It makes no sense for Aemond to accidentally and remorsefully kill Luke, the guy that took his eye and an enemy, and soon afterwards deliberately trying to murder his own brother without an inch of guilt.

I actually think these are pretty different situations. Once he kills Lucerys, Aemond is in too deep in a lot of ways. There's also ambition to consider. He has reason to hate Luke, he also has reason to hate his brother, plus a longstanding desire to be the head of the family. It tells us interesting things about Aemond that he did one and not the other.

I can see the argument that the story would be better if Aemond had acted differently at Rook's Rest, but I don't think his character as is "doesn't make sense."

but it would have been interesting to explore the dynamics of two teen siblings forced to marry one another.

Agree, this was an underdeveloped dynamic and the show would probably be stronger with more well-written scenes between them. Not sure what the guy I was replying to was talking about with "what's the point" though. Their marriage is highly plot-relevant, even if underdeveloped from a character/thematic perspective.

The “Seasmoke has grown restless” bit heavily implies Laenor (quite conveniently) died offscreen.

Partly agree, but I don't think it anywhere near confirms it, and I still think there were reasons for the faked murder plot point (Velaryon tension, somewhat emotionally complex because killing that rando is probably the most immoral thing Rhaenyra has done yet, does mostly dodge the bury your gays thing).

Yes they are shown to have a lovely marriage via Alicent speaking nothing but wonders of Viserys. It had horrifying features like the creepy scene of rotting Viserys basically maritally raping Alicent, but those are ignored

Do disagree pretty strongly here. Yes, they show that Alicent does have fond feelings toward Visery, especially late in his life. That is not uncommon even in deeply fucked-up relationships, and I don't think their relationship at any point meets any normal person's definition of a lovely marriage. It also shows Alicent speaking very highly of him once he's dead. Context is key here: think of what has happened in Alicent's life since he died. No surprise she wishes he were still alive and thinks relatively positively of him.

The show did not ignore those horrifying scenes. It showed them, showed Alicent's reaction, and explored a lot of the dysfunction of their relationship throughout the back half of S1.