Poor Theon Greyjoy. Yes, he was a traitor and the cause of Winterfell's sacking but his transformation into Reek are some of the most brutal scenes in the series so far. He is being conditioned to be submissive through torture by Roose Bolton's psychopathic bastard son Ramsay Snow, and we are forced to watch him suffer. This is an area the books do not cover, there are a few brief flashbacks but we are never given as much detail about Theon's captivity as the show provides. Yet this new emphasis become an an important part of season 3 the thematic focus was consequences, and the plight of Theon's descent into torture after betraying the family who took him in and raised him for the sake of ambition and ego gave us a perfect vehicle to make this apparent. Game of Thrones has never shied away from violence, but the best part of the scenes with Theon is how sparing they are actually showing you what is going on. Most of the torture is left to the viewers imagination, the focus being on the mental toll it takes on the young Greyjoy. Difficult to watch? Yes, but the show isn't frightened to challenge viewers, as long as they don't look in the box.