to make the next nine months unbearable. I'll still miss the show until it comes back, but it didn't leave me with too many burning questions I need answered right away--some, but not many.

Sean: Here's a question for you, then: How much experience do you have with the big HBO genre-revisionist dramas?

Megan: None.

Sean: An interesting thing about The Sopranos, Deadwood, and The Wire is that they all tended to save the biggest fireworks for the penultimate episode. Unlike even really good network or basic-cable shows, where the goal with the finale is to knock you flat on your ass, those shows always took a more novelistic approach, holding the climax back for the second-to-last episode and leaving the finale for aftermath -- the tone usually a sort of "okay, what have we learned this season?" one, ruminative and reflective, while the story sort of ties things off and leaves them in the shape you'll find them next season. So the way Game of Thrones handled ending Season One didn't surprise me. I mean, it obviously wouldn't have, since I read the book and that's how it works there too.

Did you have anything particular in mind for the "more intense conclusion" you were hoping for? Were there any events you were expecting to see? Since so much of the story is about subverting reader/audience expectations, I'm really curious what your expectations were!

Megan: Y'know, when you pose it right to me like that and put me on the spot, I can't think of much specifically. I was expecting a "bigger bang," but nothing in particular really, so perhaps saying I was let down is a bit inaccurate so much as I was surprised. I guess I thought more time would be devoted to Daenerys' labor as opposed to her waking up with the baby gone, but I didn't mind how it was handled. I assumed we'd get more reaction to Ned's death, but as we'll get into, I don't mind that there wasn't. In the end I suppose it wasn't so much that my expectations weren't met, just that I don't have the experience with these types of shows you mentioned above so the idea that the season finale isn't the game changer is not one I'm used to, and my immediate reaction was disappointment. Upon reflection, it's more just something that will take some getting used to.

Quick note on the very first shot of the show: It did jump out at me that there wasn't just blood on the sword that beheaded Ned, but skin, tissue, etc. Normally when you see something like this on TV or in the movies, they just use blood, and most people don't think anything of it, but this was more accurate and attentive to detail, which I appreciated.

Sean: And what a great way to open the episode and convey the finality of what had just happened. I also like how much of that aftermath scene, with Yoren spiriting Arya away while chaos reigns on the steps of Baelor's Sept, happened in the background, out of focus, in brief snippets, inaudibly to our vantage point in the crowd. It's like shit goes on whether you want it to or not.

Megan: Refresh my memory: Do we know Yoren? He's shown up before right? I feel like I should know him and his ties to Ned and the Starks but I can't place him.

Sean: He's from the Night's Watch. We first saw him drinking and joking around with Tyrion during his visit to the Wall when he accompanied Jon. He came south with Tyrion in order to go to King's Landing for recruits, and was there at the Inn when Catelyn had Tyrion arrested. Subsequently we saw him at King's Landing, where he told Ned that out of respect for Ned's brother and his fellow Night's Watchman Benjen Stark, he rode as fast as he could to warn him about what had happened. That's when he first met Arya -- I think he mistook her for a boy. I think I may have mentioned this last week, but in the book he doesn't have that brief encounter with Ned on the way to the execution, where Ned tells him where to find Arya -- it's mostly luck that he finds her, although he did at least know where to look, if I recall correctly. The implication with both Arya and later Gendry is that Varys tipped Yoren off to help them escape, thinking that the newly powerful Queen Cersei would not be kindly disposed to Eddard Stark's daughter and Robert Baratheon's bastard.

Megan: Ok, confession time: After he hasn't been on the show for weeks, I found myself not hating Bran so much when he showed up. This is certainly a good thing since characters are dropping left and right and even though I know they'll introduce new ones, it's nice that some I had an intense dislike for are growing on me. And I forgot there was another Stark kid! Has Rickon ever even had a line to this point? Nothing really more to say about Winterfell since it was so brief and I'm not quite sure what it was meant to set up if anything.

Sean: Rickon appeared a couple episodes ago, I believe, in the episode where Ned was betrayed and captured. He showed up in Bran's bedroom, and Bran told him that the family would come home eventually, and Rickon just looked sad and said "No they won't" and left. I like how they're using him as this pessimistic but accurate oracle figure.

Bran is a much bigger deal in the book than he is in this first season, mostly because there's a lot more to his dream sequences than there is here. I won't say more than that to avoid spoiling anything, but I will say I'm kind of anxious to see if they pick up any of that slack in season two. I think right now many viewers probably are wondering why we're spending time with him.

Megan: Well didn't Joffrey develop into a nice little villain in record time? They kept him somewhat off to the side for so much of the season that his emergence in the last few episodes, obviously pushed into overdrive last time with Ned's execution, has been something of a pleasant surprise. I remember thinking he was an annoying little punk in the beginning, but didn't foresee him being able to step into the shoes of a true big bad so seamlessly. When he ordered the minstrel to have his tongue cut out, it seemed perfectly natural and like he has been doing stuff like that the whole time. However, that said, I think one of the things that makes him a good villain is he's erratic and unpredictable; when he does something awful it totally makes sense, but I'm still guessing right up until whether he'll follow through or not.

