This article contains discussions of sexual assault.

Describing “Game of Thrones” as inconsistent barely scratches the surface. Based on George R.R. Martin’s acclaimed series “A Song of Ice and Fire” and guided by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the show made its HBO debut in 2011. Despite enduring a notoriously clumsy pilot episode, it quickly captivated audiences worldwide. Bright new talents such as Sophie Turner, Kit Harington, and Emilia Clarke became global sensations, while seasoned actors like Sean Bean, Lena Headey, and Peter Dinklage soared to new career heights. With a heady mix of sex, drama, and intrigue—not to mention dragons—”Game of Thrones” ascended to unparalleled popularity, reminiscent of the impact of sliced bread.

However, revisiting “Game of Thrones” can be a daunting task. A significant flaw lay in the necessity to outpace its source material by Season 5, as Martin’s progress with “The Winds of Winter” lagged behind. Under the direction of Benioff and Weiss, beloved characters and story arcs stumbled or vanished. Even die-hard optimists must concede the severe decline in quality from the Season 6 finale to the opening of Season 7—a narrative nosedive often compared to going over a cliff. This decline is especially evident for binge-watchers, though it seemed less prominent during the original broadcast, with long breaks between seasons.

Given this context, some “Game of Thrones” episodes have become virtually unwatchable in hindsight. Featuring offensive storylines and narratives that falter under scrutiny, here are five episodes that stand out as particularly problematic. Spoilers ahead!

Right from the start, “Game of Thrones” delivers a shocking revelation about Queen Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey. As the spouse of the ill-fated King Robert Baratheon, portrayed by Mark Addy, Cersei shares a disturbing secret with her twin brother Jaime Lannister, portrayed by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Their long-standing incestuous relationship reveals that Jaime, not Robert, fathered Cersei’s three children, including Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), who ascends to the throne following Robert’s death.

Fast forward to Season 4 of “Game of Thrones” and not only is Robert dead and Jaime’s sword hand gone thanks to his time in captivity (replaced by a heavy golden Westerosi type of prosthetic), but now Joffrey is dead, poisoned at his own wedding. After Joffrey is laid to rest in the sept, Cersei, receiving him in the sept next to their son’s body, begs him to kill their younger brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), whom she falsely believes is responsible for Joffrey’s murder. What does Jaime do instead? He instigates a sexual encounter with Cersei, who resists … but Jaime keeps going and sexually assaults his sister and long-time lover.

This scene, which isn’t depicted as assault in George R.R. Martin’s books, drew plenty of controversy. The episode’s director Alex Graves told Vulture that there’s a consensual aspect to all of this, saying that Cersei “wraps her legs” around Jaime and is “kissing him aplenty,” but in the behind-the-scenes featurette for this episode, David Benioff is pretty blunt. “You see that Cersei is resisting this. She’s saying no, and he’s forcing himself on her,” he says. “It was a really uncomfortable scene and a tricky scene to shoot.” Not only is it weird that nobody seemed to be on the exact same page for such a difficult sequence, it’s really hard to watch.

When it comes to brutalized “Game of Thrones” characters, few figures suffer more than Sansa Stark. A captive witness to her own father Ned Stark’s (Sean Bean) beheading for a trumped-up treason charge in Season 1 who’s then tormented by Joffrey and forced to look at her father’s decaying severed head on a spike, Sansa hangs around in the Westerosi capital of King’s Landing as something Joffrey can kick when the mood strikes until, thankfully, Joffrey ditches a “traitor’s” daughter for the more “suitable” Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer).

Despite hoping to marry Margaery’s handsome (and closeted) brother Loras (Finn Jones), Sansa is, instead, ordered to marry Tyrion to ensure the Lannisters full control of her home in the North. Tyrion, to his credit, is exceedingly kind to Sansa (he absolutely refuses to consummate the marriage when she’s clearly unwilling, telling her he’ll commit to a life of celibacy if he must), but after Joffrey is poisoned at his wedding, Tyrion is falsely imprisoned, and Sansa flees with the aid of her suspicious ally Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen), who carried a torch for her mother for years.

