And now, in my head, I'm casting the Muppet parody someone desperately needs to make. Bert and Ernie as Littlefinger and Varys, Guy Smiley as Jaime, Cookie Monster as King Robert, and surely only Snuffleupagus could play Hodor.

Robert and Ned do speak archaicly briefly in the crypt when Robert says "I would name you the hand of the king" but that seems clearly a ceremonial form of words which goes with such an offer and is immediately undercut by "I want you to run my kingdom while I eat, drink and whore myself into an early grave."

You ARE getting this mixed up with Sesame Street? That's a scarily accurate thumbnail portrait of Elmo.

That's a little unfair. I mean you could say the same thing about Sesame Street.

Dan, I'm liking Game of Thrones more and more: to me, the first episode was also the weakest, but it's turning out to have far more in common with Deadwood than Lord of the Rings.

Deadwood, by the way, is one of my all-time favorite shows. I'm actually thinking about going back and reviewing that series from the start, just because I'd love to write about it.