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It's rather interesting how polarizing this episode is for Teyla fans.
There seems to be largely two opinions held by the fandom on this episode:
My rundown of Spoils:
In military terms, John is quite within his rights to say that he won't have Teyla on his team. He's the commander, it's his decision. In personal terms, he was a bit of a bastard about it - which Teyla called him on in the mess hall scene. He ate his slice of humble pie, and then had to swallow when they discovered Teyla could fly the ship.
Military terms don't apply to Teyla since she's neither of the military, nor of the expedition. It may have been suggested or implied that she should inform the team of any change in her condition, but they can't force her to do so in any meaningful way without being really stupid about it. "If you don't tell us you're pregnant, we're going to sever contact with you and not help you find your people" has all the maturity of a five year-old throwing a temper tanty.
In personal terms, Teyla was well within her right and reason to keep quiet about her pregnancy. Given the status of her people and her need to find them, I think that she would balance up the need for John to know vs. her need to be out there, and make the call her way. I think Teyla was justified in wanting to keep going out on missions - in the 'jumper scene on their way to the hiveship, she more or less tells John that she can't stay cooped up or she'll go mad.
I understand that.
It did irk a little that the ending had a "John was sooooo right!" angle - one which certain portions of the fandom seemed to pick up and run with as "See? Teyla was WRONG WRONG WRONG to hide her pregnancy and want to be on the team!"
However, as a hardcore Teyla-fan where the secondary characters of interest are John and Ronon and only really if Teyla's there, too, I'm considerably more used to getting the bad as well as the good when it comes to Teyla; it's lowered my expectations of what TPTB will do with her. There is no episode in all of 80+ where Teyla's concerns are central to the plot, where her actions are central to the resolution, and her judgement is considered to be the right and correct way to go.
Considering that Spoils Of War got 2 out of 3, I'm cheering for all I'm worth.
In the end, I look at Teyla's decision to cease going out on dangerous missions like this: It was her decision.
At the point where they're on the balcony, it's Teyla who makes the choice to leave. Granted, John took her off the team at the start of the mission, but he brought her back on once it was seen she was needed. Would he have taken her off again? Maybe. Probably. But she has already decided she's not going to go back on missions for her son's sake. For her son's sake, not because John told her she couldn't. He might have made the call that ultimately prevailed, but Teyla chose it in the end.
Maybe it's sophistry; maybe I'm just not enough of a 'feminist' to be enraged about it. I understand the frustration at the implication that a pregnant woman needed to be told what she could and could not do by a man; I just think there are other angles at work here, and it's not the be-all and end-all of the way to interpret it.
Could TPTB do better? Yes. They could. But they haven't. C'est la vie.
There seems to be largely two opinions held by the fandom on this episode:
- It was an awesome episode for Teyla, where she overpowers a Wraith Queen and saves her team-mates, while still fighting and protecting her child.
- It was a dreadful episode for Teyla, where pregnant = helpless and needing to be told what a pregnant woman can/cannot do.
My rundown of Spoils:
In military terms, John is quite within his rights to say that he won't have Teyla on his team. He's the commander, it's his decision. In personal terms, he was a bit of a bastard about it - which Teyla called him on in the mess hall scene. He ate his slice of humble pie, and then had to swallow when they discovered Teyla could fly the ship.
Military terms don't apply to Teyla since she's neither of the military, nor of the expedition. It may have been suggested or implied that she should inform the team of any change in her condition, but they can't force her to do so in any meaningful way without being really stupid about it. "If you don't tell us you're pregnant, we're going to sever contact with you and not help you find your people" has all the maturity of a five year-old throwing a temper tanty.
In personal terms, Teyla was well within her right and reason to keep quiet about her pregnancy. Given the status of her people and her need to find them, I think that she would balance up the need for John to know vs. her need to be out there, and make the call her way. I think Teyla was justified in wanting to keep going out on missions - in the 'jumper scene on their way to the hiveship, she more or less tells John that she can't stay cooped up or she'll go mad.
I understand that.
It did irk a little that the ending had a "John was sooooo right!" angle - one which certain portions of the fandom seemed to pick up and run with as "See? Teyla was WRONG WRONG WRONG to hide her pregnancy and want to be on the team!"
However, as a hardcore Teyla-fan where the secondary characters of interest are John and Ronon and only really if Teyla's there, too, I'm considerably more used to getting the bad as well as the good when it comes to Teyla; it's lowered my expectations of what TPTB will do with her. There is no episode in all of 80+ where Teyla's concerns are central to the plot, where her actions are central to the resolution, and her judgement is considered to be the right and correct way to go.
Considering that Spoils Of War got 2 out of 3, I'm cheering for all I'm worth.
In the end, I look at Teyla's decision to cease going out on dangerous missions like this: It was her decision.
At the point where they're on the balcony, it's Teyla who makes the choice to leave. Granted, John took her off the team at the start of the mission, but he brought her back on once it was seen she was needed. Would he have taken her off again? Maybe. Probably. But she has already decided she's not going to go back on missions for her son's sake. For her son's sake, not because John told her she couldn't. He might have made the call that ultimately prevailed, but Teyla chose it in the end.
Maybe it's sophistry; maybe I'm just not enough of a 'feminist' to be enraged about it. I understand the frustration at the implication that a pregnant woman needed to be told what she could and could not do by a man; I just think there are other angles at work here, and it's not the be-all and end-all of the way to interpret it.
Could TPTB do better? Yes. They could. But they haven't. C'est la vie.
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(again, in contrast to North America). (Which makes me wonder just why Teyla has the stick-fighting-awesomeness, but hey, its sci fi).But there's no badstupidwrong anywhere, really. Working within the constraints of the show, they're both defined as "good" people. Therefore, even if their decisions may be badstupidwrong, they themselves can't be. Because that's how the show's set up with regards to the main characters, and that's how it'll stay. Working on a plane that's trying to be more realistic... they both made the best decision they could, based on the information they had. I think John could have been nicer about it, but he was sulking.
And I'd assume, looking at the canon chain of command there, Teyla can always go over John's head. She might be a member of his team for the purpose of missions, but she's the representative of an alien culture and she's on John's team because she wants to be. She accepts his command because she wants to. Yes, John has authority over her, but only because she lets him. If she chose to, she could go to Sam and ask for a security detail to continue looking for her people. Sam has the ability to overrule John, if she thought it was right. Or Teyla could just leave.