Old Tom Morris said:
I thought they did a pretty good job of avoiding some of the other pitfalls that George RR Martin got himself into, like Lady Stoneheart. So even if Martin struggled to get out of the corner he painted himself into, I think they would shaped it well for the show. I think the biggest thing they could have used would be some snippets of dialogue between characters at some of the key points of the stretch run - better banter, develop the characters' thought processes for the audience more effectively, etc. I think that could have resolved so much that people have an issue with.
This is my actual complaint with this season. I read the books, I am a reader, I read lots and lots of books...but I'm not one of the crowd of people *****ing about the ending because it didn't go the way I wanted. It's the author's story to tell. I didn't have any particular expectations of how it would end, and anyone who settled into their own expectations clearly didn't pay attention to the previous ~3000 pages.
I actually don't have any problem with the primary plot moves of the final TV season. It's just that that's ALL they were -- primary plot moves in a final TV season. I buy where the characters ended up, and I think it would make a very good ending in book format where you can have the author/narrators fill in so much more of their thoughts and feelings and reactions, so a shift in character can happen incrementally over 200 pages which feels natural because it probably takes an average reader several hours stretched out over several days of work, family, hobbies, etc. to "live" through those 200 pages, as opposed to watching a TV show where in less than 5 minutes of screen time we jump from the aftermath of the Night King to oh hey everyone we're sailing into King's Landing oh **** half our people/dragons just died.
1) Dany going mad isn't "wrong", but the way the producers paced it on screen was wrong.
2) Cersei not "getting a better ending" isn't "wrong" - it's actually PERFECTLY fitting for someone whose lust for power and security for her loved ones to be literally killed by the physical structure she fought so hard to seize, collapsing around her, crushing her with her last and dearest loved one in the entire universe - but doing it from "I'm queen of Westeros and will stand here on the balcony and not bow to the Interloper!" to "I'm walking down stairs oh hi Jamie my dear I'm scared oh now I'm dead peace out yall" was wrong.
3) Jon killing Dany isn't "wrong", but Jon pacing in mere minutes from "She's our queen" to "annd Ima stab that ho" was wrong.
4) Also, having Jon survive the wrath of the Dothraki/Unsullied isn't "wrong", but going in like 30 seconds from Drogon flying off with her corpse to The Gang's All Here from the entire continent and now let's get this denouement party started, with zero - ZERO - on-screen reaction from anyone at all to the death of their queen, was wrong. (This follows on the people who were shocked we got no time for the Sansa/Arya reaction to JonAegon, which I thought was regrettable, but not a big deal in a rushed season. But that approach in many scenes is why the entirety of this season provides little satisfaction.)
5) Bran becoming King Bran isn't "wrong", but going in one short speech by the thoroughly-discredited Tyrion, from "Tra la la hey nonny nonny we're the constantly jousting lords and ladies of our separate regions and we've been poisoning and slaughtering each other for centuries to become the ultimate ruler" to "oh hey let's have a civilized chat and then elect someone based on who has the most wisdom" was wrong.
