The eight-year and 73 episode run of Game of Thrones has come to an end. Based on the novels by critically acclaimed author George R.R. Martin, the show has managed to insert itself into the current culture. For many, the show was a shining example of how to tell a long form story. The seamless weaving of intricate plotlines and character arcs was hailed as an accomplishment like no other. From its gritty realism portrayed in large scale battles to the slow plotting of characters behind the scenes, Game of Thrones captured the public’s eye. And everyone was excited about the finale.

Maybe it was the hype that killed Game of Thrones. Impossible expectations. Everyone wanted their favorite character to have an elaborate ending. But no—it was the writing. The main issue is the show outpaced the novels. George R.R. Martin’s writing style leads to an almost snail-like pace of writing and eventually, the show was ahead of the books and had no source material for reference. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were tasked with the insurmountable goal of writing a satisfying conclusion to the fantasy epic without the help of GRRM. Benioff and Weiss had proven themselves able to faithfully adapt the novels to the screen but would they be able to write the story themselves?

The answer was no. The show became more of a dumpster fire than an intelligent story. Since season 7, the show has felt rushed—as if they were just checking boxes, trying to get it done as fast as possible. But it was forgivable. The characters were still enjoyable and the plot moved in a somewhat logical fashion. The final season, which was supposed to be the amazing final conclusion, ended up an absolute mess of a season. Character arcs were massacred for the sake of shock value and justified by retroactive foreshadowing. Claiming it was foreshadowing when it clearly wasn’t does excuse poor writing. And even if it was foreshadowing, it has to make sense within the confines of character motivation. And (spoilers ahead,) it makes no sense for Daenerys, who has been shown to care about the common folk, suddenly snaps and decides to commit an act of genocide out of the blue. I was dumbfounded. Truly in awe. How could Benioff and Weiss have gone so wrong? For showrunners who were supposedly fans of the novels, it seems odd that they would have decided to disregard the books as they did. Maybe if it had, the final season wouldn’t have received a 52% score on RottenTomatoes compared to the average of 95% of previous seasons.

There truly was nothing good to come out of this final season. Never before has a TV show been so unsatisfying. And the whole world was watching. They had a budget as large as they wanted but it still failed. It’s a testament to the fact that all the fancy visuals and cool fight scenes in the world cannot save a show or movie from bad writing. It’s a shame how this story was thrown away, cast to the wind for no reason other than laziness and the showrunners’ want to move onto a new project. They had one job—give the story a good ending—and they couldn’t, tarnishing the legacy of Game of Thrones forever.