The intrigue, the tight writing, the cleverness, it was such a good show early on, and it really took its time, none of it feels rushed or fast. It's such a shame what happened in the final season; it didn't quite devalue the whole show, but it definitely did damage, like a book where you know the last chapter ends with "And Billy woke up, realizing his adventures in Zarhdod were all a dream." I kind of wonder if we haven't seen the last two books in the series because GRRM is having to rewrite them from scratch. "Well clearly people didn't like MY ending, so I guess I'll try something else."