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So apparently the father of Teyla's baby is human and one of the Athosians.
And once again, the Stargate PTB are reusing a name: 'Kanan' was also the name of the Tok'ra symbiote who briefly occupied Jack before Ba'al got hold of him in the S6 episode Abyss. The one who had the relationship with the lotar of Ba'al and loved her and couldn't leave her behind.
Anyway, apparently Teyla has a sexual relationship with this Kanan of the Athosians, culminating in her pregnancy, which has all the John/Teyla fans in an uproar and all the anti-John/Teyla fans in an uproar as well. For essentially the same reason approached from two different angles.
From one side, we have the protest: John would never kiss a woman who wasn't Teyla, and Teyla would never have sex with a man who wasn't John if they're in love with each other. And then there's a reverse corollary protest: that if they kiss/have sex with other people then they must not be in love with each other.
Okay, maybe I'm just a practical person, but I really don't get this persistant belief that neither John nor Teyla could possibly bear the touch of someone with whom they're not in love.
I don't get this. I really don't get this. Because I can see both of them thinking, "Yes, I like/love him/her, but we can't go anywhere because of the team and how well we work together as part of that" and settling for what they can have - ie. a relationship with someone who doesn't jeopardise the team dynamic.
In fact, contrary to what I'm going to call "the traditional, sexist, double-standard view" of women and how they should remain pure and chaste and true to their man even if the guy is a walking erection that he sticks into any woman he meets, I actually think that Teyla would be more likely than John to go into a purely sexual relationship to satisfy her physical needs. She's a practical woman who's had to live in a galaxy where being impractical gets you dead.
She might regret that she can't be with John, but her affection and feeling for him wouldn't stop her from entering into a relationship with another man, so long as the other man understood that it was sexual. Maybe, in time, things might complicate, and I imagine Teyla would deal with it then. But she'd deal straight with a man, and expect to be dealt straight with in return. Sex doesn't have to be about love - ideally, it should be. But the Pegasus galaxy doesn't deal with ideals - it deals with reality.
Similarly, I think that if John's aware that he cares about Teyla to a degree that goes beyond team-mates and gets into dangerous emotional territory (and I believe a part of him is very much aware of it, while he tries to ignore that as best he can), he's not going to let it interfere with his sex life. If he gets an offer of sex with no strings attached, it's not going to screw up an alliance or get him court-martialled for having his pants around his ankles when duty called...he's going to take it.
This would be a case of "what's sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose".
What's the problem with that?
And once again, the Stargate PTB are reusing a name: 'Kanan' was also the name of the Tok'ra symbiote who briefly occupied Jack before Ba'al got hold of him in the S6 episode Abyss. The one who had the relationship with the lotar of Ba'al and loved her and couldn't leave her behind.
Anyway, apparently Teyla has a sexual relationship with this Kanan of the Athosians, culminating in her pregnancy, which has all the John/Teyla fans in an uproar and all the anti-John/Teyla fans in an uproar as well. For essentially the same reason approached from two different angles.
From one side, we have the protest: John would never kiss a woman who wasn't Teyla, and Teyla would never have sex with a man who wasn't John if they're in love with each other. And then there's a reverse corollary protest: that if they kiss/have sex with other people then they must not be in love with each other.
Okay, maybe I'm just a practical person, but I really don't get this persistant belief that neither John nor Teyla could possibly bear the touch of someone with whom they're not in love.
I don't get this. I really don't get this. Because I can see both of them thinking, "Yes, I like/love him/her, but we can't go anywhere because of the team and how well we work together as part of that" and settling for what they can have - ie. a relationship with someone who doesn't jeopardise the team dynamic.
In fact, contrary to what I'm going to call "the traditional, sexist, double-standard view" of women and how they should remain pure and chaste and true to their man even if the guy is a walking erection that he sticks into any woman he meets, I actually think that Teyla would be more likely than John to go into a purely sexual relationship to satisfy her physical needs. She's a practical woman who's had to live in a galaxy where being impractical gets you dead.
