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Three predictions regarding Kanan in future eps of Stargate Atlantis.
1. Kanan will turn up in a future episode of SGA.
Why? Because he's the focal point of the missing Athosians, the representative of Teyla's search for them. Whether or not I as a John/Teyla shipper like him is irrelevant in the context of Teyla's search for her people. If the missing Athosian storyline is to be resolved, we can't just "find her people, but Kanan died, oh noes, oh well, next episode". There's no emotional resolution for Teyla in it.
At some stage, Kanan will turn up in person on the show, however briefly.
The 'however briefly' clause takes us into statement #2.
2. Kanan will not be a long-term love interest for Teyla once he turns up in person.
Why? Because no external relationship in the Stargate Universe is ever given one-tenth the degree of interaction or importance that the relationships within the team and among the regular characters are given. Kynthia, Laira, Kerry; Jonas Hanson, Narim, Orlin, Joe Faxon, Pete Shanahan; Sha're, Shayla, Kira, Sarah Gardiner; Drey'auc, Shau'nac, Ish'ta...
The story isn't about the romantic liaisons outside of the team. It's about the bonds within the team, the connections they have to each other. No mere romance is going to change that - no, not even Kanan of the Athosians.
In the case of SG-1, the 'romantic dynamic' was Sam/Jack - and even while Sam was dating Pete Shanahan, there were episodes like 'Heroes' and 'Lost City' and 'Threads'.
Hell, look at us! We've had 'Doppelganger' and 'Missing' and 'Spoils Of War'. We may have more before the season's out!
The laws of show-writing dictate that either Teyla and Kanan will fizzle out because they've changed too much with all they've been through since they last saw each other (or some such reason), or we go to point #3.
3. Kanan will die within a couple of episodes of his appearing.
Why? For the same reason as #1. He's the connection with the Athosians - the useful face-of-connection for the audience to latch onto - and he's expendable as Teyla isn't.
Why do you think that people like Carson and Kate have been killed over the last few seasons? Because there's no audience involvement unless the audience has a connection onto which to latch: someone that they can get emotionally attached to, not just some faceless name that they've been given.
Charin's already died. Halling hasn't been seen since Season 1 (Christopher Heyerdahl ending up playing every second Wraith in the Pegasus galaxy). Jinto's a kid (and hasn't been seen since the end episode).
That's why Kanan will appear in the show and not just die off-screen. He's the sacrificial lamb of the Athosian peoples. My prediction is that he'll die on-screen, in a fashion that's meaningful - it gives the team time to get away, or as a sacrifice for someone else's life. It's a time-honoured tradition in the Stargate Universe, too - Narim, Orlin, and Joe Faxon all sacrificed themselves meaningfully for Sam Carter/Earth.
For the feminists among us, rage against this: the female love-interests can be helpful supports to the male characters emotionally, but the male love-interests get to die for noble causes.
Anyway, that's neither here, nor there.
Please note: these are predictions, not facts. They're based not on what I want to see, but on a history of the Stargate Universe and the story patterns of the Stargate PTB. But don't quote me on this.
1. Kanan will turn up in a future episode of SGA.
Why? Because he's the focal point of the missing Athosians, the representative of Teyla's search for them. Whether or not I as a John/Teyla shipper like him is irrelevant in the context of Teyla's search for her people. If the missing Athosian storyline is to be resolved, we can't just "find her people, but Kanan died, oh noes, oh well, next episode". There's no emotional resolution for Teyla in it.
At some stage, Kanan will turn up in person on the show, however briefly.
The 'however briefly' clause takes us into statement #2.
2. Kanan will not be a long-term love interest for Teyla once he turns up in person.
Why? Because no external relationship in the Stargate Universe is ever given one-tenth the degree of interaction or importance that the relationships within the team and among the regular characters are given. Kynthia, Laira, Kerry; Jonas Hanson, Narim, Orlin, Joe Faxon, Pete Shanahan; Sha're, Shayla, Kira, Sarah Gardiner; Drey'auc, Shau'nac, Ish'ta...
The story isn't about the romantic liaisons outside of the team. It's about the bonds within the team, the connections they have to each other. No mere romance is going to change that - no, not even Kanan of the Athosians.
In the case of SG-1, the 'romantic dynamic' was Sam/Jack - and even while Sam was dating Pete Shanahan, there were episodes like 'Heroes' and 'Lost City' and 'Threads'.
Hell, look at us! We've had 'Doppelganger' and 'Missing' and 'Spoils Of War'. We may have more before the season's out!
The laws of show-writing dictate that either Teyla and Kanan will fizzle out because they've changed too much with all they've been through since they last saw each other (or some such reason), or we go to point #3.
3. Kanan will die within a couple of episodes of his appearing.
Why? For the same reason as #1. He's the connection with the Athosians - the useful face-of-connection for the audience to latch onto - and he's expendable as Teyla isn't.
Why do you think that people like Carson and Kate have been killed over the last few seasons? Because there's no audience involvement unless the audience has a connection onto which to latch: someone that they can get emotionally attached to, not just some faceless name that they've been given.
Charin's already died. Halling hasn't been seen since Season 1 (Christopher Heyerdahl ending up playing every second Wraith in the Pegasus galaxy). Jinto's a kid (and hasn't been seen since the end episode).
That's why Kanan will appear in the show and not just die off-screen. He's the sacrificial lamb of the Athosian peoples. My prediction is that he'll die on-screen, in a fashion that's meaningful - it gives the team time to get away, or as a sacrifice for someone else's life. It's a time-honoured tradition in the Stargate Universe, too - Narim, Orlin, and Joe Faxon all sacrificed themselves meaningfully for Sam Carter/Earth.
For the feminists among us, rage against this: the female love-interests can be helpful supports to the male characters emotionally, but the male love-interests get to die for noble causes.
Anyway, that's neither here, nor there.
Please note: these are predictions, not facts. They're based not on what I want to see, but on a history of the Stargate Universe and the story patterns of the Stargate PTB. But don't quote me on this.
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Then again...I like the idea of Elizabeth as 'evil RepLizcator' and not 'just normal Elizabeth'...so...
It never occurred to me that they might make Kanan evil, though. *ponders* It's not something they usually do in Stargate.