"It was strange how Varys was in Dorne w/ Olenna and the SandSnakes, but then somehow managed to be back on a boat as Daeny’s fleet sailed towards."
Yeah, that is kind of jarring. Maybe Daenerys had a dragon pick him up and transport him to the fleet.
"Weak leadership by all of the Stark vassals except for they young Mormont princess, who gives all of those weak men a well deserved tongue lashing."
That hasn't been lost on me either. Jon Snow is not stupid tactically. Yet in the battle, he and his army would have been wiped out but for the timely entrance of the troops of the Vale, with Sansa and Littlefinger at the head. I like little Lady Mormont. Though she scolded the men who didn't back Jon, and while the women seem to be forming leadership which is going to bring peace and harmony, in reality it is still the men who do the bulk of the fighting and dying. I'm not saying that the females are not capable of personally engaging in the fighting, but they are generally not very effective. It's the men who are going to get the job done. And remember that though Daenerys was willing to burn the cities of the Masters to the ground, it was Tyrion who counseled her to consider a better option. She too has a genocidal tendency if not counseled out of it.
(I still smile when I think of her meeting with the Khals at the temple.)
Re: Varys’ “teleportation” - if you watch the end scene again you will see that there are Martell ships as part of the fleet by that point. So it was nothing magical, he just got on a ship in Dorne and sailed to meet the fleet.
It just seems strange because there must be weeks of time passing between scenes that were shown just a few minutes apart. The whole last episode probably occurred over several months, since Dany is in Mereen at the beginning of the episode, but at the end, her and her fleet are probably in the Narrow Sea already.
” And remember that though Daenerys was willing to burn the cities of the Masters to the ground, it was Tyrion who counseled her to consider a better option. She too has a genocidal tendency if not counseled out of it.”
I don’t think it’s a genocidal tendency, just that she knows she has to be twice as fearsome as any male king in order to get half the respect, so she has grown accustomed to going overboard and taking no chances. She took half measures and showed mercy before and was seen as weak and betrayed for doing that.
Sacrificing your children for your own selfish pursuits isn't a "girl power" theme; it's quite the opposite.
I suggest re-reading the books for a fourth or fifth time.