Despite a strong start, the final season of Game of Thrones proved to be a disappointing mess for both casual fans of the series and hardcore fans of the books.

While each episode was a masterpiece in cinematography, acting, music, and most other aspects, the writing was simply not up to par with what fans have come to expect over the past seven seasons. Fans online have blasted showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss on their poor writing choices and have accused the two of rushing through the show’s finale so they could move on to their next projects.

The term “subvert expectations” has been used sarcastically online by fans to mock the many disappointing outcomes that the characters have faced. The term was often used as a justification by Benioff and Weiss for the nonsensical twists.

Characters who were loved by fans for their intellect and wit were reduced to low-brow comic relief. Plot lines and mysteries from seasons past were quietly dropped and left unanswered by the writing team. Events happened because the plot needed them to happen, not because they were the logical consequence of a character’s actions. Certain characters’ entire eight-season character arcs were tossed to the wayside in favor of cheap plot twists.

Most of the poor writing can be explained by the shortened seasons. Seasons seven and eight were seven and six episodes long respectively, instead of the usual 10-episode length of seasons one to six.

With fewer episodes, the show’s pacing accelerated to make up for lost time, to the show’s great detriment.

A common comment is that fans are not disappointed by what happened, but how it happened. Many people feel that the finale would have been much more fulfilling if the final seasons were 10 episodes long. The writers would have had plenty of time to further develop and contextualize their plot twists instead of the thrusting them at the audience out of nowhere.

Although the ending was rough, Game of Thrones still remains one of the best shows on television, but it will always be haunted by its sloppy final season.