If I remember correctly the middle of the series was really affected by the writers strike and that’s when the show kind of waned and it took a while to get it back rolling to where it originally was.
Yeah, I thought the season during the strike that ended up being cut in half wasn't so bad, but the writing started to suffer after the strike.
I did a rewatch like 4 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I always thought the ending was better than people gave it credit for. There were a couple unanswered questions, but they actually managed to tie most of it up by the end and there were a couple deleted scenes from the finale that further answered questions.
While GOT was airing, I was pretty sure GOT had surpassed Lost as my favorite show, but GOT last season was so bad that I actually think Lost still reigns as my favorite.