critics agreed that the episode was the most gothic and scary of the series, with journalists writing for "the sunday times" saying that "the harrowing" would be best avoided by those of a nervous disposition. critics writing in the "metro" felt that the episode was a poor finale for the series, and that the episode's ending was unsatisfying. by contrast, alex hoskins, writing for the "cheddar valley gazette", felt the episode's ending was very strong, and bruce dessau described "the harrowing" as an excellent end to the series. on an empire online list, "the harrowing", particularly its final scene, was selected as the 17th best tv moment of the year. the episode was watched by 833,000 people on its first showing, which was 4.7% of the audience.