Ok so this season needed a little bit less of its everything in the last 2 episodes. I get why they did it, but overall not much happened and then everything happened.
Also, haven't we kind of gone in a circle? The northern houses are united under a king, the Iron Islanders are pissed off, Dany has an army and dragons and wants to conquer Westeros, Dorne is pissed off, King's Landing is in control of the Lannisters and there's a crazy Lannister on the throne...
Stannis died without doing much, other than saving The Wall (and bringing Melisandre to Jon I guess). The Boltons are dead, old Walder Frey is dead.
So the first part of the ASOIAF story is about war and politics. The second part is what comes after the wars. Presumably the final part will be about defeating the ultimate evil or whatever.
BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD
The second part in the books (AFFC and ADWD) has issues for sure, but it's basically all about character. Dany is struggling with herself, Jon is trying to do the right thing for the Greater Good but causes conflict at The Wall, Tyrion is... drinking? Tyrion doesn't really do or think much until he meets Penny I guess, and honestly I can't remember what the point of his time with Penny was/is but there
was a point to it.
Oh I guess he plays SeaBass with Young Griff - I think Tyrions time on the boat was probably all about that one scene with Aegon. Brienne is on a journey across the countryside, and we learn a lot about her past and how she feels. Jamie is dealing with a lot of shit. Even Theon at the end has to man up to save "Arya Stark". It's all really personal stuff. Hell even Jon Connington's chapters are very personal and reflective and he's going was with Aegon to Fire and Blood shit up.
So the show skimped on a lot of the character stuff. People love to complain about those books, and I have my fair share of complaints, but I feel like rather than doing this slower stuff the show instead did nothing and capped it off with big exciting episodes. Like damn I was waiting for the High Sparrow to actually do something and then he's just dead. King's Landing was still the best thing about this season by a mile, but I can't wait for some more details in the books.
Anyway RIP King Tommo, he was a rare decent bloke but he drew a short straw in the game of thrones
