the show did not portray stannis much differently up until the point where it surpassed the books. at least I did not like him up until the end of ASOS, he was always supposed to be an unlikable leader with no charisma. everything else would have been common and boring. after he decided to save the realm to gain the throne, then he became likeable, despite his flaws. he nodded once, lefter for winterfell and got caught in a snowstorm. that's the point we have reached in the books and I don't see a completely different stannis in the show up until that point. non-reader reactions reflected that well, they felt the same way I did when I read it. I find it hard to belive that book mannis fans saw that differently when they read AGOT, ACOK and the majority of ASOS, because as I said stannis was not intended to be likeable or charismatic in those books. that's the whole point, you know, make an unlikeable character likeable, it's a good arc, it's interesting writing.
now the show made mistakes, I hated the "20 men" idea the first time ramsay mentioned it, I believe I was among the few here who mentioned it back then, but it's not really relevant to the arc of stannis' character. it was a budget decision that made for bad tv. the important part is that, like the battle in the snowstorm we will read in the books, is that it left stannis in a postion where he has to make a very difficult decision. but until we really compare stannis' arc in the books with the arc in the show, I think we should wait for it to appear in the books. and as I said before, I do not think stannis had a bad arc in the show after it surpassed the books.
he was confronted with a very difficult decision and he chose the one that gave him and his army still a shot. I still believe it's important that stannis will be faced with that decision in the books as well, because it is very important for his arc. if melisandre and selyse would take that away from him and do it behind his back I feel something important would be lost. will he die anyway for a mistake someone else made?
I really like the idea that he made a decision so save his men and they abandon him as a reaction, including melisandre who always pushed him to do it, which makes this important for her character's arc as well. and it led stannis to his certain defeat.
Again, the show is very flawed, beside the 20 men I disliked how rushed it all was, but in the end, the non-readers understood and accepted it. just compare the reactions in this thread and the other. the non-readers did not shit nearly as much on that as people in here, when in other dumb scenes like the sand snakes the reactions were very much the same.
but here it's still criticized and heavily discussed, a scene that was not even in the books, yet. which makes me all the more believe that readers are simply not liking the idea that something was spoiled for them they did not expect, especially since it happened to a fan favorite.
again, despite the flaws I think stannis' arc was interesting and well done, which is why I expect it to happen similarly in TWOW.