:D
That one slays.

Holy hell! ROFL

I have a theory about the last season and a half or so where it does seem the death toll took a marked drop in terms of major character deaths. It is made up of two points. First, season 6 killed a shit ton of major people but they saved up a bit and did it all a really short time frame so it felt like less overall than other seasons. Second, season 7 really did kill far fewer major people. I think this is because the tv show removed a bunch of characters from the overall story who are pretty major in the books. All of those missing folks are on the verge of the biggest parts of their story lines where the fifth book left off. In the next books, many of them will die in surprising and big ways, but for the show, they culled people who don't make it to the very end and never even introduced them. Thus, the deaths we are missing in season 7 are of characters that never existed in the series, and in the books, probably a very similar set of people will be around for the climax. We are not missing deaths because the show is afraid to kill anymore.

This made me forget about Tyreek Hill for 10 minutes. Thank you.

Best part is the Battle of the Bastards guy is directing it i believe
https://media.giphy.com/media/l0MYxI...RJKw/giphy.gif

The director of Battle of the Bastards and the director of the Red Wedding are splitting the first 5 episodes between them. D&D took the finale.

Alright, i'm starting to feel the buzz. Finally, the excitement is starting to build.

lest we forget, the Hardhome episode too. 3 best episodes, IMHO. This is it. Bring the best. Go out with the quality work.

Oh yeah. Which by the way, I can't decide if Hardhome or Winds of Winter is my favorite episode of the series.

Sappo may ultimately be who is most responsible for bringing the show to a whole other element, imo.

He's the best in the business IMO

He did The Gift and Hardhome in Season 5 and Battle of the Bastards and Winds of Winter in 6.

That's some of the best TV that's ever been put to screen.

FWIW (Credit to Baby Lee), this is a good breakdown of Battle of the Bastards which shows Sapochnik's brilliance. Dude is the best.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F8hExR0NXGI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/3e/3e5c...a1018d7212.jpg
I'm totally surprised that he has not got Hollywoods next big action movie. Opinions as to why thats not happened?

Everyone can see and agree that he has a unique way to film action sequences. And it works fantastic. I've went to his IMDB and watched shows just because he was the director.

I love that Sappo's getting the recognition he deserves.

In terms of the Hollywood question, the word around reddit's spoilery subs about GOT suggest that HBO and D&D did everything they could to secure Sappo for Season 8 from the get-go. There was some press about how D&D made Sappo's life a bit hellish for some of the shooting of Battle of the Bastards (D&D insisted it be shot sequentially, which works in narrative episodes, but not so much for battles).

In the original script, Ramsay's forces were ultimately going to betray Ramsay in the battle, but because Sappo got only 25 days (he wanted 45) and unforecasted rain wiped out the ending scenes, they had to improvise. Apparently Jon's iconic "rebirth" scene in the battle (a scene that some say represents Jon re-embracing life in the series) was a complete improvisation on Sappo's part. Though Sappo apparently had his frustrations with D&D (and has even more or less suggested as much in interviews since), HBO and D&D were convinced it was an absolute necessity to bring him back for S8 and did everything they could to make amends (i.e Brinks trucks) and work to Sappo's schedule this time around (the battle of winterfell in S8 got 55 days not counting reshoots). In terms of BOB, many have pointed out that the original vision of the battle (Ramsay losing his loyalty due to his brutality), was represented by him getting eaten by his own dogs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Sappo get a feature film when GOT is over (like many of the actors in the series). I'd love it if he's looking at E3 and E5 of Season 8 as his "parting shots" for GOT.

Uh ... Mr. Chiefspants ...

You referenced, "Apparently Jon's iconic "rebirth" scene in the battle (a scene that has come to represent Jon re-embracing life in the series)".

Can you point this out to me? I'm not quite following. Very interested, but not understanding exactly the scene to which you refer.

FAX

It's when he's nearly buried by the melee, then rises above the scrum.

Referenced briefly in the video Buehler has above at :10, where Jon is competely surrounded by fighters and looks up, like he's swimming for the surface of a great lake.