Kal’s deal with Abby went way too slowly, but the payoff at the end was worth it – Abby naturally freaks out over knowing the truth about Tariq. I’m really, really hoping this leads to Tariq’s return. I don’t necessarily think that Kal and Tariq should be together again (anymore than I would for any abusive relationship), but I think that the way things ended were horrible for both characters and they deserve some resolution. Also, I enjoyed Tariq as a character – not near as much as Kaldrick, but Tariq was an interesting guy that was actually starting to become successful in a unique business.

That’s another deal we faced in this episode – that everyone, and I mean everyone, who succeeds on this show ultimately screws things up or has things screwed up for them. Entourage, this is not. I loved Nick in the writers room (yet another unique part of Hollywood that we don’t see on TV very often), and the appearance by Paul F. Tompkins was hilarious and added some legitimacy to the show (my roommate, forced to sit through this episode with me, actually perked up and paid attention after Tompkins showed up and brought the coke and the jokes). I should have seen it coming that Nick would be fired for taking the blame for his bosses’ coke problem, but I thought that maybe some twist would set it right. It didn’t, Nick was fired, and so I guess we will be forced to sit through more of his awful stand up once again. Which I love, don’t get me wrong.

Raquel was just an amazeballs waitress. That’s really all I have to say about her. More service industry for Raquel, please.

Finally, we come to Conner, who has not been the most interesting character this season, but now you better believe he has my full attention. I loved the plot with his sister and I was really, genuinely excited for him when he got the DNA test results at the end. That is, until the plot thickened!!! She’s into Scientology “Scienetics”!!! And then, suddenly, everything I found charming about their blossoming family relationship was suddenly called into question in my mind, including the test results themselves. I FREAKING LOVE THIS SHOW.

Tonight’s Quotant Quotable: “This is not the ‘70s. It’s not the mid-‘80s. It’s not various portions of the ‘90s. You are not day traders. This is not a high school or a discotheque in Monaco. You are pale, miserable, uncool writers who should not be able to afford this much cocaine. You’re lucky you get a writers’ bathroom!” – Paul F. Tompkins

NASHVILLE (ABC, Wednesdays at 10 p.m., premieres Oct. 10)

You Better Watch.

Okay, I’m not just saying this because I’m a proud Nashville native and I’m basically pissing my pants because they film this in my hometown. I’m saying you should watch it because it looks awesome. The plot seems very similar to another Nashville-set country music drama, the 2010 film “Country Strong,” only with more believable actors playing the lead two roles – Connie Britton as the aging superstar and Hayden Panettierre as the young, Swiftian ingénue. (Can you believe anyone tried to pass Gwyneth Paltrow and Leighton Meester off as country singers? Blech.) It’s got drama, it’s got songs, it’s got Hayden Panettierre in the superbitch role she was born to play.

Watch it if you liked: Friday Night Lights, The Good Wife, Smash

GO ON (NBC, Tuesdays at 9 p.m., premieres Sept. 11)

I think this show won't suck. Almost sure.

Yes, I liked the pilot for “Go On.” Sue me. I, Kate, with a heart of stone, found it to be quite touching. And pretty funny, too. I liked Matthew Perry (Chandler always was my favorite Friend), I really liked Tyler James Williams, and I just loved that old lady taking home her donut box crown and the whole crew chasing the Google cameras at the end. It was a surprisingly sweet show with characters I took to immediately, with the exception of the therapist/group leader lady. The “kooky, diverse misfits” ensemble reminds me somewhat of “Community,” which is a very good thing. I think this show needs to work out some kinks, but it has great potential, and could also bring in some big ratings if NBC times its inevitable sports star guest spots correctly. I mean, the biggest program on television is NBC’s Football Night in America… they’re going to milk that for all it’s worth on a show with a sports motif, right? Also, if you blinked you might have missed him, but John Cho’s in the cast!

