Okay, I just watched the episode after getting home from work.
You guys have been fighting with me about this show for page after page, week after week, and I have been the show's #1 apologist.
I will never in a million years quit watching the show, simply because I love it. I don't take it seriously. It's fantasy and fiction, and a lot of fun.
I'm also not put off by the horror of events that transpire. Just because something bad happens doesn't make me any less interested. Them deviating from the books doesn't phase me much either, since I am so put off by some of the book stuff too.
I'm not a big book defender. I'm a show watcher, and I will watch the next episode. I will watch next season and the season after that.
With that said, that was the worst episode the show has ever produced in its entire history.
From the beginning frame, I knew something was horribly wrong. Why did Stannis' tents magically catch fire? Where was Ramsay? Could you not afford to pay Iwan Rheon that week? How did Ramsay know where all your food was stored? I am less bothered that Stannis made his decision, and more bothered that they didn't really convince him of the decision. He didn't wrestle with it. He just did it. I totally buy that he might have done it, but wow. That was just stupid. Then the Dorne stuff. Well, it was better than the Stannis stuff, but that's not saying much. I actually like the scene with Dorann talking to Jaime. He seems like a sensible fellow. But what the FUCK with Arya's scene? Does she not know that Meryn Trant has seen her before? She just walks right up in his face over and over again. I still love the location but they could have done a quick cut of Arya slipping a dagger into his throat or something, anything other than what they did. Arya's stuff was the best of this season until this episode. Then I have to watch the sand snakes play "too fast, too slow" or something for what seems like an eternity until they release Bronn. At least Bronn isn't dead. So now Trystane "I cant act worth a shit" Martell has to infest King's Landing with his shittiness. Then onto Dany, oh why, why, why. Who directed this? Who thought that it would be a good idea for major characters to engage in small talk while a bunch of gladiators killed each other? Then the event of the episode, SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KILL DANY AND I THOUGHT IT WAS JORAH AT FIRST. There is absolutely no impact to what's going on, no tension, it's just chaos, people running left, people running right. You could play the Benny Hill music on that shit. I didn't really have a problem with the Drogon CG because he's the only thing in the scene who seemed to know what the fuck he was doing. Then after what seemed like 100 harpies surrounded everyone, they're all gone and there's six unsullied guarding Tyrion and the crew like nothing ever happened.
The problem with this episode is not the least bit WHAT happened, or how it's different from the books. It's how they chose to convey the events.
4/10.
This is coming from someone who defended episode 6.