Sean: He's a terrific little sociopath, isn't he? Kudos to Jack Gleeson for selling that character as well as he has, not just with a sociopath's cruelty, but with his bafflement and rage anytime things don't go exactly his way. I love watching his face anytime Sansa defies him in even the most minor way; he's not just pissed, he's confused and scared. How could anyone not do exactly as he says? Oh yeah, Grand Maester Pycelle, he'll make a terrific king.

Megan: He's also got a face that was just made for punching.

Sean: Yes, there's that too.

Megan: I badly wanted Sansa to push him off the bridge; it would have deprived the show of a tremendous emerging bad guy, but I enjoy immediate gratification. Sansa's retort about Robb maybe bringing her Joffrey's head was a nice little bit of snark too. I'm looking forward to their developing relationship in season two.

Sean: That scene was wonderfully done. It's one of my favorites in the books -- Joffrey making Sansa stare at the severed head of her father is like George R.R. Martin's entire view of power in a nutshell -- and the interplay between Joffrey, Sansa, the odious yes-man Ser Meryn Trant, and the Hound, who is brutal but not cruel, is a bleak joy. And kudos to Sophie Turner as Sansa, too. She looked so damaged and devastated in that scene that when she made her move toward Joffrey, I found myself hoping she'd go over the edge with him and end her own misery too.

Megan: Cersei is really making it hard to justify her incest when she's sleeping with her scrawny cousin. Hot brother? Ok, you can almost brush aside the grossness and buy into her "it keeps the blood line strong" routine--but that kid? Now she's just oddly kinky.

Sean: Well, someone had to make sure Robert drank all that wine...

Megan: I didn't like how the scene with Catelyn and Robb following the news of Ned's death went down, specifically how Catelyn was played. I'm not sure if it was down to Michelle Fairley, whoever was giving her direction or some combination of the two, but I didn't feel it was clear enough for the viewer--me--how she was processing her husband's death or what her next move was. I'm going to be an acting snob here for a second: Her verbal communication and non-verbal communication were not at all congruent. With her words, she was trying to convey that she was sad and wanted revenge, but pretty much everything in her body language told me she didn't care and was pushing past the situation. Either one of these would have been an acceptable choice--she can be upset or she can be soldiering on for her children's sake--but trying to do both at once was just confusing and gave me no indication where her emotions were. If she was meant to be going for conflicted, she didn't pull it off.

Sean: I'm not nuts about Fairley either, honestly. I think the idea here was that she was devastated herself, but quickly pulled herself together to set a good example when she saw that her newly minted Lord of Winterfell son had totally fucking lost it. "You've ruined your sword" is the key line -- he needs to keep it together if he's going to lead his forces to victory in war, where swords are what matter. That said, you're right, I didn't feel like the emotional throughline in that sequence was clear, even though it was beautifully shot.

Megan: On the contrary, Catelyn's scene with Jaime was much better. She wore her anger much more blatantly, so maybe she was trying to keep it in check and put on a brave face for Robb? I get it, but again, I don't think she conveyed it properly. We've seen Jaime so sporadically that it's always a bit of a treat trying to figure him out. Small doses of him have been nice as it makes you ponder how much of his act is legitimate and how much is posturing.

Sean: He has one of the best lines in the whole series here. "There are no men like me. There is only me." In the book it comes across like braggadocio, and it is, but the way they shot this scene shows that it's also self-condemnation and self-pity. There's only one kingslaying sisterfucking would-be child murderer. He may be handsome and rich and famous and a god with a sword in his hand, but he carries a lot on his back.

Megan: As a general choice, I like that pretty much every character received the news about Ned off-camera and we didn't have to get five different variations of Robb and Catelyn vowing revenge. It would have eaten up the whole episode and you get the gist after the first time: All the good guys loved Ned and they're going to go kill the bad guys. Cool. Next.

Sean: Agreed.

Megan: Not as much Tyrion as I would have liked, but I suppose that was to be expected given how much focus he got last episode. I did like his appointment as Hand of the King and thought Peter Dinklage really handled well the bit where Tywin told him "Because you're my son"--it certainly felt like that was the first time he had ever heard that and he sold it.

Sean: Yes. I'm such a sucker for any time two characters in fiction treat one another with respect. Tywin's a shit, but I'm happy for Tyrion here nonetheless.

Megan: Put Shae down as another character I'm eager to get to know better in season two; glad she's coming along to King's Landing. Tyrion also used my absolute favorite word in the English language during his scene with Shae, but I can't repeat it, because my in-laws read this blog.

Sean: "Father"?

Megan: Moving on...Daenerys had a gross stillborn dragon baby with grey worms in the middle! Tremendous! So gross. Then she has to wake up and find out her husband is a celery stick. Poor girl. At first I was a little let down by Dany's failing to really chew Mirri Maz Duur out when she learned the witch basically set her up, but the later payoff was more than worth it as Daenerys evolved yet again, this time from kick ass warrior princess to calculating warlord who makes an example of her enemies.

Sean: Huh, I never thought of it that way, because I've read the book and knew what was coming. But yeah, you totally think she's being Ms. Nice Guy even after this woman killed her husband and son, only to discover that she's just biding her time until she can light her on fire. Yikes.