Watch it if you liked: Sports Night, Community, How I Met Your Mother

LAST RESORT (ABC, Thursdays at 8 p.m., premieres Sept. 27)

You know the show is serious business when everyone's doing the power-pose.

In a somewhat appropriate slip-up, I first typed “Lost Resort” as the show’s title – clearly, ABC is trying to fill the void left by “Lost” with a suspenseful, tropical-set drama, only without the sci-fi elements (I assume?). The story is as follows: a U.S. submarine crew goes rogue after they decide to disobey orders to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age. They are then attacked by their own countrymen, leading the crew to declare their own nation on a remote island. I am interested in this drama (which as readers know would not be my usual cup of tea) for a few reasons: 1.) The plot involves turning against the U.S. government, which is pretty daring for primetime. (IT IS OF COURSE SOMETHING THAT I DO NOT CONDONE, SECRET FBI INTERNET-WATCHERS.)  2.) I’m a little impressed that they cast a black dude, Andre Braugher, in their lead role as the Captain. Of course, they put a white dude on all of the posters… but progress is progress, right? 3.) Dichen Lachman, former “Dollhouse” hottie and thief of my heart, is also in cast. Possibly in a role that would require her to wear a bikini. Hey-oh!

Watch it if you liked: Lost, Dollhouse, Terra Nova

THE MINDY PROJECT (Fox, Tuesdays at 9 p.m., premieres Sept.25)

I truly believe that Mindy Kaling is the spiritual successor to Tina Fey. She has a lot of the same sensibilities, the same ability to be a writer, producer and actor all at the same time, and, like Fey, she’s fucking hilarious. Both women are truly funny, not just “funny, for a girl.” However, those who aren’t familiar with Kaling should not expect her to be anything like Fey in style. Kaling’s strength comes from playing off an essential girlishness that she embraces about herself, a girlishness that Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and others rarely exhibit. In “The Mindy Project,” the Mindy Lahiri character is obsessed with romantic comedies and finding her true love (“I’m Sandy Bullock!” she drunkenly yells in the pilot episode), but she is more than just unlucky in love – there is an inherent loneliness and desperation to her that Kaling is okay with exploring. Mindy, the character, should be a powerful, self-possessed woman – she’s a successful OB/GYN – but because she’s been fooled by society into believing in the lie of movie romance, she feels incomplete. I’m really excited to see where the show takes her character.

Watch it if you liked: New Girl, The Office, 30 Rock

THE NEW NORMAL (NBC, Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m., premieres Sept. 11)

They've already banned this show in Utah. SO IT MUST BE GOOD.

I’m recommending this show hesitantly. The premise, in my opinion, is delightful – a woman agrees to be a surrogate for a gay couple, and her daughter and wacky mother tag along for the ride. The cast is brilliant – Ellen Barkin is a powerhouse, and I must admit to a huge crush on Andrew Rannells, who shot to fame staring in the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon” but who was known before that as a voice actor for cartoon series like “Pokemon” and “Yu-Gi-Oh” (thereby sealing his place in my heart forever). However, this show is produced by Ryan Murphy, creator of some of the weirdest shows ever – “Popular,” “Nip/Tuck,” “American Horror Story” – and one of the greatest burnouts of all time, “Glee.” That means this show could be amazing, or it could be so laughably terrible and preachy that we’ll all want to stab our TVs, and our brains. He also cast a former Real Housewife in the show, in a role I have yet to understand the purpose for. So there’s that. But I’m really holding out hope that this show takes off, because as Georgia King’s character so adorably puts it in the pilot episode, love is love – and who doesn’t want to watch a show about love?

Watch it if you liked: Modern Family, Glee, Arrested Development (Barkin gives me a Lucille Bluth vibe)

Bill Pullman should always be the President, right?

Wait For It: 1600 PENN, another NBC comedy starring a “Book of Morman” headliner, Josh Gadd, doesn’t premiere until midseason, but the dysfunctional-Presidential family story has me interested already. Also, I’m not sure what CULT, a CW midseason drama, is about – is it about a cult, or about a TV show about a cult? I dunno, but it sounds kind of unique, so I’ll give it a shot.

