Game Of Thrones: 12 Ups And 4 Downs From Season 6

Downs...

4. Sam's Storyline Didn't Really Progress

Samwell Tarly, once again, got a bit of a short shrift when it came to screentime. He was sent on his way to Oldtown at the end of Season 5, and despite that he didn't arrive there until the Season 6 finale (and even then the scene felt superfluous compared to everything around it).

On an individual level, Sam's scenes this season were generally fine, and the moment when he has dinner with his father - a particularly nasty sort, like that one teacher we all had at school who clearly despised children - and steals his Valyrian steal sword was great, and potentially rather important. The Citadel library, meanwhile, looked like the kind of place you want to get lost in.

As a whole, however, there really wasn't any meat to it. He travelled on a boat, spent a night at home, and then only at the end did he finally walk into the Citadel, a long way off becoming a Maester (which, because of how long is left, is unlikely to ever happen). It felt like they decided that they needed to have Sam appear in this season, and then realised that they either couldn't find much room for his story, or didn't want it to progress too far past the others, meaning his scenes were a little random and ultimately quite wasteful.