Spoilers Ahead

I still remember when I started watching Game of Thrones. I had a friend tell me to start and I’d heard good things so I watched it, and finished the first three seasons in a week. The next week I was out of town and wasn’t able to continue watching yet and all I could think about was how excited I was to keep watching this amazing show. But when I started season four, I wasn’t as excited by the show. The plot twists and shocking moments didn’t have any character development to back them up.

When (spoilers ahead) Catelyn and Robb were butchered at the red wedding, I was heartbroken because I cared about them. When Oberyn was killed in Tyrion’s trial, I was upset but it didn’t mean much because we didn’t really know Oberyn. He was a man who liked to have sex with men and women and who wanted vengeance for his sister’s death and that was all. The show I had loved had turned into something I would never have watched more than one episode of but I couldn’t leave the characters I loved. So my hate watch began, and through the years I’ve perfected the art of the hate watch. Here are the five steps to enjoying shows you used to love again, demonstrated with examples from the biggest disappointment in life, Game of Thrones, so again, spoilers ahead.

1. Ignore the lack of character consistency by pretending that characters have become new people

It doesn't matter that Cersei’s main motivation through the whole series is that she loves her children, now she'll be completely unfazed by the death of her last remaining child because she's not Cersei anymore, she's Carol who does things because they feel good. Ignore that Jon gave up Winterfell and the lordship because it belonged to Sansa in season four, now that he's been brought back from the dead he's john, who will become king in the north even though the rightful heir to Winterfell is sitting right next to him and she's the one that brought in the forces that won the battle for them. If they're completely new characters, the complete differences in their actions and motivations needs no explanation.

2. Identify why you're still watching the show and ignore the rest of it.

When you're only still watching the show because you love Sansa Stark, only give the show your full attention when she's on your screen. You do have to know somewhat what's going on with everyone else so when the show starts to wrap up and everyone is coming together, you can follow it for her. The rest of the time you only need to give it enough attention that if it became important in her story you wouldn't be completely confused.

3. Find other people who hate the show and only talk to them about it.

When everyone else is freaking out over a teenage girl slaughtering a whole family or a traumatized girl whose arc has always been about forgiveness smiling as dogs eat someone alive, find the kind of people who are as troubled by this transformation into child murderer as you are. Read reviews that don't praise this as justice, they talk about the troubling implications of these actions. Stay away from people who think the show can do no wrong because their opinions will annoy you.

4. Fill the idiotic plot holes the show leaves with outlandish things that make you laugh.

Littlefinger snuck the entire Vale army into the north when the only path is through Moat Cailin, which the Boltons’ control? Ramsay’s men actually don’t know how to write, so they couldn’t let him know they were coming. No one cares that Jon left the Night’s Watch even though there could be a real argument about whether he’s out of his vows because he died but then was brought back? Everyone in the north wants Jon to stick around because they think he’s beautiful and want to see more of him. Fill the plot holes with something crazy to make you laugh instead of cringe at the mess the show is.

5. Rant and rave to everyone you know, even if they don’t watch the show, even if they’ve never heard of the show, about every screwed up thing they’ve done.

Tell them about how there was basically a big sign pointing to Dorne saying “THIS WAY TO FEMALE EMPOWERMENT” and by excluding Arianne Martell and by making the Sand Snakes one dimensional, so similar I can’t tell who’s who, murderers of “weak men” the show writers completely ruined the message. Tell them about how they forgot how important feudal succession is to the story in their attempt to play at feminism that they let bastards and mothers inherit uncontested but passed over the female character with the best claim for a fan favorite (who happens to be another bastard). Make sure everyone in your life knows how much you hate this show, even if you tune in to watch it every Sunday night.