I think this is no doubt the weakest season so far, it's quite notorious the quality decline now that the series is entering into the filler/forced/plot device/original material territory. Most of the Sparrows thing felt out of tone and out of place, the Sand Snakes thing is uninteresting, and having Daenerys still grounded at Mereen is quite boring and tedious and frustrating.
Also, anyone knows what's happening with Brienne and Podric? I had forgotten for one month or so they were still in the show. I think it would have been a little more interesting seeing them doing whatever they're doing instead of that repeated Arya's nonsense.
As for the Episode 8, I think I'm the only one who was completely unimpressed by it. It certainly didn't equal last season's final moment, including the heart-wrenching brawl between Brienne and the Hound, and the epic battle at Castle Black. This time it was more of a... mid-season Walking Dead finale instead of a Lord of the Rings film.
I do like that some things of the show are coming to something (all the Lannister gay/incest stuff finally falling on them, Theon and Sansa's reencounter and revelation, and of course the thing with Daenerys, Jorah and Tywin), but this series also feels more like a continuation of last season's themes... In the "this is dragging" way.
I know the show isn't sole and entirely the one to blame, I read the books had become quite tedious and underwhelming by that same moment, but it doesn't look like they took many chances of improving. Let's watch the final episode of the season to see if there's something else to be excited for the next one, but honesty I think this show has started to limp and I don't think I'll expect the next season in the way I waited for the others...
By the way, I wonder if Sandor Clegane will be raised again by the Brotherhood Without Banners (I wonder what happened to those guys, by the way).
