Fan favourite deserves to direct Game of Thrones finale.
Fan favourite deserves to direct show-stopper
The director of the best episodes of Game of Thrones won’t be returning this season and it better be because HBO is saving up to shower him with money for its final season.
For the uninitiated, Miguel Sapochnik directed the two most visually stunning episodes of the series, and perhaps all of television: Hardhome, in Season 5, and Battle of the Bastards, in Season 6, the latter of which won him a pile of awards. He also directed the finale of Season 6, The Winds of Winter, capping off his trifecta of 9.9/ 10 IMDB- rated masterpieces. ( He also did the episode before Hardhome, The Gift, which was quite good but no one really talks about.)
Strangely, he’s not listed as the director for any Season 7 episodes, which caused mild panic among fans when this season’s lineup was released.
And for good reason. His absence has been apparent — David Benioff and D. B. Weiss certainly could’ve used him for the final battle of Sunday’s episode, which features Euron Greyjoy at his pirating best, but does so with the distinct handicap of setting his reaving and pillaging on a dimly lit nighttime ship captured by a flurry of shaky- cam framing. The stakes and outcome of the battle are clear, but the individual skirmishes that let us know how it gets there are lost or muted in the competent- but- kinda- murky direction.
Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely t he coolest Euron scene we’ve gotten so far — but it could’ve benefited greatly from a few well- choreographed Sapoch- nik wide shots of the chaos. Compare the hand- to- hand combat in Hardhome or Battle of the Bastards to the first sequence to get a feel for what I’m talking about. It’s telling that Vox ranks “the show’s budget” as a winner and “coherent action sequences” as a loser in their episode recap.
But while the show’s budget is absolutely gargantuan for its final two seasons, it’s not infinite. My money is on the producers saving a few extra bucks this year to make absolutely sure they can book Sapochnik for one or two epics next season.
The Game of Thrones showrunners aren’t stupid. They know Sapochnik is a fan favourite, and they know the finale will have to one-up everything they’ve done so far in order to come close to satisfying their fans. The series will go down as a legendary show either way, but unless they go absolutely balls- to- the- wall for the final few episodes, the sour taste of a mediocre ending will linger for years to come.
Fortunately for them ( and us), Sapochnik is ready to make himself available. When the director, whose other TV credits include House, Fringe and True Detective, was asked at San Diego ComicCon if he’d return for Season 8, he said, “I would very much hope so, yes.”
And, well, if for some reason Benioff and Weiss can’t make it work, we can always jump ship like Theon Greyjoy.