What shows are you looking forward to? What did I miss?

And soon, Arrested Development will be back on a screen near you, if you have a Netflix subscription. But will it live up to the hype of the desperate fans that pleaded for its return?

The true answer to that I don’t know, as I’m no expert at Divination, but I think I am qualified to make a few predictions. For one, there are jackasses out there that didn’t like the second season of Game of Thrones (“It didn’t follow the booooooooks!” they whined), and others that bitched and moaned about Leslie winning on Parks and Rec (“It’s gonna change things!”). Likewise, there will be some little shits that will hate on the new Arrested Development, about how it’s not as good as it used to be, etc. Those are nerds that will never be pleased, so I’m not worried about that demographic.

But there is one real problem Development faces: we are living in a golden age of television, and some people might just not be so impressed anymore.

Currently I’m reading The Showrunners, by David Wild, a book about TV writers that was penned back in 1999. Wild, a Rolling Stone writer, interviews legendary TV figures like Aaron Spelling, the Bright/Kauffman/Crane team, and my person TV hero Paul Simms. Simms, for one, discusses his time spent writing for HBO’s Larry Sanders Show, which is discussed in the book with such reverence you’d think they were talking about M*A*S*H or Lucy. Marc Maron, comedian’s comedian and host of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, talks about Larry Sanders with the same incredulousness, that such a show could even exist.

I was too young to have seen Larry Sanders the first time around, but I watched it when I was older and the show hit On Demand (at my parent’s place, of course). And it’s funny. But it didn’t blow me away – nothing I had not seen. Reminded me of 30 Rock, and Extras.

Now, don’t worry, comedy nerds. I get the show. But this is the basis of my argument – time has passed. Since Arrested Development went off the air, we have seen Community, we’ve seen Modern Family, we’ve seen Veep. Hell, The Office feels SO old-hat now, and it experience it’s height of creativity, it’s height of popularity, and later creative downfall, all since Development left the airwaves. When AD was on the air, Amy Poehler was the less famous of the Arnett-Poehler duo. When AD was on the air, Saddam Hussein was still alive!

So what if that happens now? What if we have seen too much to be impressed anymore? AD has a dated format – I hate to bring up Community yet again, but when you have a show parodying shows that parody documentaries, that genre might be a little stale.

Plus, the Arrested Development story ended. The Iraq plot solved itself as best it could, and we knew that the family would never become decent humans, so we were satisfied watching Michael and his son escape into the distance.

As The Showrunners reminded me, history is full of classic TV that overstayed its welcome. That’s really the whole design of the American TV system – play, play, play until it fails.

I was as sad as anyone that AD lasted as briefly as it did. But can’t we just leave a good thing as it was?

And this episode ended with a DOOZY of a surprise that is going to guarantee my return next week (will discuss more later). L.A. Complex, don’t let me down in subsequent episodes like I’m thinking GCB has done.

So I have not yet had the time to sit down and watch the pilot, but after watching the second episode, I’ve gathered that it’s something like a dirtier Melrose Place – a group of young, struggling wannabes live in a filthy apartment building together, and sex, drama and catfighting ensue (well, they did bring Manny Motherfucking Santos in to star, so of course there’s catfighting). Speaking of the HBIC, Cassie Steele is here playing basically a version of her old character, only this time her name’s “Abby Vargas” ….Sure, okay. We’ll go with that. She’s an illegal Canadian immigrant and a struggling actress.

And the producers have wasted no time finding an excuse to get her in a hooker costume.

