I've just watched the first episode of season 8 and, while it is as visually stunning as any other episode, the quality of the dialogue appears to have taken a very serious nosedive.
If you imagine a top-class foreign-language film with a set of English subtitles written by somebody instructed simply to give English-speaking viewers the gist of the original verbal content, you have a pretty good idea of the standard of dialogue that accompanies the season 8 premiere.
I kid you not: for the most part it's absolutely juvenile in its simplicity.