Originally Posted by Relentless

The Sansa rape was unnecessary. It did zero to move the story forward. We already knew Ramsey is terrible. We already knew Sansa is able to endure terrible hardships. We already knew Reek was broken. If that scene was deleted entirely the show would have gotten exactly the same messages across in just as impactful a manner. I believe the show would have been better if Reek took action during that scene rather than when he did later with the stable master's daughter. If they weren't going to have him take action then, they didn't need that scene at all... and it did cost them viewers. Much worse happens to Ramsey's wife in the books (though it isn't Sansa) but a book needs to be more graphic to be jarring for a reader. A visual medium like a tv show needs much less to drive emotional discourse.