I understand Cersei's motives, but she is really hateable.

I think TV!Cersei is more sympathetic because we've gotten inside her head so much sooner. I don't think she's a POV character in the books until #3 and by then our view of her is so skewed by how she's perceived by others that it's hard to shake off.

I found the one conversation between Robert and Cersei made them both more sympathetic, although the whole thing was sad.

And I probably did feel a little bad for her last night, when her sense of her own power was crushed by a couple of angry words from Joffrey.

I think that person is wrong-headed.

Tyrion is easily one of the more interesting characters in the books. (Jaime becomes that way too.)

I pretty much can't stand Cersei - even when she is brought low.

Robb - is much more there in the show than in the books.

Sansa is more sympathetic on the show. (Being in her head does her no favors.)

he's a little blunt, often rude, but he's smarter than almost everyone else, and he has a sense of right and wrong that his sister, for one, does not.

Willingly participating in a gang rape of his own wife does not, to me, indicate a strong moral compass.

Willingly participating in a gang rape of his own wife does not, to me, indicate a strong moral compass.

Yeah, I forgot about that. But in the present he's one of the only people (alive) I would trust to do the right thing, at least in King's Landing.

I have to say, despite being an adult by Westeros standards - he was actually very young and in a family that is certainly psychologically abusive. How do we compute that?

I don't think the episode with his wife is completely clear cut, either, although it was ugly and obscene on every level.

he was actually very young and in a family that is certainly psychologically abusive. How do we compute that?

In that case, why does he get more of a pass than Cersei or Jamie?

Well, he's not out there killing people and taking people's kids hostage, for one. He comes across to me right now as someone with the unhappy task of trying to cover his family's ass, as well as his own, but he's also honest about the people he respects, even if he doesn't like them.

I don't think Jaime is terribly evil, either, really. He seems to be completely under the thumb of his father and his sister, and given a choice, he'd probably be happy to simply have incestuous loving with Cersei on the regular, as long as he had money.