Megan: I totally screamed when Dany smothered Drogo with the pillow, 100% legit, Ben can back me up. [EDITOR'S NOTE: It's true] He grew on me more than just about any other character this season and as I've said I loved their romance, so it was very sad. She committed euthanasia in the same bed they made their dragon baby in. No more Sun and Stars...well, at least we hopefully don't need to hear that pet name again. [EDITOR'S NOTE: For the record, if this had been Smallville, Dany's speech about loving Drogo would have been enough to revive him with a single tear running down his cheek so he could go destroy Darkseid]

Sean: It's a weird love story for the ages, definitely.

Megan: I have this to say about the Wall stuff: In my disdain for Jon Snow and all scenes involving him, I have neglected far too often to say how awesome Sam is and how he is the only thing making all that tolerable. Sam is the unsung hero of Game of Thrones.

Sean: He's a strong character, totally unsuited to life in the Night's Watch yet trying to make a go of it in his own way regardless. Admirable.

Megan: The scene with Pycell rambling on lost me, but I totally picked up when he got up and was doing his stretching exercises. I immediately jumped on the fact that his feeble old man bit was an act while my husband was like "Huh?" Score one for Megan!

Sean: I also feel like that scene was kind of the show spoofing itself and its "sexposition" technique. So you've got the naked lady walking around while a guy rambles on about history, she can barely keep her eyes open pretending to be interested, the story goes nowhere like he's Rose Nylund talking about St. Olaf, and in the end it's revealed that half of his doddering old geezer routine is bullshit anyway. Funny stuff.

Megan: I was pretty confused by the stuff with Arya. I'm going to ask you a bit about that later. It's possible I just zoned out. I do love her spunk and how she threatened the bully. "I like killing fat boys" is a great line. I was not a fan of her hair which was clearly a wig. I was a fan of Chris from Skins finally showing up again as Robert's blacksmith bastard and hope we get to see much more of him in season two.

Sean: I'm hoping they'll actually cut her hair rather than stick a wig on her, yeah.

Megan: I was absolutely terrified that the season was going to end on a shot of Jon Snow riding off to the other side of the wall. That could potentially have killed every bit of goodwill I have built up over the past three months. I probably would have had to write an angry letter.

Sean: Hahahaha! Now that's an anticlimax. I wonder if Jon will grow on you more now that he's finally and firmly committed to living life as a man of the Night's Watch. What do you think? Is it just his emo/Hamlet indecision that makes you dislike him?

Megan: I wouldn't hold your breath. It was never his indecision that bothered me--at least not entirely--but more how angsty and whiny he was. I don't see that changing and don't anticipate him being any less emo just because he made up his mind, now he'll just bitch about how he could be off doing the other thing. Loser. [Megan makes an "L" with her fingers]

Needless to say I was thoroughly pleased with how the season really ended instead. If there's one way to get on my good side if you're Game of Thrones, it's making the big finish centered around the khaleesi. In fact, she got a lot of attention this episode, more than she has in awhile, so perhaps I liked it more than I thought. I knew there would be dragons! I mean, it's not a huge shock since they were pretty heavy on the foreshadowing, but it was still very very cool.

Sean: I kind of wished they hadn't included that "The dragons are dead, khaleesi" line in the "Previously on Game of Thrones" montage at the beginning. They might has well have added someone saying "DOT...DOT...DOT..." at the end of it. That said, I'm reasonably sure newcomers couldn't predict that the dragons would hatch from Drogo's funeral pyre/Mirri Maz Duur's execution, and that Dany would stride into the fire to reach them and be found buck naked with the dragons crawling on her as her people bow before her. That's tough to foreshadow.

Megan: I just did an adorable imitation of the baby dragon shrieking that unfortunately cannot translate to e-mail, but trust me.

Sean: Of course.

Megan: As I said earlier, the way she handled Mirri Maz Duur here was far more satisfying than if she had just yelled at her and pushed her off a cliff earlier.

Sean: True. She doesn't fuck around.

Megan: I said early on the thing that made Daenerys my favorite character was that she evolved and changed with each episode--even each scene--and this final transformation--for now--showed it once again. At the same time, there a somewhat neat symmetry in that when we first met her she was staring vacantly off into space practically nude and that's basically how she ended up here as well; also in that very first scene, I remember her going into that hot water and being unscathed, and lo and behold, she ends the season walking into fire and emerging unharmed and with dragon babies!

Sean: I honestly didn't pick up on this symmetry until I saw you point it out. Very smart.

Megan: I am so impressed by Emilia Clarke and particularly that she is this good at only 23--it's going to be crazy how good she'll be by the end of this show!

Sean: Oh man, she is great! And this role...for a young inexperienced actor -- this is her very first film work! -- this is like getting thrown right into the deep end in order to learn to swim. There's no filter between you and the audience, basically -- it's like "Okay, go stand here naked while people bow before your awesome power, and at the same time be a teenage girl and try to own that." It's a highwire act and she pulled it off.

Megan: Overall, it was a great first season. I absolutely did not expect to like this show and to be honest wasn't even going to give it a chance, but I'm glad I did. It's hard to pin down exactly what hooked me, but I think it's mostly that this is so different from pretty much anything else I'm into and along those lines the characters stood out to me more than most would. I'm very excited for season two--and can't believe it's not going to be on for like a year! I just made the dragon baby noise again, but this time I'm angry!

