I'd argue that the last season did everything for the element of surprise. we got a pretty solid redemption arc that was getting set up since he met brienne and then they took all of that away for shock value.

jamie from seasons 1 to 3 was one of the best tv characters, from season 4 onwards he went from bad to worse, although he is still one of my favorite characters on the show.

2 and 3 were amazing but season 1 he was just a fine

I agree but his character wasn't bad at all, he just lacked depth