Literally what have they done to the female characters

It just bewilders and baffles me because they're all getting screwed. Don't get me wrong I do appreciate some changes from the books - while I know some people would prefer Alicent in her evil, straight up horrible evil stepmother role, I enjoyed a lot seeing the way they added depth to her character and the way she projected onto her kids after having been used as nothing but a pawn all her life. It's a fresh take and a lot more interesting than if they just made her straight up evil with zero remorse and zero hesitation to do cruel things.

S1 and S2 differ a lot because in S2 it just feels like they're throwing her around without purpose. S1 was great because it showed a lot of her and also showed the way she could go from more meek and reserved to determined and angry (threatening to have Jasper Wylde I believe it was sent to the wall, threatening Aegon and making him truly believe Rhaenyra would have him killed had she gained power, charging Rhaenyra with Viserys' dagger etc.) but in S2 she's just melancholy which does make some sense given the circumstances she's placed in except... that's it. She stupidly lets Rhaenyra go after she sneaks into KL, and seems to have lost virtually all the fire we saw midway and at the end of S1. She just... does nothing. We see her regrets as a mother coming to fruition but otherwise she seems rather directionless.

As for Rhaenyra, they've made her a Mary Sue in her own show. They seem to have demolished her scenes and taken an aggressive nonsensical girlboss angle. The rage and hate she feels when she learns of Luke's death quickly fades away (granted she did begin grieving and become clearly depressed) but all the rage and hatred she felt at having her thrown usurped, her child killed, and her father dying is just... gone. She sneaks into KL in an utterly baseless and beyond stupid move that also makes no sense frankly even for the butchering they've done of her character. Granted, both Olivia and Emma can act their butts off and have given their roles the best they can.

Phia Saban is amazing as Helaena but it also seems the producers don't know what to do with her either. Maelor is nonexistent, her husband - granted though he was neglectful/abusive but still - mutilated beyond recognition and we don't even really see her reaction to any of that, all she does is sit around. She does give a very good performance with the lines she's given, but they've taken seemingly almost all aspects of her book character away - her grief at the loss of Jaehaerys, her love for riding Dreamfyre (at least before the war), and the fact she could be rather pleasant and gentle. It's just all gone. I don't even know what is going on anymore, but these actors potential is being wasted. Learning recently of the scenes cut from S1 which, while small (Daemon comforting his daughters after Laena's death, Rhaenyra playing with baby Aegon and trying to teach him to say her name) would've given so much more emotional depth and really driven the point home that once, these characters were family driven to hate and murder each other.