['Game of Thrones' - 'The Wolf and the Lion']

This week's episode is, in my humble opinion, hands down the best episode of 'Game of Thrones' so far. It not only features a couple of great scenes -- moments that were flat-out brilliantly written and acted -- but it was generally compelling and involving from beginning to end.

One of the reasons this episode worked so well? Though 'The Wolf and the Lion' spent a little time elsewhere, the hour focused tightly on two locations and what was going on there.

More importantly, there was a new level of nuance, sophistication and excitement in the King's Landing scenes, which had often been plodding in the past. Finally, events there began to move forward in dangerous ways and things are beginning to look very dark for the Starks.

Flow and narrative drive have been problematic on this show, but here, they weren't an issue. The fact that we had four episodes that only worked intermittently before we got to one that worked all the way through demonstrated why being uber-faithful to the novel is something of a problem. There are many pages of setup before things really begin to move in a major way in the 800-page 'Game of Thrones' novel, and let me be clear -- the complicated characters and their fraught relationships make reading every one of those pages worthwhile.

But what we got in the first four episodes was a faithful rendition of all the setup of the novel, without nearly as much of the novel's atmosphere, psychological complexity and context. On the show, people haven't always seemed all that compelling because a good deal of the time their dialogue was oriented toward giving us information about their world, not about their attitudes or emotional states. The focus on facts, histories and events sometimes made the people seem less interesting on a personal or psychological level.

And, as I've said repeatedly, ideally each episode should work on its own, not simply as part of a larger whole. Every episode needs to have its own beginning, middle and end and to have a narrative through line for at least a few individual characters. This week, we got all that, thank the gods.

In the second half of the first season and in the show's second season, I hope we get many more scenes like the one between Cersei and Robert. It felt vital, real and alive. It was psychologically complex, unpredictable and even darkly amusing. This was the show I've wanted since I first heard HBO was developing a 'GoT' series. I've watched that conversation several times now and I enjoy it more every time.

Once again, a terrific scene -- a necessary scene -- depicted an encounter that wasn't in the book. I've begun to think of these scenes as "connective tissue," i.e., vital material that connects the major organs of the drama. These scenes tend to have some of the show's best writing, and as a result, they often feature the best acting. The actors know they've been given choice material these scenes, and they raise their games accordingly.

There was a liveliness and an emotional honesty in that conversation between Robert and Cersei -- two people who have waged a form of war on each other for 17 years but who called a temporary truce in order to talk truthfully, possibly for the first time ever. Cersei was even witty ("I'm sorry your marriage to Ned Stark didn't work out"; What's holding the fractious kingdom together? "Our marriage.").

In short, the scene took two characters we thought we knew and shed new light on them and on their relationship. It also gave us a deeper understanding of Robert's feelings about his dead lover and about Cersei's feelings toward her husband, but it did so in subtle ways that were dramatically effective. The point of the scene was to reveal their thoughts and emotions, and getting new information was a byproduct of that. Too many other 'GoT' scenes have gotten that formula backward.

The scene between Littlefinger and Varys was also an enormous treat for any number of reasons. Conleth Hill and Aiden Gillen played the hell out of it, and seeing them do battle (with words, not swords) was extremely rewarding. Both courtiers were needling each other and testing each other, to see where the other one's loyalties and weaknesses lay (and if they could trick the other person into giving up some intelligence, all the better).

The game for the throne of Westeros has begun in earnest, and they know they could lose their lives if they don't play these crucial rounds well. But that doesn't mean they can have a sense of humor about it (Hill's delivery of that line about his, well, testicles is one of my favorite moments of the entire series so far).

The Small Council scene was good as well. In fact, it may well be the crux of the entire season (or series), given that it highlights two very different moral codes. Ned Stark is a man who is prepared to go to any length and take any action, within certain limits. But he's come to a place where everything is relative, and any action, no matter how craven and heartless, can be forgiven as unfortunate but necessary. To borrow Littlefinger's phrase, all moral justifications are available to a man with a full purse.

