A very well thought out critique of Episode 2. Some excerpts:
But here's something I realized as I watched last night's episode of Game Of Thrones on HBO: Martin is a great writer who cares deeply about carefully plotting his stories in a way that is consistent and makes sense. The last two books aren't as good as the first three, but even so, they are consistent. His characters are consistent and believable. The time it takes to travel from point A to point B is realistic.
(Of the battle) From a narrative perspective, this is horribly contrived writing. There's only one reason to do it: To place Yara and Ellaria in danger and have Euron capture them. That is literally the only reason, and it's a very, very bad one. What we're seeing here is not a consequence of a character's actions, but rather a consequence arranged by the writers to conveniently push the story in a direction they wanted it to go. There was no debate between Tyrion and Dany about stopping in Dorne. This isn't the consequence of a stubborn Queen, foolishly demanding that her court is held in Dragonstone. It's just...well, I'm sorry, but it's just bad, sloppy writing. I'm very disappointed by it.