Agree completely. Martin is a great storyteller, but underestimated his skill with character conversations. The Eunuch is now a simplistic, cliched, plot coupon. The Imp's lines are cringe-worthy bad attempts to be clever. Little Finger and Bronn seem to have been written out. The Small Council scene was straight out of every High School lunchroom since the beginning of time.
All of this seems to be the exact opposite of their character personality. Varys can't turn someone into a double-agent, and resorts to giving bribes? Tyrian forgot how to control/engage a conversation? Baelish and Bronn are suddenly content and are no longer ambitious enough to interject themselves? Incest twins didn't expect a Cool Kids Table response to an intrusion? C'mon.
I would be happy if they just did flashback scenes with Ivar the Boneless and Antonius Block, until GRR can catch up.
Hmm, I disagree with almost everything here.
You actually think their portrayal of Varys now isn't what he was before? This is ABSOLUTELY how Varys has always been, we've just never seen his "process" on screen. Varys giving out bribes is what he's always done--outright killing people isn't his style, and never has been.
Tyrian having trouble talking to Grey Worm and Missandei is also easy to explain away. He was always clever, but it was always in context--usually with people that could understand his little one-liners, but those two barely speak his language and don't have a lot of personality--they are definitely people that he can't exploit and it's a new thing for him.
Littlefinger is in the next episode, not sure about Bronn. His IMDB credits only go up to Mother's Mercy from last season.
Cercei and Jaime, especially with Frankenmountain expect to be respected in their arrogance, but nobody is buying it anymore. Just another way to show that the religious nutjobs are pretty much ruining the Lannister reputation. Kevan was never that enamored with the twins anyway, so him walking out in disrespect isn't exactly out of character.