>it felt like Season 5 and 6 ... That's when spectacle overtook story

Is that an unrelated thought, or do you think HotD places spectacle above story? Because personally, I thought it was very restrained spectacle-wise, especially for a show that has such obvious opportunity for it. The only moment that I think could fit into that category is Rhaenys busting through the floor and threatening Aegon on dragonback, when there must have been some more practical exit. Outside of that, I think the show firmly places story ahead of spectacle, and that all the spectacular moments fit naturally into the story and don't feel like they happen just to have something spectacular happen. They also don't go on any longer than they have to. Scenes like Aegon claiming Vhagar, Vhagar chasing Arrax, or Daemon killing the Crabfeeder are spectacles, but they contribute vitally to the story and/or character development and could have all been twice as long without it being too weird if they wanted to emphasize spectacle more.

It's a bit much to be glad he's gone, but "made some scenes dark" is an understatement. The Long Night is the climax to the show's single biggest storyline and I couldn't tell what happened in most of it. It wasn't just suboptimal, or annoying, or unattractive: it stopped me from understanding the story at the story's apex. I think it's reasonable to complain about that, and to complain if the same person does it again. (The HotD episode wasn't nearly as bad, but I still had to pause and change my TV settings three times to make the episode clear as it went through daylight/unlit/firelit/daylight.)