 The focus of most reviews was in the climactic final scene , whose directing and acting is universally acclaimed by critics . Writing for Cultural Learnings , Myles McNutt stated : " the final shot , with Arya looking to the sky as everything goes to silence and all she sees is the birds flying was just wonderfully haunting . Alan Taylor 's direction sold both the chaos and the resignation of that moment . " HitFix 's Alan Sepinwall felt that " that final scene was so gorgeously shot , and the weariness of Bean 's performance and the horror of Maisie Williams ' so perfectly conveyed the emotions of it , even as things seemed so chaotic . " 