Sean: Just don't burn anyone alive, okay? Anyway, I like that the show's selling point is that it's not actually selling anything you'd usually buy, so you're more interested in taking a look at the wares. I'd be perfectly happy for this to be people's "I'm not into fantasy, except..."

[And with that, Sean and Megan will see you in Spring 2012, folks!]

Sean & Megan Watch Game of Thrones: Baelor

From the blog that brought you "Lynn Phegley Watches Lost," get ready for another experience that redefines the art of recapping TV shows!

Sean T. Collins is a friend to the Cool Kids and avid devotee of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" series of books, upon which the HBO television show Game of Thrones is based; he is currently chronicling the series on two separate blogs, one with book spoilers and one without.

Megan Morse is Ben's wife who has never read the Martin books and does not typically go in for the fantasy genre but loves Game of Thrones for reasons she doesn't even fully understand.

Each week, Megan will provide her analysis of the show from a neophyte's standpoint and then Sean will interject with his informed reactions and insights, answering her questions and commenting on her observations.

Whether you're a nerd or a newcomer, if you're watching Game of Thrones this is the recap for you!

Megan: This was one of my favorite episodes. I don't think it's hard to tell from some of my criticisms in the past that I don't have a terribly long attention span sometimes--sometimes if just one character talks for more than a minute, I'll zone out and make a note to have Ben pause it after the scene and tell me what happened, which he loves--so I loved how packed this was with a variety of different things. I loved the action, I loved the cliffhangers, but I also loved the character development with Tyrion and the drama with Daenerys and Drogo. This episode had it all--and it ended with a beheading!

Sean: "I'll take 'Things People Never Say About Army Wives' for $200, Alex."

Megan: Let's start with the stuff at the stuff at the Twins and Robb's campaign. First and foremost, I was excited that Lord Frey was played by Filch from Harry Potter! Frankly I've been disappointed to this point that we've only had one other Harry Potter alum--that I know of--so this was nice. More actors from Skins also please! There are lots of out of work British actors who I actually know. I have never seen Lord of the Rings, so that doesn't help me.

Sean: Game of Thrones is certainly shaping up to be for UK character actors what Law & Order was for New York theater veterans.

Megan: Where was I...right, the Twins. I appreciated Lord Frey; he was very snarky and quippy--that may be a made up word--much like my husband. I like that nobody will marry his kids; it actually made me think of friends from big families where not all the siblings are married and the parents can't get them out of the house, so this is not a problem limited to Game of Thrones--very sympathetic issue.

Sean: Ha, I'd never thought of it that way before, but it makes sense. In the books, the characters say that Lord Frey is the only lord in Westeros who could field an army out of his breeches -- that's how many children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and in-laws and bastards and grandbastards he has. Add that drain on his resources to his festering resentment for the greater Houses like Tully and Stark and Lannister, who he feels (correctly!) only use him for his bridge, and you've got the recipe for a cantankerous old shit.

Megan: It is interesting how Robb agreeing to marry himself and Arya off to essentially cross a bridge was not that big a deal in the larger scheme; interesting in the sense that I felt bad for him for a second, but then much like he did, just kind of brushed it off as "That's just the way it goes."

Sean: Perhaps this is what maturity looks like in Westeros: coming to terms with the fact that your life is not yours to control. I wouldn't trade being a lord for being one of the smallfolk for anything, but even the highborn are basically puppets to genealogy and politics.

Megan: Robb's whole progression has fallen into kind of a grey area for me. He's really growing on Ben because he's into honor and all that junk, but I just want to be entertained. There are certain story lines I crave and want to get more of; there are others I actively dislike because they are keeping me from the good ones; then there are the ones I don't actively dislike, but I'm still not counting the minutes until they get back to them. Up until this point, the Stark-Lannister war on the whole was in that last category, but now I'm getting more into the Lannister side, while the Stark end is ok, but not great.

Sean: I think that's understandable. With the exception of Arya, who's not exactly a shotcaller for the Starks, none of them have the spunk that Tyrion or even Jaime have displayed.

Megan: As to why I'm enjoying the Lannister camp scenes more, that's mainly for the great Tyrion stuff. I was actually souring on him a bit last few week because I didn't find him as interesting at the camp as I did in his previous situations, but this may have been his best episode yet--yeah, I think it was. Obviously he's funny, obviously he's charming in his own way, but aside from little glimpses, we haven't gotten to see his more serious sympathetic side until this week and he gained a whole new endearing dimension as a result. The story he told of his marriage was crushing and I think Peter Dinklage earned his eventual Emmy by showing he can do the heartfelt stuff with this character as well as make people laugh.

Sean: My favorite detail about that sequence was when he starts losing to Shae in the game of "I Never" they're playing: After being forced to take a few drinks after whiffing on several guesses, he kind of stammers and says "We went over the importance of not lying, didn't we?" or something like that. He's having a really, really hard time dealing with not being the smartest guy in the room. But what separates him from his siblings and father is that you never get the impression that placing second would make him want to kill the person in first place. You know what I mean? That's Tyrion's charm in a nutshell: He's smart, he's funny, he's ruthlessly cunning but not actually ruthless, at least not that we've seen. Chalk that up to the years of psychological abuse he endured at his father's hands, I suppose, and to the horrible fate of his wife. I'm guessing that when you're exposed to something like that, ruthlessness either loses a lot of its luster or, as was the case for the Hound after his abuse by the Mountain, it becomes the only language you speak.