She might regret that she can't be with John, but her affection and feeling for him wouldn't stop her from entering into a relationship with another man, so long as the other man understood that it was sexual. Maybe, in time, things might complicate, and I imagine Teyla would deal with it then. But she'd deal straight with a man, and expect to be dealt straight with in return. Sex doesn't have to be about love - ideally, it should be. But the Pegasus galaxy doesn't deal with ideals - it deals with reality.
Similarly, I think that if John's aware that he cares about Teyla to a degree that goes beyond team-mates and gets into dangerous emotional territory (and I believe a part of him is very much aware of it, while he tries to ignore that as best he can), he's not going to let it interfere with his sex life. If he gets an offer of sex with no strings attached, it's not going to screw up an alliance or get him court-martialled for having his pants around his ankles when duty called...he's going to take it.
This would be a case of "what's sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose".
What's the problem with that?
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I agree entirely with what you're saying. I have no problem whatsoever with either of the two turning to others to satisfy their sexual needs, mostly because it can be damn complicated for them to get together without their position being put into question. And although they may love each other more than they probably should, it doesn't mean they have to stay faithful sexually (god, I'm not making sense, am I?)
Besides, that leaves the field open for the 'emotional affair' storylines. Seriously guys, that needs to be written.
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On the other hand, if no promises have been exchanged and it's not against the personal belief system of the individual...
And, yes, the emotional affair angle is certainly an intriguing one.
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(a) when the hell does Teyla ever visit the Athosians?
(b) where the hell are the Athosians on the new planet, hmm? Were they evacuated at all (after all, they weren't in danger; just Atlantis was)?
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It's like, until McKay and Mrs Miller, they didn't show John being into golf, but that doesn't mean he never played golf on Atlantis before that episode.
And I find that the idea Teyla going for regular visits to her people is not just believable but almost expected. She may not be the day-to-day leader of her people anymore and there's been no hint of how the Athosians see her return to Atlantis (as you point out, there's been no hint of the Athosians at all), but that's no reason for her to completely cut herself off from her people - even if we're not shown her each and every visit.
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Love as "what you make of it" seems to be anathema to the more fervent shippers of any stripe or colour.
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I am, as you know, not really a Teyla shipper so this doesn't really bother me all that much (aside from the fact that TV pregnancies are rarely well done), so I may be looking at this a little clinically, but it does make a little bit of sense.
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And I am a Teyla-shipper.
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We haven't seen hide nor hair (nor MENTION) of them since "The Return", and that was out of pure necessity of Teyla essentially being forced to go back and live with them. I feel like this reveal is going to not really work simply because there's been no hints to it at all...
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To whit: Pete Shanahan magically appeared in SG1's Chimera and was seen in bed with Sam in the same ep; Mike Branton turned up to charm Liz in Sunday apparently out of nowhere; and now Teyla's-love-interest has emerged from the shadows purely out of convenience.
Honestly, I'd rather it was someone from Athos rather than Atlantis (although a storyline about a relationship between John and Teyla and how it all works together would be fascinating if well done with all the angles and some realism to boot - and that's always the rider, isn't it? "done well") but, yes, it will be a bit abrupt. I would have liked to see the development of Teyla's relationship with this Athosian and just how the guys took it - their jealousy or teasing or indifference.
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ANYWAY, being that we're so culturally open-minded did it ever occur to any of them (along a similar line as someone else came up with) that the Athosians might do something similar to arranged marriages.
Or even arranged matings, heaven forbid, because you know, they're an alien race that's essentially human so they MUST conform to the Euro-American morals and ways of thinking.
But, guys, weirder shit goes on on THIS planet, in THIS galaxy.
This could be the cultural norm for them (with the exception of Teyla) we really don't know a whole hell of a lot about them.
I'm just hoping this is actually going to fit in somewhere and not just be a 'well, we have to sneak it into the plot somewhere, so HERE!'.
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This is Stargate. We don't do "fitting in" real well... :(
And, yes, shades of Chimera, although I don't know if we actually get to meet the guy. Which is disappointing. I would have liked to see Teyla interacting with this guy and her team-mates' responses to him.
