Holy shit, people are arguing that wasn't a rape? That scene was like D&D wanting to stick it to everyone who wanted to complained about their not-a-rape* (*totally a rape) last season by showing off what their rape would really look like. Like, they wanted to show off how little attention they pay to criticism by flaunting a scene that is even more criticism-worthy. I think they want credit for it not being as bad as the book, and are just ignoring that they changed the story, and needed to adjust that scene further to account for it.
I think there are ways they could have structured that scene that would have been much less destructive to Sansa's character without turning her into some Mary Sue who can wrap Ramsay around her finger no problem. Maybe Ramsay tells Theon to undress her, but Sansa repeats her refusal to be touched by him. Ramsay flashes anger, but restrains himself. He hits Theon and scolds him for upsetting his bride, then tells him to stay and watch. He starts undressing Sansa, no ripping, no pushing, and we see Sansa's face: upset, uncomfortable, but not resisting. She and Ramsay go down to the bed together, again no pushing, and we cut to Theon where we can let him act his face off for a second or two, no noises or anything. Now the scene is still violent, still uncomfortable, still disgusting, and still definitely a rape, but it's a scene where Sansa expresses agency and submits to coercion not because she's being physically dominated by Ramsay but because she's a steeled woman who knew this was part of the plan.
If they spent a few minutes thinking about how to maximize Sansa's agency in that scene I think they could've arrived at something similar to that that still would have been horrifying, just by merit of being Sansa and Ramsay, but that wouldn't have set off quite so many people's outrage detectors. It's like they think that because some people are going to be outraged no matter what, they should just say fuck it and write to be as outrageous as possible no matter what.
To focus on a positive, I will say that Dinklage has been making Tyrion's depressed wanderings this season way more endearing than they ever were in the books. Also, I like Lena Headey's somewhat less unhinged Cersei. I think she has to play the character a bit less insane to project the amount of confidence she has in herself at this point in time.
And in speculation, Littlefinger's scheme may amount to nothing, or it may be a pretty big confirmation about some of the theories out there about the Northern war being one that ends up destroying both Stannis and Bolton.
What's this about the book having Theon join? True?
In the book Ramsay marries another character, who is the right age for them to pretend it's Arya. Littlefinger's gave her to them out of his brothels, and so on their wedding night, Ramsay is upset that she is t ready to perform, despite Littlefinger's "training". He orders Theon to warm her up for him. Theon protests that he doesn't have a and Ramsay cuts him off and tells him to use his tongue. Fun fact: that scene in the book is also the closest thing we get to an explicit reference to Theon being castrated. That's only heavily implied in the book.