You might notice that Manny’s hooker compatriot in the photo about is none other than Jewel Staite, another Canuck gal famous for a beloved character she played – Kaylee Frye from Firefly and Serenity. Jewel plays a bitchy, brazen woman whose career (not personality, of course) might mirror her own – Raquel Westbrook had a hit TV show, but now she’s older, jobs have dried up and everyone only remembers her for that one part. In the episode, they both audition for the same guest part on a TV series – Hooker #1, apparently – and in the end, Manny MF’in Santos wins the role. Raquel is pissed… and little does she know that Manny has already hooked up with her favorite boytoy, too!! I sense a little All About Eve going on here, but Raquel should watch out – Manny’s a hair puller.

So, blah blah, there’s some other stuff involving two people working on a doctor drama show (including Radio Free Roscoe‘s Kate Todd, for all you fans of other classic The N shows), and somethin about this other dude that looks like the dopey version of James Franco from the first Spiderman wearing Peter Parker’s glasses (think this guy has a crush on Manny, but then again, we all do).

And we finally arrive at the storyline that made me go WHOA. This omgsupercute young guy from the complex named Tariq, who’s a little bit French Canadian and from Montreal (which should have given me a hint, honestly), finally gets his first big break as a producer – he’ll be making beats for this gangster rapper dude who a Wikipedia search tells me is named Kaldrick King. But we’ll just call him Gangsta Gangsta. They have this whole Training Day thing going, where they are driving around LA together and occasionally Gangsta Gangsta hollers at Montreal for no reason. And then, (and dear god if only this was the real ending to Training Day), Gangsta Gangsta puts on a smooth soul record and the two of them look like they are going to punch each other, but instead the just start DOING IT.

It's a Cinderella story - boy meets boy, only one's on the downlow and is really angry about it.

So far this is a show that has only made waves for breaking the record of the lowest-ever premiere for a network show. But my suggestion is that anyone who’s a sucker for Canada, DRAMAAAAH, or The N network alumni, to give this show a chance. Oh yeah! And they said “tits” on this show. It was edited out by CW. What’s not to love?

Darren Criss steals every scene he’s in, every song that he sings, and is clearly meant for better things than High School Afterschoolspecial Musical.

While I think that Chris Colfer’s quite the budding starlet as well and I truly believe he’s got a huge future ahead of him, Kurt and Blaine have zero chemistry and I’m sick of St. Hummel as a character. It would be smart for this show to graduate Kurt, Rachel and the other seniors and start a fresh slate, using the old favorites for guest spots in the future, but unfortunately the makers of Glee love shooting themselves in the foot.

It’s difficult to remember that this season started out great: full-time addition of Blaine, truly excellent story lines for Santana and Mike (Mike! Where was he last night?), the awesomeness that was the Troubletones.

But the past three weeks haven’t been able to keep my interest at all, and even what previously could save a horrible Glee episode – a mesmerizing musical performance – has not helped. Last night’s versions of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and “It’s Night Right, But It’s Okay” were good, but not episode-saving.

Better than any critique I could offer, however, is the one from my boyfriend as we sat on the couch watching the show. While I’ve forced my musical-loathing beau to watch many an hour of Glee before, he usually appreciates the quick humor and stomachs it quite well. But last night, all he could say was, “I thought this show used to be funny.”

I did, too, darlin.

On a positive note, MVP of the Week goes to Puck and Sam, who offered some much-needed humor (“I can be super helpful, but when you ask me stuff, you’ve got to be real specific.”) Thanks, guys.

She knows what's up.

1. My main bi-yatch, Margaery Tyrell – Many were confused when news broke that Natalie Dormer, who’s 30, had been cast in the role of 16-year-old Margaery, but now it’s all starting to make sense. Margaery was presented as a very clever girl in the books but she was very good at putting on the face of naivete and it took the reader until book 4 to realize how intelligent she truly was. Now they need her in the TV series to be more openly sharp witted from the get-go. My theory is (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) that the producers are going to combine the characters of Margaery and her grandmother, the Queen of Thornes (Olenna Redwyne), which book readers will know means making a pretty drastic change to a couple of plot lines down the road, but they are changes that I welcome! Long live Queen Margaery!

Yao Ming ain't got nothin'.