Megan: Kudos also to Bronn, who is one of the unsung stars of the show for me; his facial expressions reacting to other people are gold. I'm very intrigued by Shae as well--definitely want to know her story.

Sean: Bronn is terrific -- Jerome Flynn's a real MVP. Fun fact about Shae: In the books, she's a native of Westeros with the same roughly English vibe as everyone else, but the filmmakers and George R.R. Martin were so impressed by Sibel Kikelli's audition that they rewrote the part around her.

Megan: Still don't like the Wall, but at least there was stuff going on there this week. I wouldn't have known that the Lord Commander was Jorah's dad unless Ben pointed it out to me, but that's just because I semi-intentionally stop paying attention whenever Jon Snow comes onscreen.

Sean: The Old Bear's a good dude. And convincingly cast, I thought -- he looks like he could be Jorah's dad, sure.

Megan: How does the he have a son if guys on the Wall aren't supposed to take a wife or have kids?

Sean: Jeor took the Black well after Jorah was born, in order to allow his son to take over his lordship. Pretty selfless when compared to the likes of Walder Frey. It didn't work out, since Jorah disgraced himself by selling some poachers he'd captured into slavery, but that was the idea.

Megan: Similarly, I was splitting my focus between the laundry on my living room floor and that Keeping Up With The Kardashians had just started taping when we learned that Aemon is a Targaryen, but Ben caught me up; I do think that's cool and hope there's some payoff ahead since we thought there was only one left in Daenerys, but now we know that not to be the case.

Sean: If you've still got this thing on a DVR someplace [EDITOR'S NOTE: Nope, just unwatched episodes of Hellcats], watch that speech again. I like how this sudden agony and fury suddenly comes out of this frail old man. He still has some dragon left in him, it would seem, yet tempered with a hard-earned wisdom and kindness that I don't think too many Targaryens shared by the time of the Mad King.

Megan: With Aemon alive, does he technically have a more legitimate claim to the crown than Daenerys if the Targaryens were to regain control?

Sean: No, because Maesters forsake their House names and are sworn to serve for life. It was easy to miss, but he mentions that he was actually offered the crown during a shaky period of succession decades and decades ago -- I believe the High Septon, basically the Westerosi pope, can release people from their vows -- but refused. The fact that Robert let him live speaks volumes about how secure people are that men on the Wall stay on the Wall.

Megan: I liked the other guys passing around Jon's new sword like it was a toy; I guess that's their equivalent of the iPad or the Wii coming out and their buddy getting one.

Sean: Ha! That's brilliant.

Megan: The stuff across the Narrow Sea was well done from the start. From the very first shot and the way Drogo was hunched over on his horse, I wasn't even sure it was actually him, as they did a great job making him sickly and Jason Momoa really altered his physicality; he's obviously a huge guy, so when they take the time to diminish him, it's striking. When Daenerys was standing over him, both in the road and later in his tent, I'm not sure if it was the way the scenes were staged or the way she was carrying herself, but she honestly seemed bigger than him.

Sean: The bigger they come, the harder they fall. Last time we saw him he killed an armed man with his bare hands; this time he can't even sit up. I loved how ominously matter-of-fact his bloodrider was: "He fell from his horse." Right then and there you know the jig's up.

Megan: I liked getting the contrast between how the Dothraki society works and how things are done in Westeros, as explained by Jorah; as opposed to over in King's Landing where it's all about manipulation and bloodlines to secure you and your children's positioning, with the Dothraki, they're just going to fight amongst themselves and whoever wins is king, so if Drogo dies, Daenerys has no claim whatsoever.

Sean: Although you do start to wonder how much the Westerosi concepts of lineage are just a pretty lace covering they drape over the same might-makes-right system the Dothraki don't bullshit themselves about.

Megan: I guess this speaks to the strength of how they've portrayed Daenerys and Drogo's relationship as I've said in past weeks, but it never really occured to me that her mounting desperation to save his life was from anything other than caring deeply about him. If she was truly concerned about the life of herself or her son, she could have just escaped with Jorah, so I didn't feel like she wanted Drogo to live just so the Dothraki wouldn't kill her or her baby. Is it possible she was just concerned that if Drogo dies the Dothraki wouldn't cross the Narrow Sea and she wouldn't get her throne? Maybe, but I'm sticking with the idea she loves him and would do anything to save his life.

Sean: Since I've read the books I know there's really no question here: She stayed because she loves Drogo and wants to save him. But you raise an excellent point about the quality of this storyline in the show. Viewers have no recourse to Dany's interior monologue and thus have no idea if she's sticking around out of love, or in hopes that reviving him will simply save her bacon and allow her to continue the march to Westeros, which would be quite an understandable conclusion to reach. They must rely on the cues given by the writing and performances, and those cues leave little doubt why she's doing what she's doing. She's for real.

Megan: Final thoughts on the Narrow Sea stuff: Who do they hate horses so much? Is that three that they've killed?

