There have been too many plotlines that end up going nowhere, especially this season. It's like the show can't decide if it wants to be a weekly, status-quo, episodic sitcom, or a series with a defined story arc. It seems like every 2-3 episodes send the characters back to square one. The Barker storyline went nowhere, the Gavin storyline just ended with a wet fart, Dinesh's storyline ended and he learned nothing, the Monica/Laurie/Ed Chen storyline is boring because they never gave us a reason to invest in these characters.
Speaking of the characters, I feel like the show lacks a moral center. Richard continues to reveal himself to be an unlikable douchebag, and I hope he fails. Gilfoyle is an asshole, Dinesh is an asshole, Jian Yang is a somewhat racist caricature (but he's getting better), and I have no idea what Laurie's purpose is this season. Monica is the most "normal" person on the show but we never really see her doing anything except responding to the other characters, so she's just kind of a cardboard cutout. I don't know. It reminds me of the trainwreck that occurred with Weeds after Season 2.