Folks are generally critical on the final season, and the finale in particular, and so am I, but perhaps not as much as others. Although the narrative fearlessness slacked and fan service grew after they ran out of book material to work from, at least they never lost sight of the timeless thread. Dani overcomes adversity and wages war for good and justice, which turns out to be a not so clean and noble an activity. She does damage, causes harm, imposes her will -- it can't be helped. She gets used to power, grows enthralled with herself. Then when push comes to shove, the principles become an excuse for power as opposed to the reverse. She becomes what every well-intentioned crusader becomes given enough time -- a tyrant.
The lesson: the only ones who are worthy to lead are those who don't want to. It's an old story. It is central to the myth of America's founding, but not uniquely by any means. It is what's forgotten by every socialist dreamer an starry-eyed revolutionary. It is a curse on civilization. Kudos for keeping that theme front and center, when I'm sure there were enormous temptations to build simple and easy good guys and bad guys and construct a fair and just comeuppance for all. That, as opposed to anything else, is the thing, along with the top notch cinematography and effects, that makes the show a cut above.
But the complaints are many and valid. Some of the story arcs took rather abrupt turns in the final two episodes -- Jaime suddenly deciding he was hateful after all; the Hound deciding his only reason for living was to kill his hated brother -- all despite years of character development. Honestly it felt like the War with the Night King could have been a six episode season in itself, as could the war for the Iron Throne. Maybe absent George R.R. Martin the writer's room went from pursuing the characters and their individual cruelties to barrelling into a defined ending and simply closing off the main threads, plot holes be damned. I'm all in favor of efficient narratives, especially if you've run out of creative ideas, but wedging each war into a single episode seemed like a bit of a shortchanging. Then of course there were the famous beverage scandals: the Starbucks cup and the bottle of water. Maybe they had all just had enough and wanted it over with.
(This may be the only time I have ever suggested a work of fiction should have been longer than it was.)
In any case, it falls well short of the TV pantheon. I doubt I will rewatch it, but it is now seared into our culture and that is no small achievement.
