I think of Catherine the Great who took the throne for herself after her husband was assassinated.

For real. These last two weeks at least I feel like following a good episode I read the AV club review just to read him pissing on the parade.

I agree this review is overly critical.
Last week Nowalk was complaining that, despite the spectacle of the Battle of the Bastards, nothing unexpected happened—or nothing significantly advanced the plot. (I don't watch action movies, but I was excited to see the epic battle enacted.)