Bystander to Victim?

"Terrible things happen to your family and you weep. You sit alone in a darkened room mourning their fates. You've been a bystander to tragedy from the day they executed your father. Stop being a bystander, do you hear me? Stop running. There's no justice in the world. Not unless we make it. You loved your family, avenge them." — Littlefinger, "Game of Thrones"

Some have complained that "Game of Thrones" keeps killing off its best villains. Joffrey is dead. So, too, is Tywin Lannister. But in a world as bent and broken as Westeros, there's never a shortage of villains. That was made clear again last night.

The middle of each season of "Game of Thrones" tends to drag a bit. We've been back in the world for weeks, so merely seeing each character isn't enough. But we're not at the end of the novel, so there's work to be done. It's mostly about moving characters into place and setting up the climaxes to come.

Season five's sixth episode mostly fit that bill. "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" set a lot of pieces in motion and moved us closer to a conclusion. Then came the final act — the worst arranged marriage in history, as Sansa Stark was wed to Ramsey Bolton, the most cruel and sadistic character in a world full of them. But the wedding seemed like an idyllic dream compared to what followed.

A few episodes back, when Littlefinger set in motion his plan for Sansa, he offered her a choice. He told her she'd been a bystander to tragedy. He told her there was no justice. He told her to stop running and start fighting. And she solemnly agreed. But I doubt she really knew what that meant.

Sansa is no longer a bystander to tragedy, she's a victim of violence, abuse, and degradation. The concluding moments of last night's episode were brutal and unsettling, as they were clearly meant to be. But to what end?

In previous seasons we've seen Ramsey be cruel and violent. His acts against Theon were brutal, gross, and almost unwatchable. We've been told it's building to a point, and given the track record of the show, that seems believable. But that point hasn't yet arrived. The same, now, is being said of the dark turn for Sansa.

With four episodes left in the fifth season, it remains to be seen where this story is going and if, indeed, it will have been worth the unpleasantness of the journey.