I think some of you don't understand how D and D write, and that's understandable. I have always felt that their "badness" has a method.
Step 1: Introduce characters into the conflict for which there is no easy escape/death is likely.
Step 2: Have the characters talk about the conflict.
- They feel confident/optimistic in their plans.
- The plans fails or they are diverted from the plan by a last-minute change of circumstances.
- They feel pessimistic/defeated in their plans.
- The plan succeeds or they are saved by a last minute change of circumstances.
Step 3: Have the character TALK about the most logical solution to the problem, or introduce what the audience is thinking. This causes the viewer to think they may have reasonable things happen in the scenario. If you don't know what I mean, allow me a few examples:
- Stannis tells Shireen how important she is.
- Jon makes a plan to have the Boltons rush in, while Sansa urges caution.
- Sansa says she would rather die than live with the family who murdered her brother.
- Multiple characters talk about taking the High Sparrow and his followers into custody.
- Multiple character propose taking King's Landing to Daenerys.
- The Blackfish is given the option to return safely to his late sister's castle.
- Roose Bolton tells Littlefinger that he would be a traitor if he married Ramsay to Sansa.
- Characters note what a bad plan the wight hunt is.
- Characters talk about food shortages and the difficulties of marching armies over great distances without supplies, but nothing ever comes of this difficulty except in the case of Stannis. In that case, Stannis is closer to his destination than anyone has ever been to anything in the entire show.
- Littlefinger tells Sansa what a brilliant military commander Stannis is, and that he will certainly win the battle (see step 2).
Step 4: Stirring sequence in which a lot of killing occurs in a short time, scored by Ramin Djawadi. Always incredible to look at, ignores the most logical outcome proposed in step 3.
