Here's what the critics are saying about the tenth episode of Game of Thrones Season 6, The Winds of Winter:
The Washington Post
The tension between what feels good for an individual, and what’s good for a realm is at the heart of “The Winds of Winter,” a strong capper to an often-uneven season of “Game of Thrones.” And the tension between what’s fun for a show to do and what’s good for the show, to keep both plot and character development moving forward, was often what made “Game of Thrones” uneven this year. But “Winds of Winter” stuck the landing, assembling all of its chess pieces effectively for two final battles — the one between rival houses and the one between the realm of men and the Night King and his forces — while also delivering some grand spectacle moments of pure delight. If I spent the season finale of “Game of Thrones” shaking, I alternated between shaking and cheering with delight tonight. Read the complete episode review here.
Forbes
Today's episode of Game of Thrones exceeded every single one of my expectations. Revenge, revelation, and the most brutal winnowing of the show’s cast since the Red Wedding, all collided into one of the best episodes yet of HBO’s fantasy drama. I don’t even know where to begin. The sheer quantity of incredible moments in The Winds of Winter have left me reeling. We learned so much tonight. So much happened. So many died. Read the complete episode review here.
The Telegraph
The finale of Game of Thrones season six was an episode and a half – and not just in the literal sense of clocking in at nearly 70 minutes. After the straightforward massed warfare of the Battle of the Bastards, the closing dispatch was a subtler but no less impressive journey into the dark heart of Westeros, one that piled on the shocks much as Cersei’s minions had stacked the wildfire that reduced the centre of King’s Landing to a fumigated crater. Read the complete episode review here.
Refinery29
Winter has come. Apparently, seasonal change in Westeros is made official not by the coming of snow, but by a white raven from the Citadel. This is one of the many plot loose ends tied up in this behemoth episode, which basically crammed an entire season's worth of storylines into a single extra-long installment. Consequently, "The Winds of Winter" felt more like a series of checks on the intricate chess board that is Game of Thrones rather than a regular narrative. Read the complete episode review