Spoiler Alert – Don’t read more if you don’t want to know what happened on Game of Thrones!

If you haven’t been watching “Game of Thrones” on HBO, you should be watching it (get caught up with On Demand). With Episode 9, viewers were jolted with a plot twist that nobody saw coming, and Jeff Morgan thinks that’s a good thing:

That’s not to say his death was not sad. It was. It still is. There is a small pit in the part of my heart that loves a righteous character, but the shows that have given me such a visceral response are few and far between. I’m actually grateful to HBO for committing to a world that I can both love and fear and characters that I can both love and fear for. Ned Stark isn’t the only one to whom I would be sad to say goodbye. Arya, Jon, Robb, Drogo (despite his few lines), and even Jaime are all compelling enough that I want to keep them around. People are already calling down an Emmy for Peter Dinklage and his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister.

If I can take anything away from last week’s episode of “Game of Thrones,” it’s that more of television should be so gripping. If you were shocked, keep watching. If the death bummed you out, keep watching. If you’re upset, keep watching. Enjoy those feelings. Let them tie you to the rest of the characters. You won’t get the chance to experience a story like this very often.

I was shocked by the death of Ned Stark. He’s the kind of character you can build an entire series around, let alone one season. The series is loaded with great characters and performances, but you have to wonder as to who will emerge as the face of the series. The season finale is this Sunday night on HBO.