'Game of Thrones': These Reactions to Sansa, Ramsay, Theon Wedding Just Make Us Feel Worse
So good luck getting to sleep last night after the latest traumatizing wedding on "Game of Thrones." They do know how to throw a party ... badly. We were disgusted by Ramsay Bolton's (and the show's) wedding night treatment of Sansa Stark in Season 5, Episode 6, but encouraged by the equally frustrated and disgusted reaction of (most) fans online. Yeah, this is an adaptation of a certain storyline in the books, but Sansa has been through so much already and we thought this was her season to be "badass" like Arya, not be tortured further for sport. The episode's writer, Bryan Cogman, and main actress Sophie Turner, weighed in on the episode and their words did not make us feel better. Quite the opposite.
Sophie empathized with her character but, as an actress, she didn't hide her excitement at tackling such difficult material. She knows more than we do about what's to come, and since this trauma is fresh for fans, it's a bit uncomfortable to read about how much she loved the scene. It's also frustrating to hear that she was basically tricked into this, first told Sansa would get a love interest this season. Ramsay as a love interest? Not even a funny joke.
Here's what Sophie told Entertainment Weekly:
Last season [Thrones director] Alex Graves decided to give me hints. He was saying, "You get a love interest next season." And I was all, "I actually get a love interest!" So I get the scripts and I was so excited and I was flicking through and then I was like, "Aw, are you kidding me!?" I thought the love interest was going to be like Jaime Lannister or somebody who would take care of me. But then I found out it was Ramsay and I'm back at Winterfell. I love the fact she's back home reclaiming what's hers. But at the same time she's being held prisoner in her own home. When I got the scripts, it was bit like, dude, I felt so bad for her. But I also felt excited because it was so sick, and being reunited with Theon too, and seeing how their relationship plays out. Theon's a member of the Stark clan but she thinks he totally betrayed and killed her brothers. It's a messed-up relationship between them.
And then there is the scene described in the production breakdown as "romance dies." Sansa's wedding night in episode 6.
When I read that scene, I kinda loved it. I love the way Ramsay had Theon watching. It was all so messed up. It's also so daunting for me to do it. I've been making [producer Bryan Cogman] feel so bad for writing that scene: 'I can't believe you're doing this to me!' But I secretly loved it."
Sophie said this season Sansa has to figure out Ramsay's intentions and try to please him. Ugh. Moving on to producer/writer Bryan Cogman. He reacted to the question of "How could you do this to Sansa?" with (in part), "It's pretty intense and awful and the character will have to deal with it." No kidding.
However, he seems to see a huge difference in how the story is told in the book -- with Ramsay, Theon, and another character, Sansa's old friend Jeyne. In the book, Ramsay makes Theon have sex with his bride. EW said Cogman looked horrified at the idea of going that route on TV. "No!" he said. "Lord no. No-no-no-no-no. No. It's still a shared form of abuse that they have to endure, Sansa and Theon. But it's not the extreme torture and humiliation that scene in the book is."
Really, though? Because it kind of is extreme torture and humiliation to change the story to include Sansa in her old home with Theon there -- the guy who took over Winterfell and (she thinks) killed her younger brothers -- as she's raped by the son of the man who killed her older brother. Cogman also called it a turning point for Sansa and maybe a bonding point for her and Theon, as if they are peers in this. Yes, Ramsay tortured Theon and chopped off Little Theon, but Theon is not innocent of evil action, like Sansa. And even though he didn't kill Bran and Rickon, he had two other little boys killed as decoys. This is not a "shared form of abuse," as if Sansa and Theon are now the same for facing Ramsay's sadism. We feel sorry for Theon -- and he doesn't deserve torture either (no one does) -- but that doesn't change all the reasons why he and Sansa shouldn't bond.
So the disgust remains. But we'll still watch GoT, because if we needed the story to go our way every time we probably would've 1) never finished the books (so far) and 2) stopped watching after Season 1. We just hope Sansa can finally take charge and reclaim Winterfell and get rid of all of the trash around her. But even if she does get revenge, she will still have been raped as a virgin in her family home. Sucks to be Sansa.
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