Okay, I've been seeing this in other forums and I'd like to share something.

A lot of Season 8 is being rather...conscientiously received, so to speak.
And some of the 'fans' are being rather caustic towards the writers.
I've said this on the Star Wars forums and I'll say it for this one.
Give them a break.
I admit, some of their creative decisions, now and previously, I have found very disappointing but I don't think they're not trying. Far from it.
I think they're doing the best they can in a difficult situation.

Think about it.
Season 7 ended with the Night King marching his armies forward and the Stark Warfront opposing them with Cersei ready to stab them in the back.
Now that the battle of the Long Night is over, Cersei needs to be built up as the new primary villain. That means, unfortunately, hyping up guys like Euron, giving her more allies and basically evening the scales.
Because if not then it's very likely that this season wouldn't need more than two more episodes.
I admittedly much prefer the book's depiction of Cersei but I understand that it wouldn't work in the show because she, in herself, is a very interesting character but not a very good villain (She's half-insane and everyone is playing her behind her back)

What works in literature doesn't always work in television. A TV Series about something as full and convoluted as ASOIAF was an ambitious task and there were bound to be mishaps.
But one of the main draws of the book and tv series is the branching story-paths, lots of characters with lots of different storylines.
Now that they're all being combined into two great factions, the show can't rely on previous tactics anymore.
So the writers are pushed for ideas both for extending the series and for concluding it.
A weighty task.
I'm hoping they can pull it off.
So while I'm not ignoring the flaws in the storyline, I'm not throwing my hands in the air. To me, they're not spittle in the face of the loyal fanbase, they're just disappointing choices of narratives which I hope the writers will realise and try to remedy.
In the meantime, the books still provide enjoyment and I can honestly recommend a very well-made piece of ASOIAF Fanfic called The North Remembers by Silver Raven Star that many consider a very satisfying and hopeful conclusion of the series if GRR Martin is unable to finish it.

So I'm ambivalent. While I'm not that keen on what GoT is going through right now and however it ends, I will never see it as outright bad. Flawed, certainly, but not bad.
I like the show - I love the books.
Just as I like the Disney Star Wars films but love the originals.
I can manage.

6848890

I think they're doing the best they can in a difficult situation.

A difficult situation they themselves created.

You think this is about having to make difficult creative decisions in the face of running out of source material, but I actually happen to know a bit about how Benioff & Weiss make creative decisions, because I've started to actually pay attention to things like DVD commentaries. You and I think in terms of storylines, in-universe logic, and character development. They think in terms of creating emotionally charged individual scenes that allow them to show off the actors and their emoting. They themselves admit that. For example, most people agree that Dorne was bad in season 5, but no one ever asked why it was added in the first place. After all, up until way into season 4, they went by the assumption that they wouldn't adapt Dorne at all. Well, Benioff himself actually answered this. They had Indira Varma on board, and seeing her act, they impulsively decided to use her for more than one season, and they wrote the scripts around that idea. They didn't even condense Ellaria and Arianne Martell, like some people thought - from season 5 onwards, Indira's Ellaria and her character arc have nothing to do with book Ellaria or Arianne Martell. Because for Benioff & Weiss, Ellaria or Arianne don't exist as consistent fictional characters, it's just Indira Varma in an Ellaria costume, and their task consists of creating situations to show her off. That's how they see it, and they do that with all other characters as well, more or less. Once again, they themselves have said that (phrased as "reconceiving the character to fit the actor"). If you want to get more detailed information and analysis, you may want to check out The Dragon Demands' Youtube-Channel. His channel is the one that got me into paying attention to DVD commentaries and interviews so as to figure out how Benioff and Weiss make creative decisions. He already did a lot of the same work as well though, and he can present it better and in more detail than I can (although his videos are also far more lengthy and in-depth than the short summaries I hack into my computer in the course of half an hour).

...Honestly, I think it's perfectly fine to like the show, but I believe people should like it for what it is, not for what it isn't. I just disagree with any comparison between the show and the books, even if it comes to the result that the books are better. There simply is no common ground for comparison. The books tell a coherent story with consistent character development and world-building, the show is just popcorn cinema, showing off actors emoting in dramatic or action-packed but more or less random scenes. Once again, it's perfectly fine if that's your thing, but I think we need to stop pretending that the show is something it isn't. In fact, for me, that's the only way to look at the show and still enjoy it: As a pure action and drama fest with all connections to or comparisons with the books severed. That way, I also don't have to make excuses for the showrunners anymore - because honestly, if they thought anything had gone wrong with the show and needed to be excused or explained, they would come forward and explain the reasons for their mistakes themselves. We do not need to, and in fact should not, do their job for them in this regard. And if they don't do that, if they think nothing's wrong with their show, that they reached their own creative goals, that's great for them - who am I to fault them for that? I just disagree with their goals in that case, but okay.

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I suppose.
I was mostly just peeved everyone seemed so cynical about it and wanted to get it off my chest.

6849048
Well, I'm not saying they're wrong. I agree with them, I'm just not emotional about it.