Game Of Thrones Season 8 Just Made Another Unforgivable Mistake
Sexual assault is not "character building."
Game Of Thrones has done some truly wonderful things with its characters in its final season so far. In fact, two of the episodes - including The Last Of The Starks - were right up there with the best episodes in those terms. Including the ones written from George RR Martin's existing texts. That's how good the writing has been at times.
Unfortunately, the show also has an unnerving ability to throw spanners into its own works, whether through ridiculous narrative convenience or simply betraying long-gestating character development. Some of the show's more infuriating mistakes have been put behind it, thankfully, but there's one that they just don't seem to be keen to drop and it's one of the few really black marks against The Last Of The Starks.
Throughout the show's almost eight season run, we've seen rape and abusive relationships frequently used to heighten drama or give villains an added edge. When Ramsay Bolton violated Sansa Stark on their wedding night in front of "Reek," it was so far past being too much that it became the dominating conversation about an otherwise excellent arc. And of course it would, because when you use rape as a narrative device, that's precisely what you're encouraging.
And they've done it again. As if wanting to rake over the old wound provocatively, the writers - David Benioff and D. B. Weiss themselves, in fact - had Sansa talk to The Hound in the aftermath of the Battle of Winterfell. The scene had two agendas rolled into one: first to push Sandor's "no f*cks given" attitude (and remind everyone that the only thing that will make him happy is a final reckoning with his brother) and to reiterate how different Sansa is from the last time they were together.
The first point is fine. Sandor is not one to be sentimental about anything, let alone a victory in a battle that doesn't really matter to him as much as making The Mountain bleed, but he could have been shown grumbling in the corner and then leaving with Arya. The second point is far more troubling however, because of how its presented.
The scene wants us to see Sansa as no longer the Little Bird that The Hound tried to protect all those years ago. Not the shy, retiring wallflower but a fierce, independent and strong power in her own right. Thing is, we already know this: she's established as much in every conversation she's had with Dany so far this season.
What we absolutely didn't need - and what absolutely should never have even been entertained as an idea - was hearing the Hound mockingly talk about how Sansa was "broken in" by Ramsay and then having her retort in an even worse way. Sandor's line fits his character: he's a terrible sh*t, but for Sansa to then follow his suggestion that she would have been safe from Ramsay and Littlefinger if she'd just gone with by saying she wouldn't be who she was without them is dangerous.
They've effectively just said that rape is character building and there's no excuse for it, particularly when the script has been written by two men. It's really, really not a good look for the show.
There's little time for them to do anything like this again, thankfully, but it's still an unfortunate footnote to what has been a very entertaining season so far. And when it gets talked about with venom and disappointment online and people ask for the show-runners to do better, it's going to be very hard to even want to defend it.
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