'Game Of Thrones' Final Episode ROTTEN? See What Critics Said!

UPDATE 5/21/2019 4:15 P.M. PST: The news has not gotten better. With more critics filing reviews, Game Of Thrones has only fallen further from grace.
As of this writing the finale now actually sports a certified ROTTEN score of 49%, with an average rating down to 6.48 out of 10.
For those keeping track, that makes The Iron Throne officially the second worst reviewed episode in the show’s history — behind the episode which preceded it, The Bells.
Such an ignominious end for an acclaimed show.
And what an unfortunate legacy for the countless artists who did such amazing work on the episodes AND throughout the series.
BTW, here’s where YOU stood in our poll:

[Game Of Thrones Finale Spoilers Ahead!]
Game Of Thrones has finally ended, and loyal fans were rewarded with… an ending, anyway.
Feelings are definitely mixed; many viewers still haven’t gotten over the rushed descent of slave-freeing Daenerys into child-slaughtering Mad Queen, others are applauding the finale’s hopeful implications for the future of this dangerous world.
But for a show which has been so consistently lauded for its technical and artistic accomplishments (and won over 40 Emmys!), “mixed” is kind of a sad way to go.
Related: Read Our Full Recap HERE!
We told you last week how the penultimate episode, The Bells, rang hollow with the lowest critical score in the show’s history — a Rotten Tomatoes score of 47% with a 6.35 average rating.
Well, this one had a stronger percentage of likes, with 56% — but the average rating wasn’t much stronger, only 6.73.
That means those reviewers who liked it didn’t like it THAT much. And we guess that’s the nature of a “good compromise” as Tyrion puts it in the episode.
See the critics strongly blasting and weakly defending the episode in our review roundup (below)!

Brian Lowry, CNN: “It’s too bad that the show couldn’t completely stick the landing. But when you fly that high, a few wobbles are perhaps inevitable.”
Laura Prudom, IGN: “It’s not quite the dream of spring we might’ve hoped for, but it’s not a disaster either.”
Verne Gay, Newsday: “Endings are the toughest act in television because showrunners can reliably expect that some part of the fan base will be disappointed. Nevertheless, the showrunners for Thrones almost seemed to ensure that much if not most of the fan base would be annoyed (or enraged) with this outcome.”
Michael Deacon, Daily Telegraph: “After the mess of The Bells came The Iron Throne, a finale that somehow managed to seem both rushed and sluggish, with a final twist that was both puzzling and underwhelming.”
Kelly Lawler, USA Today: “It was hacky; it was cliched. Every character left standing received a saccharine coda. It was all too simple, too clean, even with a major death and a surprise contender for the Iron Throne. Closure is one thing, but pandering is entirely another.”
Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter: “Was it perfect? No, because it couldn’t be. Was it enough to course-correct some of the more truncated story decisions from this season? Yes, I believe it was.”
James White, Empire: “We still have concerns over the turning of Dany into the Mad Queen, all wide-staring eyes as she caressed the Throne still standing in a ruined throne room. And the fact that the show’s final comment on her appeared to be, ‘bitches be cray cray, but thank goodness for Mumford & Sons looking mopey-heads who are here to stab them with a dagger.'”
Glen Weldon, NPR: “And Jon leads a party of Wildlings north of the Wall. This bit puzzled me, at first. I wasn’t sure what we’re supposed to take away from such a mundane walking scene… But I think it’s meant to act as a positive mirror-image of the threat that dominated the show for so many seasons. Instead of Death, inhuman and inexorable, marching south to massacre humanity, this is Life, walking north — humanity moving forward, into a hostile, unforgiving terrain.”
Daniel D’Addario, Variety: “The finale, paradoxically, may matter less here, so obsessively devoted was the show’s fanbase to minutiae of every installment as though it were the season’s marquee episode… And in their service — perhaps to its credit or perhaps because it recognized how diffuse the audience’s loyalties had become — the series’ final episode stumbled into enough endings for each viewer to choose his or her own.”

 
[Image via HBO.]