I'm not sure it's even worth bothering to list the many disappointments I felt watching this series. This does a disservice to GOT enthusiasts and the criticisms I have read so far have mostly been spot on.

From the beginning episode, this failed to lay out an understandable foundation for the rest of the series. The script was written to portray context mostly through innuendo leaving the viewer to try to ferret out a character's thoughts or intentions. This type of delivery should not be used as the bulk of a storyline but sprinkled about to add mystery and interest.

The jumps in time, without explanation, were jolting and disjointing. It felt like a much larger version of the script had chunks pulled out to make it fit the episode count.

The characters often felt superficial as the writing did not give much occasion for the actors to engage the audience.

The Cinematography was uneven and dark scenes were muddy. It was feast or famine which again disrupted smooth transitions between scenes.

There was some standout acting but it was overshadowed by much that was mediocre. I never really connected with the characters as I struggled to find a consistent interesting thread that wove the pieces together. The underpinnings I did recognize were commonplace and showed little imagination.

The whole production came across as rushed almost as if they really didn't plan on this series getting many new seasons. It felt like an exercise in how artful a production could be made rather than stitching meaningful, engaging segments together into whole cloth.

In the end, this did not match the quality of GOT so I was extremely disappointed. I can only surmise that the dragons, violence and sex fueled the higher ratings.