Here's my picks for the best and worst from season one:
Best Episode: I'd have to say Episode 9. Not just for the climatic Ned Stark execution, the entire hour was very strong.
Runner ups: Episode six and eight were close.
Worst: Episode 3 -- no deaths, no sex, no wolves, just chat-chat-chat. It was also the only episode to conclude without any kind of cliffhanger.
Best actor: Peter Dinklage: The obvious fan-favorite choice, sure, and Tyrion gets all the fun lines to play with. But you can't take your eyes off him. Some of these episodes I watched like five times to write a recap, and Dinklage takes even the most expository bits of throwaway dialog and does something interesting with them.
Runner-up: Sean Bean. Until the last couple episodes, I would have picked maybe Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger) or Mark Addy (King Robert). I thought Bean's performance was stiff, but that's sort of how Eddard Stark is. Once his life began to fall apart, Bean started layering in vulnerability while still maintaining his core strength and the result was fascinating to watch.
Best actress: Maisie Williams: And some of you thought I didn't like Arya. In a show full of strong child actor performances, Williams was heartbreaking and pitch perfect.
Runner-up: Like Bean, Lena Headey's performance wasn't very flashy, but that's also aligned with her character -- Cersei always maintains a poker face. But check out her scene discussing her hate-marriage in Episode 5 with King Robert.
Best Fight: Bronn vs. Eryie Knight. We didn't particularly care about either of these people at the time, but with Bronn standing in for Tyrion it put the life of one of our favorite characters at risk. Their fight was unconventional, suspenseful and was staged differently than any sword fight I've seen -- plus the whole Moon Door trap gave the set a sci-fi Star Wars quality to it.
Runner-up: Jaime vs. Ned.
Hottest Sex Scene: Drogo and Dany (the non-rape one). Tough to choose a sex scene from Thrones without sounding like a freak because there's something taboo in nearly all of them. But Dany showing Drogo her newfound girl-on-top skills in Episode 2 (my favorite to recap) wins out.
Best Change From the Books: There was a lot of smart moves. In the book, Arya sees Ned getting executed from a distance and Yoren finds her on his own. The producers added a connection between them in the scene which amplifies its power tremendously. Runner-up: Drogo's tongue-ripping fight scene. Now we understand why he's the toughest guy in the tribe.
Most missed scene from books: Tyrion marching into battle in Episode 9. There's two schools of thought on this subject: We didn't see much in the books either, or that HBO needs to pony up more money. I don't agree with the first -- TV is a visual medium and if a viewer feels disappointed by not showing a fight then their feelings are valid whether the scene was in the books or not. But I also don't know how anybody can describe Thrones as cheap. So I don't fault producers for not shooting this, I'm just bummed it wasn't there. Now, if they don't show anything from a certain battle next season, that's a whole other story.
Runner-up: The Stark and Lannister kids sparring in the yard at Winterfell during King Robert's visit.
Most WFT Nude Scene: Hodor!
First runner-up: Lysa breastfeeding her pre-adolescent son.
Second runner-up: Ros flashing her cooter on turnip cart.
Best Sexposition: I loved Viserys talking about dragons in the bathtub with the curious prostitute. The actor really brought a lot to this tale remembering his youth in Kings Landing, especially since his memories weren't dramatic -- it was all in the mood and delivery of this scene. The kicker at the end ("What am I paying you for? To make me sad?") was one of the biggest laughs in the show. This gave sexposition a good name.
Worst Sexposition: Littlefinger's speech about vying for Catelyn's affection while judging Ros auditioning for Brothel Idol. It was sort of funny, but I didn't believe this scene for a second.
Best Advice: "There is only one god. His name is death. And there is only one thing we say to death: Not today" -- Syrio Forel.
Worst Monologue: No surprise to regular readers, King Robert's speech about his first kill, a dull speech in a throwaway scene.
Best Joke: "You wouldn't know him," Bronn, when Tyrion sets him up to recite his parentage to Tywin. (OK, you sort of had to be there).
Most Gruesome Death: Viserys getting "crowned." I tried to reassure myself that his death was over relatively quickly, that he stopped screaming so abruptly because, I'm assuming, the molten gold flowed into his eye sockets and reached his brain. That I'm reassuring myself by thinking this makes me all the more creeped out.
Dumbest Controversy: Jon's direwolf Ghost barks in show but not in books? Blasphemy!
Most Powerful Scene: Ned Stark's execution. Everybody involved with the show knew this scene had to rock. Gorgeous, horrific, suspenseful. The most tense artistry for a character death since Adriana was driven out to the woods in The Sopranos.
