musings on the finale

[tielan]

I haven't seen anything since Quarantine, due to bandwidth issues. I'm trying to avoid as much spoilerage as possible in the meantime, although a little is to be expected.

This is my musings on what little tidbits I've heard. Some spoilers, but not the major kind, a few reflections on S4 and hopes for S5. What can I say? I'm getting in ahead of tomorrow's crowd. *g*

Teyla

I don't expect Teyla will be in the finale at all. Although she hasn't ever been significant in any of the finales so that's nothing new.

It really grates that the one year when they decide they're going to do something with Teyla...Rachel gets pregnant. It's like the mother of all bad timing. And as far as Season Five goes, Joe Mallozzi hasn't answered any of my mails other than to say that Teyla is still part of the team. Which, you know, is no comfort, since she was "part of the team" all through Season Three and got jack shite by way of development, plot, or anything to do.

I know, there's a Teyla-oriented story in the works.

It could be said that the Teyla-fans "did well" this year: we had a Teyla-backstory episode in Missing, a Teyla-saves-the-day story in Spoils Of War (even through the Issues over motherhood, feminism, and patriarchy). We had Teyla as a major lynchpin in Tabula Rasa, and possibly in Kindred I. (The impression I've gathering from Kindred II is that she is once again in the "needs saving" group. Whether this is right or wrong, don't spoil me, hey?) And there've been emotionally significant scenes reiterating her importance to the team (and to John) all through the season.

So, yeah, better than Season Three. But still not approaching half what's possible. It's not approaching a quarter of what I want as a Teyla-fan, or one-tenth of what John or Rodney's had over the last four years.

Still, fate has a sadistic bastard's sense of humour. Now that Rachel's no longer pregnant, I'm hoping for more significant parts for her to play - preferably paired up working with John, with Rodney, with Zelenka, with Carson, with the new administrator of Atlantis, with Jennifer...basically with anyone except Ronon. Because, hello, "primitive-appearing aliens all stand to one side and let the good white folks who know best through" is colonialist in precisely the way Joe Mallozzi thinks it isn't!

We're Not Going There. (Really.)


Ronon/Jennifer vs. Rodney/Jennifer

The Jennifer/Rodney thing. On one hand, I'm torn between wanting it just to watch the rabid McSheps tear their hair out and scream. On the other hand, I know the "Jennifer Keller, man-stealing bitch" contingent isn't too far behind the wailing and flailing and gnashing of teeth.

And I rather liked Ronon/Jennifer myself. I mean, they were cute. And, yes, she reminds him of his ex-wife, but, hello, don't be telling me that you've never ever heard of people fixating on a type of person, or falling in love a second time with someone who resembles the first. And not just the neurotics, the psychotics, and the emotionally dependents, but the people who are perfectly happy in their second relationship in spite of the similarities with the first.

Because if you've never heard of that, then I have to introduce you to my mother, my father, and my stepdad. Trust me on this.

Anyway, back to Ronon/Jennifer...I had a whole conversation with carolyn_claire about this, too. She's on the Rodney/Jennifer bandwagon, I'm on the Ronon/Jennifer one. Either way, we decided that there should be a RONON NEEDS LOVE club. My caveat would be "not from Teyla" because "lots of screentime together" and "a common background" does not mean "love and kisses forevah" in any handbook of lurve I've ever seen. (And because, hey, Teyla's already got enough trouble with Kanaan being whacked out on one hand, and John pressuring her for an answer as to whether she's coming back to the team on the other. Let's be kind to the nice Athosian lady - she's had a lot happen to her in the last twelve months.)


The RantMobile is coming! And everybody's humming!

Let's hop on the rantmobile for a moment: the John/Teyla fans who are beating on Kanaan? Or beating on Teyla for loving/sleeping with Kanaan because of John? In fic or in words? Would you mind standing up against that sunny wall? Over there. Yes, right there. Have a cigarette? You don't take them? Fine. Oh, and put this blindfold on so you can better appreciate the sun on your skin. Stand to attention, now...

So Kanaan is the fly in your ointment of Twu Wuv between John and Teyla? Cry me a bloody river, folks. Let's just say that I am no more impressed by this behaviour than I am by the behaviour of the McSheps and Shweirs who regard Teyla as nothing more than an inconvenience in the path towards their John/ChosenOne 'Soul Mates Forevah And Evah'.

Sure, Teyla went for the safe option, but John wasn't exactly making his emotional position clear. And while people might like to think that John/Teyla is obvious as all hells, I would say that there was always the possibility of more, but they never codified it between themselves, and so it was at a standstill when Kanaan made his move. You gotta be in it to win it. Kanaan was in it. John never was.

And John and Teyla didn't codify anything. Because if they had, Teyla wouldn't have slept with Kanaan. Let's not play the "Evil Woman Who Used John's Feelings" card here, thank you. Anyone with half a brain cell and no axe to grind knows that Teyla plays down the line. She's not a cheater. If she and John had an explicit understanding, or even half of an explicit understanding, she would have made her position clear to Kanaan when he put the moves on her. (And, yes, it was Kanaan who put the moves on her. How do I know this? Go watch the opening conversation in Sunday.)

Kanaan moved and Teyla didn't rebuff. Ergo, she and John had no explicit understanding.

If there was an implicit one, then John might have thought they had something, but, again, Teyla wouldn't have gone into a relationship with Kanaan unless she believed she was a free agent. Basic character comprehension. Capische?

We're Not Going Into This, Either. (Really!)


So, I think I've gotten the most pressing of my Stargate Atlantis fandom issues out in there. There's a backlog of issue-ness, but it can wait. :)

Comments

[amathela.livejournal.com]

I would say that there was always the possibility of more, but they never codified it between themselves, and so it was at a standstill when Kanaan made his move.

That's exactly the way I see it. Depending on how you read the conversation in Sunday, Teyla may or may not have explicitly acknowledged feelings for John (though not to John himself); John, on the other hand, while he may have feelings for Teyla, certainly isn't acknowledging them to anyone else, and maybe not even to himself. And even if they're both aware of the other's feelings ... I can see John believing they have some sort of understanding, because he's all repression-don't-talk-about-it guy, but I can't see Teyla believing herself to be in a relationship (or pre-relationship, or having an "understanding") with someone unless they'd, y'know, actually talked about it. John never made his move, and even if she did have feelings for him and/or believed that he had feelings for her, I'm hardly going to fault a girl for not sitting around pining after someone emotionally unavailable instead of actually going out and trying to be happy.

[tielan]

BINGO!

I'm hardly going to fault a girl for not sitting around pining after someone emotionally unavailable instead of actually going out and trying to be happy.

And that's the big issue for a lot of people complaining about the Teyla/Kanaan thing: that she should have waited for John, however long it took him to pull his game up.

I encountered this in earlier seasons, too: "Teyla's just waiting for John to stop chasing those alien women and notice her!" It is, in my opinion, the worst kind of label to put on a woman - the faithful little woman just waiting for her beloved man to look her way and notice her!

UGH.