Honestly, reading this makes watching the whole season from start to finish seem pretty depressing…So my question to those who have watched all 15 is this: is it possible to fully enjoy the best episodes on their own despite all the plot intricacies or does one have to wade through the cringe-worthy ones to "get it"?

Perhaps someone has already addressed this, but why would Littlefinger taunt Cersei like that? The only reason I could come come up with is that he resented her for implying that his feelings for Catlyn Stark were behind his reluctance to help her locate Arya, but that still seems like a stretch.