Sooooooo, now that the premiere has come and gone, anyone have any thoughts? I'll share mine, SPOILERS of course.

I think the premiere was the perfect example of everything that is both right and wrong with Game of Thrones right now. I feel like now that the show has outpaced the books, the show runners are running fucking wild and they're essentially writing a big fanfic.

The quiet moments with Davos were great, the moments with Jamie and Cersei were great, little things like that, but HOLY FUCK DOES DORNE PISS ME OFF.

It's not enough that they completely bungled that storyline, the VERY FIRST CHANCE THEY GET to branch out from the books they concoct this insane plot of Oberyn's widow becoming this master planner and executioner. They completely emasculated Doran, they completely glossed over the fact that he was one of those "in it for the long con" characters like Varys and Littlefinger, and WORST OF ALL, they fucking kill Areo Hotah like he's a punk nobody.

That really stung, I loved Areo's chapters and thought he was a really fascinating character. And he just goes out in the most meaningless way possible.

All in all, we're in for a very interesting ride. I feel like the good will continue to outweigh the bad, but I feel like the bad is continuing to get worse. I guess it took one really dumb moment to make me realize how I've kinda just been "putting up" with all the dumb stuff GoT has been doing for the last few seasons, just ignoring its faults in order to chill and enjoy the show. I still have hope for the show and definitely plan to keep watching, but at this point I think it's beyond arguing that the show was in much better shape when it only took small liberties with the published works.