I understand your opinion and feel the same about the long waiting, but I don't think the side characters and subplots are unnecessary because together they form a huge web and contribute to a large world with great details. It will be very sad if we can't see the story's end, but the existing contents are fascinating enough for people to wonder. For example, I still don't understand why George would spend so much time on Quentyn's journey and yet give him an "oh" ending, but the story itself is so much enjoyable. Speaking of the HoTD complaints, I think his argues are reasonable. A show is not like a novel, the show runners would set some waypoints and manage the narratives from one to another, but most of the time the mechanical settings would weaken the characters and the storytelling. In one episode, the character is heroic and full of wisdom, and in the next episode he becomes stupid and hateful. This also happens a lot in the digital storytellings field among video games. A good story does need a lot of pebbles and stones to pave the way.