All of this is to say that the worst Sansa endures is when Littlefinger marries her off to the deeply sadistic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), who’s basically a worse, less-powerful Joffrey. On their wedding night at her old home of Winterfell (now invaded by Boltons), the two marry in the snowy Godswood before Ramsay brutally assaults Sansa in their chambers, forcing her childhood friend turned Ramsay’s captive Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) to watch. Even though some “Game of Thrones” fans think that the Season 6 scene where Sansa finally kills Ramsay — with his own hungry hunting hounds, no less — went too far, it’s way more watchable than this one.

During the original run of “Game of Thrones,” there was a running joke that you shouldn’t get too attached to any characters because they’re bound to meet a terrible fate; his was particularly true for Princess Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram). Born with a touch of an incurable disease called greyscale (which will come up again), Shireen is a bookish, kind, and clever young woman who takes it upon herself to teach her father Stannis Baratheon’s (Stephen Dillane) favorite knight Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) how to read. So what does Shireen get for her trouble? A violent, horrifying death.

Let’s back up. After his brother Robert’s death, Stannis insists — not without merit — that he’s the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, especially when you consider that Joffrey is illegitimate and Stannis and Robert’s other brother, Renly (Gethin Anthony), was killed in Season 2. Wait, who killed Renly? That would be Stannis’s resident Red Priestess Melisandre (Carice van Houten), who birthed a smoke monster to take Renly out; in the penultimate Season 5 episode “The Dance of Dragons,” she sets her sights on Shireen.

According to Melisandre’s “wisdom,” Shireen must be sacrificed to the gods to ensure a military victory for Stannis … and for whatever reason, he believes her. Stannis, his wife Selyse (Tara Fitzgerald), and viewers are forced to watch as a screaming, crying Shireen is hauled to a stake, tied up, and burnt alive, her dying wails providing one of the most upsetting sound effects in “Game of Thrones” history (which is saying something). The worst part? In the following episode, “Mother’s Mercy,” Stannis loses his big battle, and is killed point-blank by Renly’s former guard Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie). Seems like burning your only child alive wasn’t worth it, big guy.

We hear a lot about the incurable grayscale — which, if the spread can’t be stopped, turns you into a brainless zombie covered in a rocky layer of growths — but we only see two important characters who suffer from it. One, may she rest in peace, is Shireen Baratheon. The other is Jorah Mormont, a loyal lieutenant of the Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), played by Iain Glen. After reuniting with Daenerys at the end of Season 6 — she briefly banished him, long story — and promising to rid himself of greyscale and survive despite the apparent impossibility, Jorah finds himself at Oldtown, and who does he meet? Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), a former member of the Night’s Watch now studying to become a maester.

In the second episode of Season 7, Sam tells one of the archmaesters that he thinks he’s found a cure for greyscale; unfortunately for everybody, the cure in question involves pulling off all of the infected lesions bit by bit. Despite warnings that he could catch it himself — and that Jorah only has six months left before it’s zombie time — Sam performs the procedure and is successful. So why is this all so unwatchable? It’s gross. No, really: it’s so, so, so gross. Watching Jorah scream in pain while the camera lingers on the scab removal is genuinely upsetting to watch, and even though it does cure Jorah (only for him to die in the following and final season), the process is pretty unbeatable to witness.

The long-awaited Battle of Winterfell episode of “Game of Thrones” was years in the making … which makes it even more of a shame that rewatching this episode feels absolutely maddening. As the show’s surviving characters prepare to battle the seemingly immortal Night King (Vladimir Furdyk) and his massive, undead army, a question arises: who will be the one to take down the Night King and his endless army?

The answer is that Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), who spent over a season training at Faceless Assassin School in Braavos (not its real name), who’s in possession of a Valyrian steel dagger that’s one of the only substance that can destroy a true White Walker, uses her silent stalking skills to sneak up on him as he’s about to kill her brother Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), who is, by now, the omniscient and all-powerful Three-Eyed Raven. The first time you watch it, it’s thrilling. (Ramin Djawadi’s epic score certainly helps matters.) Narratively, though, this is all wrong. As “boring” as it might have been for Jon Snow (Kit Harington) to kill the Night King, Jon — one of two characters who ever came face to face with and killed a different White Walker besides Sam, possessor of a Valyrian steel sword, and unquestionably the better fighter between the two — should have killed the Night King. It would have been satisfying and closed a narrative loop. Now, we all just have to rewatch “The Long Night” and feel irritated at the lack of setup and payoff.

“Game of Thrones” is streaming on HBO Max now.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).