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Seeing the way they interact together would be very telling about the true nature of their relationship. Casue, lord knows, Teyla isn't always the most forthgiving with information that really isn't anyone's business but her own.
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And the other side of that coin is that even if Teyla is affectionate and loving towards this Kanan guy, that doesn't mean she doesn't care about John as well. There are different kinds of love and the human heart is big enough to care about more than one person at the same time.
Shades of Sam, Pete, and Jack again.
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And you would think that anyone that has had a relationship with another person would be able to relate and understand that on some level.
It just amazes me how diverse fandom can be. Totally open-minded about some things and totally closed and double standard with others.
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There's no-one totally open-minded; we've all got our locked doors somewhere.
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Personally, I'm excited to see what develops from Teyla's pregnancy in terms of her friendships at Atlantis. In particular, I think there could be some interesting developments between she and John in terms of their relationship potential (for want of better terminology).
Sorry if that wasn't entirely coherent, my brain's still not quite awake.
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I think JF has actually said something about how John feels about Teyla's pregnancy in an interview. Or maybe RL relayed something JF said. I can't remember anymore - it all blurs.
At any rate, JF thinks that John's kinda jealous about it. Which could mean he's jealous of the man who impregnated her, or jealous of the time she's giving to the child, or jealous that she's got something other than the team to focus on. It depends just how squirmy one wishes to get in the definition of 'jealous'.
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I would much rather watch two realistic characters than the Pegasus Galaxy's version of Romeo and Juliet. John and Teyla are fighters and survivors, so they're probably not going to off themselves if they can't have each other.
Cheers for being practical in the face of illogical fandom. :D
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John's, what? Forty-ish? And he's been married before. He must have married his ex-wife for a reason, and while I can believe that a woman might have entrapped him into marriage with a child, I don't know that I can see him deriding his own behaviour in the marriage (as he says to Ronon in Sunday) if it was just a case of her trapping him.
Then, too, I'm a believer in partnership over love. I think that some kinds of bond are stronger and better than the love-and-sex thing: and I see the team and all their relationships that way - not just the relationship between John-and-Teyla, the way it seems a lot of slash and gen fan go with John-and-Rodney.
I mean, I'd adore the love/sex thing for John/Teyla in canon, but it's not going to happen that way. I'm pragmatic about it.
Which is probably why I'm taking a practical view in this.
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I agree entirely with what you're saying. I have no problem whatsoever with either of the two turning to others to satisfy their sexual needs, mostly because it can be damn complicated for them to get together without their position being put into question. And although they may love each other more than they probably should, it doesn't mean they have to stay faithful sexually (god, I'm not making sense, am I?)
Besides, that leaves the field open for the 'emotional affair' storylines. Seriously guys, that needs to be written.
no subject
On the other hand, if no promises have been exchanged and it's not against the personal belief system of the individual...
And, yes, the emotional affair angle is certainly an intriguing one.
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(a) when the hell does Teyla ever visit the Athosians?
(b) where the hell are the Athosians on the new planet, hmm? Were they evacuated at all (after all, they weren't in danger; just Atlantis was)?
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It's like, until McKay and Mrs Miller, they didn't show John being into golf, but that doesn't mean he never played golf on Atlantis before that episode.
And I find that the idea Teyla going for regular visits to her people is not just believable but almost expected. She may not be the day-to-day leader of her people anymore and there's been no hint of how the Athosians see her return to Atlantis (as you point out, there's been no hint of the Athosians at all), but that's no reason for her to completely cut herself off from her people - even if we're not shown her each and every visit.
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Love as "what you make of it" seems to be anathema to the more fervent shippers of any stripe or colour.
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I am, as you know, not really a Teyla shipper so this doesn't really bother me all that much (aside from the fact that TV pregnancies are rarely well done), so I may be looking at this a little clinically, but it does make a little bit of sense.
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And I am a Teyla-shipper.
