Character derailment, plain and simple. Making characters say and do stuff they never would, especially when new writers get involved, but I can see that's happened plenty in the last 3 seasons.
So glad I called it a wrap with season 5.
I saw fragments of season 9, with the exception of Sweet & Smoky (the only episode I enjoyed). The rest of it had me convinced that maybe it should've been 13 episodes after all. If they were going to take it that far, I mean.