Winter has come. Apparently, seasonal change in Westeros is made official not by the coming of snow, but by a white raven from the Citadel. Consider this just one of the many loose ends tied up in this behemoth episode, which basically crammed an entire season's worth of story lines into an extra-long installment. Consequently, "The Winds of Winter" felt more like a series of checks on the intricate chess board that is Game of Thrones rather than a regular narrative. It's time to break down the winners.Let's tally up her achievements, shall we? The episode opens with the queen mother staring out over King's Landing. It's trial day. But there's a twist. The many hints dropped throughout the series have led up to her triumph: the Sept of Baelor, and everyone in it, consumed by a green wildfire inferno. Cersei, not Daenerys, is the new Mad King. She was willing to sacrifice Margaery, Lord Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, and thousands of innocent people to satisfy her lust for High Sparrow blood.As she tells Septa Unella, now her unfortunate captive: "I do things because they feel good. I drink because it feels good, I killed my husband because it felt good to be rid of him, I fuck my brother because it feels good to feel him inside me. I lie about fucking my brother because it feels good to keep our son safe. I killed your High Sparrow and all his little sparrows, all his septons and all his septas and all his filthy soldiers because it felt good to watch them burn." (This, amidst chants of "Confess," and "Shame," is a truly satisfying moment. Cersei may be hard to love, but her suffering at the hands of this septa was harrowing to watch . Shame!)Unforeseen, however, is the sacrifice of her son. Tommen, unable to cope with the scene he has just witnessed, quietly removes his crown and jumps to his death.And as many have predicted , the vacuum of power ends with Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne, to the tune of the Rains of Castamere. The song choice is fitting: Cersei without her children is the most terrifying thing imaginable. She has nothing left to hold her back.