Sean: Yes, horses have not fared well on Game of Thrones. And they actually cut a gory horse death: In the books, Tyrion makes it into that battle, and ends up surviving in part by accidentally disembowling a horse with the spike on his helmet when he stands up off the ground. Forget the Night's Watch: Westeros needs a Sworn Brotherhood of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Megan: Also, Mirri Maz Duur is creepy, so good casting. I really have no thoughts on Jorah at the moment, even though he finally took some action; I'm mainly interested in him for exposition.

Sean: I thought it was cool to see the contrasting fighting styles of him and Drogo's bloodrider. You can see the advantages and disadvantages of both, though in the end it was obviously unfamiliarity with fighting in armor that did whatsisname in--a contrast with the trial by combat between Bronn and Ser Vardis in the Eyrie, where Bronn knew he needed to tire his armored opponent out first before going in for the kill.

Megan: Was I surprised that Ned got beheaded? I was, but not entirely. Ben was sure he would somehow survive and I was pretty steadfast that it was not certain. Clearly nobody is safe on this show. I'm glad for that. Everything feels more important and every moment is more tense when anybody could go at any time. There are a lot of shows that are framed in such a way that certain characters are never at risk. At first, I thought this was one of those shows, but clearly I was wrong.

Sean: That's for damn sure. What surprised me most is how intense this was for me, even though I've read the book twice (and actually had it accidentally spoiled for me beforehand!) and knew everything that was going to happen. The filmmakers used every trick at their disposal to make that scene as intense as possible. I can only imagine how it felt for newbies. I've read some articles that say that this was one of the most narratively audacious moves ever made by a TV drama -- killing off its main character and biggest star in the first season. You're right, it's crystal clear that no one is safe...though that's a lesson that stings every new time we learn it, I can promise you that.

Megan: I'm starting to get a feel for how you described the way the book is structured in terms of its narrative and how it translates to the show. Ned was the focal point at the beginning, but they've been moving around lately where he has been featured less and it doesn't feel like the show is fundamentally shattered even if he's gone. Those were his chapters and now we've "read" them, so onto the next set.

Sean: That's what the network's counting on, certainly.

Megan: Hey, one last question: did they steal the crow mail system from Harry Potter and the owls?

Sean: Ha! No, A Game of Thrones came out first. You can see its influence on Potter in several ways--the owls are the most obvious, but there's also the whole Ron/Ginny incest storyline, and the part where Neville decapitates a horse.

Sean & Megan Watch Game of Thrones: The Pointy End

From the blog that brought you "Lynn Phegley Watches Lost," get ready for another experience that redefines the art of recapping TV shows!

Sean T. Collins is a friend to the Cool Kids and avid devotee of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" series of books, upon which the HBO television show Game of Thrones is based; he is currently chronicling the series on two separate blogs, one with book spoilers and one without.

Megan Morse is Ben's wife who has never read the Martin books and does not typically go in for the fantasy genre but loves Game of Thrones for reasons she doesn't even fully understand.

Each week, Megan will provide her analysis of the show from a neophyte's standpoint and then Sean will interject with his informed reactions and insights, answering her questions and commenting on her observations.

Whether you're a nerd or a newcomer, if you're watching Game of Thrones this is the recap for you!

Megan: This week was a little slow. After the last episode was so loud with so much going on, they went back to set-up mode. I wouldn't call the show so much a roller coaster as a log flume ride, where you've got the slow, suspenseful ride to the top, the crazy drop, then you float around for a little bit until you start over. I still liked the episode as part of the larger narrative with the knowledge that you need these breaks to build to the big happenings, but as a standalone, it was not my favorite.

Sean: I think I see what you're saying -- this wasn't a "shit hits the fan" episode so much as it was a "shit flies through the air and lands here and there after previously having hit the fan" episode. But I can't agree with you that it was "a little slow." By my unofficial count, there were 47 storylines going on here, give or take a couple dozen. Arya, Sansa, Syrio, Jon, Drogo, Daenerys, Septa Mordane, Ned, Varys, Grandmaester Pycelle, King Joffrey, Cersei, Ser Barristan, Samwell, Robb, Tyrion, Bronn, Lord Tywin, Catelyn, Bran, Osha, and Lysa all get pushed or thrown or yanked or marched forward in their storylines; meanwhile, we meet the Greatjon Umber from the North and Mirri Maz Duur from the Lamb People, and we see one of the White Walkers' undead servants in action for the first time since the opening sequence in the pilot. It's not the clusterbombing of the plot that last week was, with Robert dying and Littlefinger betraying Ned and the attempted assassination of Dany and Drogo swearing to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, but "slow" still isn't how I'd describe it.

Megan: I totally agree with what you're saying, but I think you're misunderstanding me; I'm not using "slow" to mean nothing happened, but rather that what did happen, while a lot, didn't captivate me like the flashier stuff did last week. Again, I wasn't bored and didn't think it was a poor episode, but personally it just didn't stand out as one of my favorites.

I was not bothered by the lack of Ned this week. I've bought into seeing the Lannisters and the Starks as collective characters, so as long as we check in with at least one of them every time, I don't so much notice the lack of the others. That's what sets Daenerys apart: There is only one Targaryen so if she's not shown, I do feel like a big chunk of story is missing. Here, Ned was in the dungeon, but that gave Sansa and, in particular, Robb, a chance to shine.