But just as Arya told her dad, "That's not me" last week (when he mentioned her unlikely future as a noble wife and mother), this isn't Ned. This isn't what he signed up for. He's not one to change his morals based on what's expedient for him or the realm. For better or for worse, he is what he is.

Sean Bean brilliantly played the moment in which Ned realized that his friend was no longer the man he once knew. Robert was never the smartest strategist; he's happiest on the battlefield (or in bed with someone other than his wife). He was never cut out to rule, and it instantly became clear to Ned that Robert had been completely corrupted by the seemingly sensible, rational men around that table. Who Robert used to be had been usurped by the man those courtiers needed their king to be.

But killing a pregnant teenager is not "wiser" or "kinder" to Ned, and the fact that none of them can see why he thinks it's a bad idea is the reason he needs to get out of King's Landing. Whether or not you agree with Ned's assessment of the situation, it's clear that the capital is not the place for him. That effort wrap up his affairs and get out, however, doesn't go so well. Ned ends up wounded, having been skewered to the pointy end of a weapon wielded by one of the Lannister guards. Jon Arryn could have told him that's what happens when you start questioning the status quo.

What's strange is that, even though Ned knows he's being used for mysterious purposes by both Varys and Littlefinger, he still goes with the latter to meet one more of Robert's mistresses. In that matter and in the matter of Sir Hugh, Ned knows he's close to figuring something out -- something important. Like his daughter, he's stubborn and can't quite let go of things that piques his curiosity, even when he probably should have cut his losses and his ties to the court some time ago. What's less clear is what Littlefinger is using Ned for, but clearly the treasurer has some ulterior motive.

Power corrupts, as it has corrupted the Small Council and King Robert. Power also can drive some weak minds absolutely insane. The Mad King apparently lived up to his moniker, and Viserys clearly inherited some of that same insanity.

But this episode's star Batty Aristocrat is Lysa Arryn. As is the case with Viserys, Lysa's not exactly a nuanced character, but at least it didn't take long for the show to demonstrate just how out of whack things are at the Eyrie. The whole sequence in the throne room was highly melodramatic, but effectively so, Michelle Fairley did a great job of showing how shocked Catelyn was by the state of her sister and her spoiled son.

I can only hope that the next five episodes are every bit as dramatically and visually satisfying as this one was. Fingers crossed.

A final hail of bullets (or arrows):

• Rory McCann has had few lines as the Hound, but he's got terrific presence and his fight with his brother was an exciting moment.

• I'm glad the show dealt in a forthright manner with the love affair between Loras Tyrell (the Knight of Flowers, who rode against the Mountain) and Renly Baratheon. Like the best scenes in the show, it effectively served a number of purposes: It filled in some gaps regarding the various power struggles and factions within the seven kingdoms, and it offered us new insight into these characters, who share not only a secret love affair but a political agenda. It also confirmed that Sansa really, really does not know how to pick boyfriends.

• There really was a ton of exciting conflict in this episode, some of it in tense conversations, some of it in action scenes. The scene of Catelyn's party being attacked was depicted with verve, and in general, all the Vale/Eyrie scenes had terrific visuals. The throne room at the Eyrie may be the show's most fantastic (in all senses of the word) interior space.

• If I have one beef with the episode, it's that all the Greyjoy exposition is, again, rather obvious and clunky. I'm not faulting Alfie Allen, who plays Theon Greyjoy, I'm faulting the fact that the scenes that have introduced his family history, as well has his scene with Roz, aren't particularly nuanced or interesting. It's a case of the show piling on exposition with a trowel and expecting it to go down smoothly. Alas, when it comes to this part of the story (and some others), it does not.

• Maisie Williams hasn't put a foot wrong in this show, and her scene with the guards was great, as was her angry interjection later in the episode: "I'm a girl!"

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'Game of Thrones' airs 9PM ET Sundays on HBO.

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