2. Brienne of Tarth – This was hands-down one of the most anticipated additions to the new cast and I’ve got to say they nailed it. As many have pointed out, Gwendoline Christie is indeed prettier than Brienne (who is mocked as “Brienne the Beauty” and “The Maid of Tarth”) was described in the books, but they’ve done a good job of making a striking model into a homely warrior. This episode saw her wrestle the great Ser Loras Tyrell to the ground and win a place in Renly’s Rainbow Guard. She also seemed to have made an impression on Catelyn Stark, a woman who by all means is hard to impress. I’m excited to see her progress in the series.

She's just too cute to be related to Joffrey.

3. Princess Myrcella – We only saw little Myrcella for a few minutes onscreen, but her mere existence fueled much of the episode’s plot and one truly great meltdown from her mother Cercei Lannister. This was one of those times when Cersei gets super crazy, but we understand because, like many mothers, she rarely demonstrates logic when her children are concerned. Tyrion used the prospect of brokering a marriage for Myrcella as a ploy to test council members Pycelle, Littlefinger and Varys. He told each of the tricky men that he was planning to send Myrcella to foster in three different families with prospective suitors – the Martells of Dorne (which he told Pycelle), the Arryns of the Vale (to Littlefinger) and the Greyjoys (to Varys). He begged each not to tell Cersei of his plan. Only Pycelle told. Tyrion lopped off his beard and threw him in a dungeon, to everyone’s amusement.

"These are the knights of summer, and they can't even defeat a girl. Hmmmmm."

4. Catelyn Stark – Lady Stark can sometimes make major mistakes that can change the whole story (like when she took the Imp and started a war), but her actions always come from a place of intelligence and love for her family. This week brought Cat to treat with Renly, and while she hasn’t yet convinced Renly to side with her son and agree to be “the King in the South” (which doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Robb’s version), she did impart wise advice to Renly as to why his massive army could still fail – “These are the knights of summer, and winter is coming.” The young fighters of the Stormlands and the Reach are young, untested and hungry to prove themselves, but they have not seen war like the men of Ned and King Robert’s generation. This could be Renly’s Achilles Heal further on down the road.

Sup bitch.

5. Yara Greyjoy – This week we saw Yara do a recap of everything she did last week – glaring with that creepy stare, being all tough and butch and daddy’s-little-seafaring-girl, teasing Theon, more glaring. Though I’m enjoying the Greyjoy storyline as a whole better than I did in the books, the Greyjoy’s one saving grace – the beautiful, badass Asha – I’m enjoying a whole lot less. Yara did point out her reason for allowing Theon to get all-up-ons last week – she wanted to know who he was after all those years, and she found out. Theon had a pretty bad week, thanks to his family, and after Yara’s taunts we see he’s finally given up Robb Stark – probably the only person who’s ever really liked him, by the way – in favor of a bunch of Ironborn assholes. Verrrry interrrrrresting.

Be careful she doesn't pray for you next.

6. Arya Stark – Only making her appearance at the very end of the episode (as she seems to do), Arya is seen learning from Yoren about the ways of the world and revenge. Unfortunately we had to see the last of Yoren in this episode, and Arya loses yet another mentor that died trying to protect her. She showed her strength and intelligence at the end of the episode, when she fingers the dead Lommy Greenhands as Gendry to protect her bastard friend. It was an anti-climactic way to end an interesting episode, but I suppose the producers are trying to end every episode this season with a child getting murdered, so when Lommy was stabbed the viewers should have known there was little left to go in the hour.

Shae the Funny Whore

7. Shae – Tyrion’s whore, whom he is going to some extravagant means to conceal, managed to convince the otherwise cunning Imp into letting her work inside the castle as a handmaiden to Sansa Stark. Tyrion originally meant for her to go to the kitchens, where she would be better hidden, but Shae was having none of it. “I am no kitchen wench,” she told him. It’s interesting to see this weakness in Tyrion, a character we see week in and week out to be so mentally strong. Shae is his soft spot, and we see this week that she knows it. A similar scene happens in the books, but since Shae’s character has been drastically changed for the series and she was not paired with Sansa in the books either, I’ll be watching very keenly to see where this new relationship goes, especially since Sansa was so impatient with her.