Sean: That's totally true: We're trained to see the Starks and Lannisters as a collective, albeit collectives with heads in the form of Ned and, I'd say, Tyrion, although he's just the most sympathetic Lannister and not the one who calls the shots. I think a big reason that many of the critics who received the initial six episodes for review liked the Daenerys material so much is precisely the reason you cite (and actually I think we've discussed this before): Her family unit is just her and Viserys, and Drogo and Jorah I suppose, so it's a lot easier to get a handle on their relationships and power dynamics and get to know them in the process than it is with a group of ten or twelve characters.

Megan: This was really a breakout episode for Robb, who was not on my radar at all before. Whereas I had no real sense of who he was, now I'm getting at least some, so I'm glad he got a storyline that put him front and center. I wasn't blown away by his charisma, but I noticed him and do want to see more; he's on the fence for me, but I'm glad we got some insight into him.

Sean: I've seen a lot of reviewers say pretty much exactly this. Robb's a challenge for the filmmakers in that he's not one of the "POV" characters in the books, but he's obviously just as important as they are to the plot. They've done what they can, but it's still difficult to cut away from Ned and Tyrion and Dany et al to flesh out Robb when all he's really done up until this point is hold down the fort at Winterfell for the absent Ned and Catelyn. Now he's finally got something to do, and it's just about the biggest responsibility anyone in Westeros has: raising an army to fight the King. I think the actor, Richard Madden, really wears that responsibility and its stresses in his eyes, young eyes full of awareness that he's taking an enormous risk that could lead to death and ruin for everyone he knows.

Megan: My take on Sansa was that she has a foot in each world now, which adds some depth to her just being a straight social climber trying to escape her life as a Stark. Her father being in trouble shocked her enough that she showed some loyalty and did not throw him completely under the bus--which I thought she would--but she clearly is still going to do everything she can to stay on Cersei and Joffrey's good side so that she can get her dream life. A little inner conflict is good for her character.

Sean: The show handled Sansa's situation here in an interesting fashion, in that they cut a major plot point from the book in which she's so upset by her father's order to go back to Winterfell that she runs to the Queen, oblivious to what's really going on, to ask her to keep her at court. In the book, this revelation is part of what sets Cersei and the Lannisters' trap for Ned in motion; it also makes it very, very difficult to sympathize with Sansa, who's proven herself to be an enormous idiot with a totally warped sense of priorities. (Priorities drilled into her by her parents and her teachers, who've taught her what a lady's place in this society is, but still.) I'm sort of glad they cut that bit.

Megan: I liked having Tyrion back as he always adds a little bit of comic relief and makes the show more well-rounded. He gets all the best lines, of course. "I like living" was a great one.

Sean: Well, he does!

Megan: In a nice bit of irony, I was complaining early on that they weren't showing Daenerys, so of course they cut straight to my least favorite thing on the show: The fucking Wall. We got so much Wall this episode. I'll be brief: zombies definitely make it moderately more interesting, I like Ghost, I still hate Snow. Next.

Sean: Haha, the Wall's got a ways to with you, I see. Did you at least like the way the zombie was handled? That's a pretty played-out monster at this point, so I was impressed that they seemed to give it a novel physicality that still made it feel unfamiliar and weird and dangerous.

Megan: I did like the way they played the zombie, for the reasons you mentioned and also how it was silent as opposed to growling or moaning. They did a good job giving a different take on a well-worn monster.

At first in the scene where the Dothraki were pillaging the village I was confused as to what was going on, but I think that's mostly because I wanted to read more into it and think there was some greater reason for what they were doing, like that lamb tribe had some sort of significance, as opposed to them just looting for gold so they can buy ships. There is a lot to be learned from the way that Daenerys manipulates Drogo not by scheming but just by being polite and tender to him, which I suppose isn't really manipulating so much as gaining control through being genuine, but whatever.

Sean: I really liked how Drogo leaned on his staff with a grin on his face, watching Dany verbally joust with the outraged Dothraki warrior. You got a sense of his admiration for her -- like, he used to think she was just a pretty face and a weakling, but boy was he wrong, and he gets a kick out of other people learning it. "Heh, this oughta be good." That's not to say that he won't literally rip your tongue out if you take things too far, but he knows Dany can handle herself and he respects her and honors her wishes -- even when those wishes fly in the face of all their previous customs.

Megan: As much as I love the two of them though, the pet names were wearing on me. Go easy on using the same pet names over and over again in the same conversation, especially when you've got subtitles, guys.

Sean: So you're telling me you don't call Ben your Sun-and-Stars?

Megan: No, I call him Fluffy, or Fluffs, which is different because it is not annoying. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes it is]

I noticed that there was a recurring theme of male characters giving testosterone-y speeches about how bad ass they were and then daring somebody to challenge them, from Syrio to Drogo to Robb. Syrio's scene was nice and fitting for the characters, but what I really like is how when Drogo gives speeches, he backs up his words, and hammers home the point that he is a man going to war, whereas Joffrey, Viserys and even Robb really are little boys.

