So I suppose my question after watching this season thus far is: why did the showrunners decide to power through to the end, after S6, in just 15 episodes? Is there some kind of imperative here that I'm missing? The show's ratings are incredible and I'm surprised they feel a need to burn through plots and character arcs that clearly need a LOT more breathing space when they could quite comfortably get another few full seasons out of what has already happened and is to come.
S6 was at a decent level of pacing for me, except for the finale which I thought suddenly threw down the throttle. I was willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt heading into S7 and was hyped, but it's even worse. Too much happening off-screen, unclear periods of time lapsing between scenes, characters serving the plot rather than the plot servicing the characters...
Why?