I think it
could have been done without the sex, nudity and swearing and maybe some of the violence (torturing etc) but then it'd be rather bland... it's just not the same sort of fantasy as LOTR, it's more gritty and 'realistic' (to a degree) and personally I think there's room for all kinds of fantasy fiction on screen. In fact the whole point of the books is grounded in the base instincts of humanity, the lust for power which usually encompasses other desires too...
I agree that the main protagonists are too 'perfect' and should have more scars and poxmarks (and fewer, if any clean teeth), though some of the minor characters are very unclean looking indeed
It certainly has absolutely nothing in common with the comic book Spartacus and why anyone would mention it (or the dire 300) in the same breath defies logic.
This second season hasn't had the same visceral impact of the first for sure, the opening scene with the WWs was terrifying (to me)... and set a very chilling tone. No other series makes you wonder who's going to survive the episode.
Slight spoiler alert in case you haven't watched last ep. yet (hope u have a white background):
I mean, I thought those 2 Second Sons were going to be interesting larger than life characters but shelf life in GoT is as short as it would have been in our Middle/Dark Ages