8. Sansa Stark – Another bad week for poor Sansa. Still beat down by life in general, Sansa’s still being forced to dine with the family that killed her father and parrot the Lannister family talking points. You can tell it’s killing her inside, and it’s a wonder the girl hasn’t she threw herself off a tower yet. Watching Sophie Turner’s performance is really heartbreaking, too. However, the Show!Sansa has always been more of a bitch than Book!Sansa, so it was no surprise when she was horrible to Shae. You can argue that the whore deserves it, but Sansa doesn’t know that had no reason to be harsh to her other than to take her frustrations out on someone who couldn’t argue back. Dick move, Sansa. Dick move.

And last but not least, my other main bi-yatch…

9. Cersei Lannister – Damn girl. You crazy this week. Bested by your little brother yet again, you let Tyrion seal the deal to send your kid away, and then don’t even see the logic in that she will be safer when she gets as far away from the capitol (and you) as possible. You can yell and scream all you want, sister, but Jaime’s still locked away, Tyrion is still ruling the kingdom without you and Joff is still a little asshole. You always understand what’s going on, but you never quite get the point, do you?

The crazy bitch Melisandre doesn’t get a power ranking this week because she wasn’t around – wherefore art thou, Stannis? – and of course we didn’t see any of our Khaleesi Daenerys, but next week’s promo looks like a promising episode for the dragon mama – the khalasar arrives in Qarth! Let’s hope they keep the traditional costumes.

Hmm... Just like his father?

And we’re back! HBO’s Season 2 of Game of Thrones premiered, and I high tailed it to my parents’ house to watch with my friends and family. I feel sorry for those watching that haven’t finished the Song of Ice and Fire book series (i.e. everyone who was watching with me last night), because this opening episode was a bitch to keep up with.

I have so many thoughts on this episode, but the first one is that “The North Remembers” will likely not go down in history as the best episode of this series. Much like the first episode of Season 1, Season 2′s opener just had too much ground to cover in too little time to build a strong narrative in any of the zillion plotlines this series will follow this year. When we got to Gendry at the end with the reveal of Arya, it felt like the show had only been going for 20 minutes (my boyfriend, who has graciously committed to watching the show with me despite his distaste for fantasy: “God, that felt like two hours!”). I think that Game of Thrones fans will just have to get used to the fact that the first episode of each season, much like the prologues of the books, will not be quite as enthralling as the rest of the series.

–So with that said, the rest of the episode was pure (Arbor) gold. First, we open the episode not on Dragonstone with new characters Stannis (Stephen Dillane) and Melisandre (Carice Van Houten), as I assumed it would be, and instead right back at King’s Landing on young King Joffrey’s (Jack Gleeson) nameday (that’s Westerosi jargon for birthday). King Joff is having knights battle each other to death for his own sick pleasure and even tries to drown one guy, Ser Dontos, in wine when he shows up to the fight drunk. (Note: not trying to give out any spoilers, here, but remember Ser Dontos. He will be back.) Thankfully, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) – who’s looking more like a Lifetime Original Movie victim with every breathe – speaks for the man and surprisingly, the Hound backs her up, so Joffrey keeps him alive to serve has his new jester.

Jack Gleeson is such a magnificent bastard here, and his swagger and evilness really steals the whole episode. If the Emmy awards are looking to honor another actor besides Peter Dinklage, I really think they can look no further than Gleeson’s beyond-his-years performance.  If anything, Gleeson’s sneers have made my dad reeeeally hate Joffrey. My pops, who’s the kind of guy who used to imagine ways he could kill Osama bin Laden himself, has already asked to be transported to Westeros so he can tell the characters “that somebody ought to kill that little punk.” At least Dad didn’t volunteer to do it himself.

