and the whole Sun arc which relied on Scott's LIES also felt like it was a wee bit forced since i wasn't convinced enough with Scott's motivation for doing the whole thing so i did not have even the smallest drop of sympathy for the guy unlike all the other flawed side characters in all the other seasons
Yeah that's interesting. Even Marlo and his gang are sympathetic, pretty much every character is. Not Templeton though, he's got no redeeming qualities really. Closest thing the series has to a villain, he's just not supposed to be sympathetic. I guess he's written that way so you'll like Gus more or whatever.