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We haven't seen hide nor hair (nor MENTION) of them since "The Return", and that was out of pure necessity of Teyla essentially being forced to go back and live with them. I feel like this reveal is going to not really work simply because there's been no hints to it at all...
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To whit: Pete Shanahan magically appeared in SG1's Chimera and was seen in bed with Sam in the same ep; Mike Branton turned up to charm Liz in Sunday apparently out of nowhere; and now Teyla's-love-interest has emerged from the shadows purely out of convenience.
Honestly, I'd rather it was someone from Athos rather than Atlantis (although a storyline about a relationship between John and Teyla and how it all works together would be fascinating if well done with all the angles and some realism to boot - and that's always the rider, isn't it? "done well") but, yes, it will be a bit abrupt. I would have liked to see the development of Teyla's relationship with this Athosian and just how the guys took it - their jealousy or teasing or indifference.
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ANYWAY, being that we're so culturally open-minded did it ever occur to any of them (along a similar line as someone else came up with) that the Athosians might do something similar to arranged marriages.
Or even arranged matings, heaven forbid, because you know, they're an alien race that's essentially human so they MUST conform to the Euro-American morals and ways of thinking.
But, guys, weirder shit goes on on THIS planet, in THIS galaxy.
This could be the cultural norm for them (with the exception of Teyla) we really don't know a whole hell of a lot about them.
I'm just hoping this is actually going to fit in somewhere and not just be a 'well, we have to sneak it into the plot somewhere, so HERE!'.
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This is Stargate. We don't do "fitting in" real well... :(
And, yes, shades of Chimera, although I don't know if we actually get to meet the guy. Which is disappointing. I would have liked to see Teyla interacting with this guy and her team-mates' responses to him.
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Seeing the way they interact together would be very telling about the true nature of their relationship. Casue, lord knows, Teyla isn't always the most forthgiving with information that really isn't anyone's business but her own.
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And the other side of that coin is that even if Teyla is affectionate and loving towards this Kanan guy, that doesn't mean she doesn't care about John as well. There are different kinds of love and the human heart is big enough to care about more than one person at the same time.
Shades of Sam, Pete, and Jack again.
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And you would think that anyone that has had a relationship with another person would be able to relate and understand that on some level.
It just amazes me how diverse fandom can be. Totally open-minded about some things and totally closed and double standard with others.
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There's no-one totally open-minded; we've all got our locked doors somewhere.
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Personally, I'm excited to see what develops from Teyla's pregnancy in terms of her friendships at Atlantis. In particular, I think there could be some interesting developments between she and John in terms of their relationship potential (for want of better terminology).
Sorry if that wasn't entirely coherent, my brain's still not quite awake.
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I think JF has actually said something about how John feels about Teyla's pregnancy in an interview. Or maybe RL relayed something JF said. I can't remember anymore - it all blurs.
At any rate, JF thinks that John's kinda jealous about it. Which could mean he's jealous of the man who impregnated her, or jealous of the time she's giving to the child, or jealous that she's got something other than the team to focus on. It depends just how squirmy one wishes to get in the definition of 'jealous'.
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I would much rather watch two realistic characters than the Pegasus Galaxy's version of Romeo and Juliet. John and Teyla are fighters and survivors, so they're probably not going to off themselves if they can't have each other.
Cheers for being practical in the face of illogical fandom. :D
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John's, what? Forty-ish? And he's been married before. He must have married his ex-wife for a reason, and while I can believe that a woman might have entrapped him into marriage with a child, I don't know that I can see him deriding his own behaviour in the marriage (as he says to Ronon in Sunday) if it was just a case of her trapping him.
Then, too, I'm a believer in partnership over love. I think that some kinds of bond are stronger and better than the love-and-sex thing: and I see the team and all their relationships that way - not just the relationship between John-and-Teyla, the way it seems a lot of slash and gen fan go with John-and-Rodney.
I mean, I'd adore the love/sex thing for John/Teyla in canon, but it's not going to happen that way. I'm pragmatic about it.
Which is probably why I'm taking a practical view in this.
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