The reason that all ~save theon~ bit was terrible was because it was invented for the TV show, and these people are really fucking bad at original material.
No shit Tyron's confession was one of the best scenes this season, why? Because it's lifted entirely from the books, dialogue and all. Except a few lines from Shae were changed, for the worse, for no reason "He made me call him my giant of Lannister! *entire courtroom bursts out laughing, even Tywin breaks a smirk, leading to Tyrion's breakdown* if I recall. Changed it to "my lion of lannister" which lacks the oomph, scorn, irony and shame.
This should be by far the strongest season of the show but most/all of the invented scenes and filler plot are hackneyed and dull. GRRM's dialogue and characterizations are exceptionally clever, witty, snappy, and memorable, which makes sense as he is a talented writer with a long history of working in Hollywood on screenplays. The show is at its best when its working off the page, but pretty soon there will be no pages left to work from.
Next season is going to be hilarious/weird/shit/disappointing in some combination, I'm sure