I just don't see how people are enjoying this season. Season 1 was about Ned so you saw that plotline advance weekly. Last year was about Tyrion and that plot advanced. This one is just so spread out and lacks focus. I get it that there are a billion characters you still have to pick one and run out the string with it.
This season just seems like a soap opera with a little S&M thrown in on the side for no apparent reason.
Huh? Season 1 was also about Dany becoming the mother of dragons and the entire Stark family. Season 2 was also about Joffrey & Cersei's rise to power and Stannis trying to overtake Kings Landing. Season 3 is about Jamie's possible return and John Snow.
I stand by the bolded and think it holds up without the "was also".
The wire was a great series because each season they wove the side characters over one large arch. 10 years later you can remember what each of the 5 seasons were about and there wasn't any "was also" thrown in. For quality sustaining cable TV you need a central narrative. Many seem to be coming from the perspective of the book reader that knows what is coming so they will wait it out.
Put yourself in the perspective of the non book reader. At the end of season 2 you had Tywin replacing Tyrion as the main power behind the throne Rob was marching on KL and the dragons were unleashed. Then on the side you have Arya going home, Kingslayer going home, and Snow going south. All of these were in motion at the end of S2.
Fast-forward to now and you have next to no movement in ANY of these plotlines. Dany has an army of nippleless P90X graduates roughly 4 seasons away from doing anything in KL and the rest has just been pawns moving around.