Game of Thrones

:

Season 6
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Apr 17, 2011
Season #: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
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Critic Reviews

  1. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Liz Shannon Miller
    Apr 25, 2016
    91
    The bodies still pile up in a sprawling episode full of ongoing storylines, but there's a definite sense that there's hope for some of these hopeless sorts. ... [Arya's] journey, as a young woman in a severely patriarchal society, has always been extremely compelling, but with every season, she gets more agency and strength, and becomes even more captivating.
  2. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    Apr 25, 2016
    80
    It’s too early to say for sure, but the first episode of the first post-Martin season already feels more woman-friendly, indeed a tad warmer and more embracing overall, than the preceding 50 episodes, which could feel thrillingly atavistic and occasionally inspiring but also cold, manipulative, and needlessly vicious.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mary McNamara
    Apr 25, 2016
    80
    Though the season premiere delivers the power and pathos fans have come to expect, there is, in fact, a slight but still identifiable shift: Game of Thrones is, in more than a few moments, funny.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Darren Franich
    Apr 25, 2016
    75
    Few shows on television look better than this one, but it’s coming up on great-drama retirement age. Game of Thrones is getting older. But it’s not dead, yet.
  6. Time
    Reviewed by: Daniel D'Addario
    Apr 26, 2016
    70
    In short, it was an episode of Game of Thrones, a show with little interest in or aptitude for self-editing. The aspects that worked were no better-written or more artfully shot than those that fell slightly flat; they simply had a sense of urgency that was, even by the standards of a show whose premieres are slow going, was absent elsewhere.
  7. Hitfix
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    Apr 25, 2016
    70
    Surprise has its place, and isn't mandatory in a table-setting episode like this, which did its best to catch us up on most of the characters (while skipping over the likes of Littlefinger, Sam, and Hot Pie) and show us where their stories may be headed after all that went down at the end of last season.
  8. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Daniel Fienberg
    Apr 25, 2016
    70
    Ultimately, even if not every element satisfied, the sixth-season premiere of Game of Thrones did what it needed to for me, putting this mammoth locomotive back on the track and showing again that even with less and less of Martin's published material to rely on, Weiss and Benioff know how to move it forward.
  9. Yahoo TV
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Apr 25, 2016
    70
    A fairly straightforward affair, rejecting subtlety and implication in favor of escape attempts and some body-piercing-by-sword. The hour opted to touch all the Westeros bases, galloping from subplot to subplot in an edition that doubled as a recap of last season.
  10. We Got This Covered
    Reviewed by: Britt Lawrence
    Apr 25, 2016
    50
    At times, “The Red Woman,” like other episodes before it, felt like a collection of vignettes rather than a fully fleshed out series centered on any semblance of core characters.

Awards & Rankings

64
#64 Best TV Season of 2016
3
#3 Most Discussed TV Season of 2016
39
#39 Most Shared TV Season of 2016

User Reviews

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User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 1701 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,440 out of 1701
  2. Mixed: 97 out of 1701
  3. Negative: 164 out of 1701
  1. leaveit
    Apr 25, 2016
    0
    First episode: It was only 40-some minutes long, but I had time to fall asleep twice. There is a 5-10 minute clip show recap at the start, andFirst episode: It was only 40-some minutes long, but I had time to fall asleep twice. There is a 5-10 minute clip show recap at the start, and following this is 30-40 minutes of more recap. Some stuff happens that obviously has nothing to do with the central plot, if you can even figure out what that plot may be. All the actors have aged about 3 decades since the first season, and as usual you won't even see them all in this episode. Bran and co. are completely absent, Arya does nothing but begin training to be a character archetype that is so stereotypical that there's a G.I. Joe made after it, still no sight of Lady Stoneheart which I guess they thought was too much more embarrassing than everything else. Ser Frankenstein is not present, Tommen is not present, Tyrion is thinking about turtles, Littlefinger doesn't exist, the Greyjoys don't exist, Davos and Melisandre have small talk, Sam doesn't exist, the white walkers don't exist, and Daenerys has about one scene.

    With that said, go ahead and see if you can come up with a way to stretch a full episode out of what remains. That is what Weiss and Benioff did.    … Full Review »
  2. lemonademaz
    Apr 24, 2016
    2
    Nothing happens: The Episode
    Incredibly boring, not even 40 minutes long (without recap), those stupid sand snakes can apparently teleport    Nothing happens: The Episode
    Incredibly boring, not even 40 minutes long (without recap), those stupid sand snakes can apparently teleport now, Mel is a thousand year old monster or something when she takes the neclace of (which she already did before and nothing happened)

    Why bother watching the rest of this season

    Please George finish the books so I can rest in peace    … Full Review »
  3. nilruf
    Apr 27, 2016
    5
    I don't get how season 5 was so praised by critics. It was the weakest one, with outstanding 'Hardhome' among lousy and rushed storytelling.I don't get how season 5 was so praised by critics. It was the weakest one, with outstanding 'Hardhome' among lousy and rushed storytelling. The first episode of the sixth season serves as a way to resolve most of last season cliffhangers. Great segments in The North, dull inside and out of Mereen. I've read the books and I know the show has had to do some changes, many of them I've accepted and even praised. New ideas for different media. But what they did with Dorne is beyond embarrassing, a wasted opportunity and a big mistake not only for book readers, also as a TV script alone. Overall in the episode, some dialogue is poor and it feels the story relies only on the strength of each character. The best of it, is that you can feel there's a lot coming up and they are just setting up for a wild season. Let's hope they manage to do it the way they did in their best episodes.… Full Review »
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