-Meanwhile, Joffrey’s mama Cersei is in hot water over Ned Stark’s beheading and her apparent lack of control over her boy-king, so Tyrion is sent to reign her in. Here is a place the show deviates from the books – in the series, Cersei is pulling all the strings, but here, Joffrey is shown to have a mind of his own and tries to exert his own authority over the Queen Regent. Whether that will continue is up in the air, but it seemed that it was the King, not his mother, that ordered the death of Robert’s bastards on the show last night.

–Daenerys Targaryen (whoa, I haven’t had to spell that in a while) is beautiful even when she is dehydrated a covered in sand. She’s trying to feed her dragons, but they won’t eat anything she’s giving them. The last time we saw Dany it seemed like everything was going to be awesome all the time for her – there were dragons, boobies and people bowing at her feet. But the dragons are still babies, so they are not going to be conquering anything anytime soon, and could be stolen if Dany’s khalasar runs into the wrong people. She sends out the blood of her blood to go find help. I think she’s finally starting to think Jorah ain’t lookin’ too bad anymore.

-Jon. WTF is going on with Jon? He’s hanging north of the Wall with the Black Bros and Craster, he-who-marries-his-daughters, but I am bored. Jon’s one of my favorite characters from the book but I was more pleased to see Samwise Gamgee- I mean, Samwell Tarly – than anything. I just missed that dopey face of his.

I think he's thinking about taters.... Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew.

On a side note, surely we’ve all noticed that Jon’s loyal sidekick Sam is the most direct analogue for a Tolkien character in the whole series. Probably the second most directly inspired character would be Theon Greyjoy for Smeagol-Gollum. Meak, rhymes with weak, rhymes with reek, rhymes with My Precious.

-And finally we come to Arya and Gendry, one of my favorite team-ups in the series. We only get a brief glance of the young wolf but it was an exciting way to end the episode and only proves how vital she is to the series, that merely her appearance onscreen would be enough for fans to end the night on. So happy to see the adorable Maisie Williams again. And did they change the actor for Gendry, or does he just look different without the soot all over his face? I’ll have to check on that.

Stray thoughts:

-Peter Dinklage, you’re a badass. Please work on that accent, though, kay? It takes me out of the scene every time.

-Richard Madden, you are killing it. You might be stealing my love away from Kit Harington this year. Robb Stark was just dripping with sexiness. It was coming out of his ears. Damn.

First up is the very lovely Naya Rivera, breakout star of Fox’s Glee:

This is what everyone will look like in the future when all the races are one. Start breeding, mixed race couples!

Naya Rivera is basically the hottest woman in the world. Okay, when she dances on Glee she sometimes looks like a meth tweaker, but when she sings it’s as smooth as silk (and I don’t think that’s just the AutoTune). She’s funny, she can act, and as Santana she can sling an insult like nobody’s business. She turned that mostly non-speaking role on  the first season of Glee into a fearless portrayal of a lesbian struggling with one foot out of the closet. And did I mention she’s hot? Ohmigod. Way hot. Work it girl.

Next up is a man beloved in the nerd community (that’s me by the way), Zachary Quinto!

I wonder if any guy out there has ever asked him to put on the ears... Just saying.

Quinto stole all of our hearts as Spock in the 2009 update of Star Trek, but he first turned heads as the dashing villain Sylar on NBC’s ill-fated Heroes. Being the huge nerd I am, I LOVED the universally adored first season of Heroes. But like everyone else on the planet, I hated the subsequent seasons. But Quinto was the one actor from the show that always really stuck out to me – he played a tortured character and he was just… smouldering onscreen. He burned with intensity in every scene. It was hard not to have the hots for this guy. And luckily for all the boys of America (not so lucky for us hetero ladies), Zach came out last year – a secret to no one, for sure, but still a brave move for a burgeoning film star.

As always, leave suggestions for future Babes and Bros in the comments!!