Plot and writing
Even people who still like the show admit the writing is pretty awful. And it really is. Nothing makes sense. Ellaria decides to avenge Oberyn by... murdering his entire family. And no one seems to have any problems with a bastard woman taking over Dorne? Arya is a hot fucking mess. She kills the Waif, who hates her for no apparent reason, and this makes her no one? Stannis getting annihilated by Ser Twenty of House Goodmen, then deciding to burn his daughter because they've been without food for like a day, even though he's the man who survived the siege of Storm's End by eating book leather and rats for A YEAR? Robb deciding to say fuck it to his marriage vows and marrying Talisa because YOLO (as opposed to doing it for honour, which creates a parallel with Ned, hmm, it's almost like this is a THEME or something) which leads directly to the deaths of him, his wife, his unborn child and his mother. Nice one, Robb. I could go on.
Westeros Jetpack Joyride
Every character has a jetpack and Westeros exists in a warp that distorts time. This is the only explanation I can think of for the timeline. Yara goes from the Iron Islands to the Dreadfort in less than a season, even though this would require sailing around the entire continent, but Gilly's baby is still a baby and Myrcella has been in Dorne for years! Littlefinger is a most industrious teleporter, zipping from the Eyrie to Moat Cailin to Mole's Town in a matter of days, apparently. Sansa and Jon's walking tour of the North takes months, presumably, but Cersei's trial is "in a few days". And Jaime got all the way from Dorne to King's Landing, but Doran has only just received news of Myrcella's death? This attempt at a coherent timeline makes for fun reading.
"Themes are for eighth grade book reports," an actual quote by David Benioff
ASOIAF is a very thematically cohesive body of work. Themes of identity ("Theon, my name is Theon, you have to know your name"), themes of family and love, the intersection of the personal and political, so on. Game of Thrones dislikes themes, because according to the showrunners, who have Masters degrees in Creative Writing, themes are for eighth grade book reports. No, I will not stop quoting that, because it will never stop being stupid. It's almost like Jon and Dany's ADWD arcs are direct parallels to each other or something? And that Sandor as the gravedigger is finally at peace? That Cersei is a foil to basically every major female character, like Sansa, Dany, Arianne, Catelyn, Arya, and Brienne? Brienne and Jaime's arcs in AFFC also parallel each other, as both struggle with questions of what it means to be a knight, and what the true meaning of honour is, and with their place in the world - Brienne as a woman who does not conform to gender expectations, and Jaime as a disabled person. In the show Jaime's disability is mostly forgotten (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau had to point out to D&D that Jaime might have trouble fighting now that, you know, his sword hand is chopped off) and Brienne is just a murdering brute who doesn't seem to question herself at all. The show's themes consist of "revenge is good!". Sansa sics dogs on Ramsay, Arya brutally murders people, Brienne abandons Sansa to kill Stannis yet faces no repercussions for this decision, and all of these are portrayed as good things. Even though they're actually kind of disturbing.
All the -isms. All of them.
Game of Thrones is sexist. And racist. And homophobic. And ableist. Rape is used for shock value, and the patriarchy exists except when it doesn't (that fucking dinner scene at Horn Hill, urghghghghgh). No, Dany, Arya, Sansa, Brienne and Ellaria brutally and remorselessly murdering people is not "empowering". Violence isn't empowering. Violence is just violent.
Then there's the Dothraki, who are admittedly problematic in the book as well, but this is taken up to eleven in the show. Dany burns down their most sacred temple with all their khals inside and instead of killing her they bow to her, because those savage brown people know their place. And Tyrion whitesplaining to Missandei and Grey Worm in Meereen, fucking kill me. When Missandei told Tyrion he didn't understand what it was to be a slave I fucking cheered. You go girl. Tell that condescending asshole.
Homophobic. Loras. Oh my god, Loras. What the fuck did they do to you?! Book Loras joins the kingsguard, because in his words, "when the sun has set, no candle can replace it" ;A;. He is a renowned knight, a supreme badass - a little hot headed and reckless, but hey, he's young - and extremely protective of his beloved sister Margaery. In the show, he is GAY! Did you know that Loras is GAY? He likes MEN! He likes FASHION because he is GAY! He sleeps with prostitutes because he's just so GAY! And then in season 6, the gay man gets tortured and scarified with religious iconography before getting blown up. Oberyn and Ellaria, both bisexual, live in a fucking brothel. In the book, Oberyn makes an offhand comment about them "sharing a beautiful blonde", but they also have four young children together and are doting parents. But no, those crazy brown bisexuals amirite.
Ableism. Jaime, Jaime, Jaime. He stops a sword with his golden hand! How wacky. And Hodor, because disability can't just be, it has to have a reason behind it. I know this is taken from the books, and if it's in the same context as in the show I will be upset. The beetles monologue, ugh.
