The writers substitute disgust for character. They think witty, Jaime's inevitably dull provocations of Brienne. Graphic urination and physical torture substitute for cadence, intelligence, and craft. Joffrey is merely repulsive and vicious, the easiest sort of character to write---imagine how interesting he might if he had sympathetic qualities, if he was tormented by his conscience. Notice, too, how often in film and tv men are openly, graphically tortured, while women never are. Imagine if Sansa had been tortured onscreen the way Theon is.
The show would have been forced off the air.
The show would have been forced off the air.