Yeah, like Q-Tip said, people were outraged that it was gratuitous and a big swath of the show-hating book reader crowd basically swore off the show "for good" last night. That AngryGoTFan guy basically called it an affront to woman, posted phone numbers for victims of abuse to call, and more or less called the showrunners monsters.
First, f*ck the feminist POV on this. Theon was repeatedly brutalized much worse, including rape, and I don't recall them being all offended at his sexual brutalization being used as a plot device then. They didn't swear off the books when Jeyne was raped and brutalized much worse in the books as well.
It's just that it happened to
Sansa. And they're already pissed off that there isn't the anticipated romance between Sansa and the Hound -- just freaking gag me already.
The one fair criticism I did see is that they spent a great deal of time building up Sansa to finally be a strong, take charge, independent player in this game, and if they use this kind of action to strip her back down to just a meek feminine pawn, then yeah I can understand the anger. But I just get the sense that Sansa is going to continue to be a strong character and will still be a catalyst for the downfall of the Boltons.
Honestly, this is the one criticism I absolutely
do not get. In the books, Sansa has been an actual prisoner of either Joffrey or LF since the first book. When last we see her in the books, she still is a prisoner with very little freedom of action. And in the show, it was basically the same thing except LF tagged off to Ramsay. Still a prisoner. And in every one of those cases, she essentially valued her life over the other indignities/cruelties, (as would many other people in similar circumstances), which made her easy to intimidate/manipulate/control. The Sansa fanclub was willing to be satisfied with tiny little symbolic victories, like buildlng a stupid snow castle, as proof of her growing "agency" (gag).
But it is
this scene that likely pushes her to be desperate enough to risk her life to escape physical captivity -- the same effect Ramsay's brutality had on Jeyne in the books. And once she's outside of Winterfell, and no longer subject to the whims of Joffrey, or LF, or Ramsay,
that's when she'll finally be able to take on a more active role in the story. So, I don't see it as going backwards for her -- I see it as actually moving forward because freedom is likely much, much closer for her than it's ever been.
I suppose I'd agree that if they
don't have her risk her life to escape Winterfell, then the scene is kind of pointless. But really -- what are the odds of that? They've brought Brienne to Winterfell for
some reason, and there's little point in having Sansa/Theon interactions if they're not going to do something significant with it.
This is the clearest indication in either the books or show that Sansa is finally on a real path to no longer being a captive/victim, and they're pissed . I imagine they'd have preferred if she'd just lectured all the Boltons on third-wave feminism until they all fell asleep, then just walked out of the front gate.
