Was just thinking about the same myself, but felt I've been so negative about the show lately that I didn't go into it. But now I will. I think they've portrayed him like some kind of oversensitive, insecure half-man in the show, which was nicely on display in episode 8. He doesn't strike me like that guy at all in the books, although he certainly has his problems.
It all comes back to one of my earlier complaints. The books are so interesting to read because the characters are mostly complex and don't fall into conventional Good or Evil booths. I don't think this aspect gets reflected well in the series, and that is a shame. The story alterations are usually for the worse too, which doesn't help.
Still find it interesting to follow though, and it's unfortunate all these criticism will give the wrong impression of the series as a whole to viewers unfamiliar with both the books and the TV series. Then again, I am unable to watch the TV series with fresh eyes. Maybe I'm being too critical because the books are simply better and they depart from them, or maybe the show is a good watch because my knowledge of how events played out in the books carry my experience of the TV series, filling in gaps so to speak. It's a popular series after all, so they must be doing something right.
One of the things I like most with the series is to see the various castles and landscapes. Dragonstone looked pretty epic for example, and the overview of the Red Fork wasn't quite like my internal one at all. In my mind it was basically a smoking rubble from Tywin's undertakings. The look of the Wall is pretty damn cool too.
Small moment, but I laughed out loud.
