I don't really like the character of Shae, she's a little bit manic pixie whore for my liking. However the chemistry between Sibel Kekilli and Peter Dinklage is great so, hey, what does it matter about the nonsense in the script.
It's clear who the writer's darlings are here: characters with sass like Arya and Tyrion.
It has to be said this is one show that does a lot to normalise the sex lives of the disabled.
Whatever the Starks tried to teach their children diplomacy clearly wasn't on the agenda. Maybe that's why the clan patriarch is in a dungeon.
I couldn't get on with the books so I'm hoping the TV show will be a more palatable way to get up to speed with the cultural phenomena
I can see the general appeal of the series. You have three female leads with different approaches to leadership and motherhood. The more family orientated Caitlin, the politic and scheming Cersei and the kindly tyranny of Daenerys.
While they are not exactly nuanced they are slightly more fleshed out than their male equivalent who all want power (and the Stark concept of justice is the power to order the world as they would prefer) and see war as the way to obtain it.