The thing about GOT up till season 5 before G.R.R.M. screwed us by being lazy is that meandering was part of the build up of characters and attention to detail. GOT was great at making something that seemed so irrelevant be completely essential to the story once things played out. Once GOT went of the rails loose ends arose and characters started being other people. Season one of true detective did some of the same things and unlike GOT characters did not become different people all of a sudden. A good detailed story and character connection is what makes a series great. The Jodie character for instance is suppose to be a pain in the ass but why is it a loss of a child like season one? Look at Rus and how they got us to care what a loss of a child meant specifically to his soul and how GOT got us to care about Tyrion. This series needs to do some more of that in order to have a payoff otherwise people are uninterested in what happens to the characters.