Sean: The show is very much about young, inexperienced people growing into the roles society and family and history have created for them even before they were born, and the degree to which they succeed or fail at that. The teenage characters -- Joffrey, Viserys, Robb, Daenerys, Sansa, Jon, and Theon -- give you a pretty great apples-to-apples-to-apples comparison on that score.

Megan: I loved when Drogo referred to his gaping shoulder wound as "a scratch." As a female viewer, I'm typically not drawn to the alpha male masculine types like Drogo, but I find him very intriguing, probably his relationship with Daenerys is such a contrast to how he is with everybody else. Every other guy on the show ends up looking kinda weak by comparison.

Sean: That's a big "mission accomplished" for the show, then, I would say. You have to feel like despite having a more "primitive" culture, Drogo's still a threat to these great lords and kings with their giant castles and armies of armor-clad knights. In that light it was a brilliant decision to have him defeat the angry warrior while completely unarmed and unarmored -- compare that to, say, Varys, who protests to Ned that he couldn't do anything to defend him in a similar state. I mean, in Varys's case that's perfectly true -- but you still get the sense that if Drogo had been in that room and had reason to take Ned's side, things may have gone differently just by virtue of that single man.

Megan: Building off my last thought somewhat, I think a lot of people would look at this show and not see it as very feminine, but I totally do. If you look at who the characters really holding power are, it's Daenerys and Cersei who are running their respective armies. Catelyn doesn't have quite that kind of role in the Stark house, but she is assertive and people listen to her. And hey, Arya totally stabbed that kid to death!

Sean: Haha! I am woman, hear me roar! No, wait, those are the Lannister words. Seriously, though, it's like this: These societies have a very limited role for their women, and women must exercise power through proscribed circumstances and with limited means. The extent to which Cersei and Daenerys have gathered power to themselves is a testament to their prowess. The important thing to keep in mind is that the show is in no way a celebration of a world where women must either be highborn ladies in extravagant gowns, whores, or rape victims. In many ways, the problems with that kind of a world are what the series is about.

Megan: How do you feel the casting is overall? Since you read the books and are so familiar with the material, I've been very curious to hear your thoughts on who fits, who doesn't, etc.

Sean: Well, the number one thing you need to know is that the books were written with both the lifespans and the cultural mores of the Middle Ages in mind, meaning that everyone is waaaaay younger in the books than they are in the show. The clearest example, to me at least, is that Ned, who by this point has fathered six children, including three teenagers, and has commanded armies in two wars, and is one of the most hardened and experienced warriors and leaders in the world, and rules the realm's largest and most inhospitable sub-kingdom, is about my wife's age, 35. Bran is seven, not 10, when Jaime Lannister tosses him out the window. Daenerys is 14 when she first starts having sex with the total stranger to whom she has been wedded. Robb is 15, I think, when he takes the reins of the North and marches into war. In part because of the challenge of resting so much of the show on the shoulders of very young child actors, and in part because the sexual and violent material involving the teen characters would be difficult if not impossible to convey properly on television, the show aged everyone up. You lose something with that, I think -- you lose a shorthand way of showing just how hard a world this is, how quickly it makes you grow up and then grinds you back down. But for the most part the casting is such that it doesn't matter that much: Sean Bean and Maisie Williams, for example, are basically perfect as Ned and Arya, even if they're older, while Emilia Clarke still sells Daenerys' youth even if you probably have to make her 18 in the show to be allowed to show her naked and having sex at all.

The one place I feel the show whiffed was with Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark. I think she's too old and that she's playing it too dour, too mother-hen, too predictable. The writing's at fault here too, to be sure; for example, in the opening chapters, it's Catelyn who urges Ned to take the job as Hand to consolidate power, make his children safer, and avoid risking Robert's wrath should he refuse, and it's only after Bran's fall that she begs him to stay. That's a lot more interesting and unpredictable a character point than "concerned mother is concerned," which is pretty much all you've gotten from TV-Catelyn as written, and all that Fairley has delivered through her performance. I also think it's a little harder to buy Littlefinger as driven to be what he is by his rejection from a woman who after all looks like she's got a solid ten years on him, though they tried to fudge that during his monologue last week when he calls himself her "little plaything," implying that maybe he was just hitting puberty when he fell for Catelyn as an older teenage girl.

Other than that I think the casting has been more or less spot-on, even when some liberties have been taken with their appearances -- like, Ned's supposed to have black hair, and Jon and Arya inherited that and his hatchet-faced serious looks, while the rest of the Stark kids take after their mother's beauty and her auburn hair; Lysa's supposed to have gotten chubby since Catelyn last saw her, not gaunt; there are various facial hair discrepancies with guys like Pycelle and Ser Rodrik and Drogo -- but I'm still not complaining. I think in some cases the casting has done nearly all the work for the show: The Mountain and the Hound have barely said a paragraph between the two of them, but they're every bit as intimidating here as they are in the books beause Conan Stevens and Rory McCann are impeccably frightening physical specimens. Heck, Jerome Flynn as Bronn makes that character even more dangerous-seeming than he is in the books, and in the books he's pretty dangerous.

Fun fact: The showrunners have said that when they started the project, they had three actors in mind before anything else: Bean as Ned, Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, and Charles Dance as Tywin. They ended up getting all three.