For example, in the first season Ned Stark was probably the best realized and lived-in character on the show, though a lot of that probably had to do with the performance (and maybe writing as well, since the first season had a lot less to juggle and set up on screen than the last two seasons, weirdly). So the big moment at the end of that season really meant something for me, the pathos was earned, and that event's impact on the rest of the story could be felt immediately, before we even get to see the fall out in the enduing seasons. Whereas the whole line so far with Robb and his war-waging and finding a wife and so on felt pretty hollow to me the last two years (again, likely because of how each individual storyline is handled per episode, given a small piece at a time, and since so much exposition has to happen all the time there's less room for real character development and getting into their head space, with a few good exceptions). So while I'm sure this will have huge ramifications, in the moment it felt cheap, and like I wasted a whole bunch of time with these characters, since hey... they're dead. Which isn't how a major character death should felt. So I'm a bit disappointed, but I've felt that way for a lot of the last two seasons so wasn't at all surprised. I don't care for the way they handled the scene in the moment either, what with segueing from such a overly tender moment talking about the baby and naming it after his father (nice touch) and all the little lines and such in between - "regards from the Lannisters" or whatever he says. Just ehhh. Of course if I were invested, those same decisions might have really worked. As I guess they did for pretty much everyone else.
