pairing thoughts on 'The Long Goodbye'

[tielan]

I've wanted to get this out for a week, but I thought I'd wait until things cooled down a little - and until the thoughts in my head had a chance to settle down. I think they're all sorted out now.

The Kiss

Am I the only person in the fandom who is going to call this the 'not-Shep/not-Weir' kiss? Because it was neither Sheppard nor Weir doing the kissing - or even choosing who was going to kiss who.

From what I saw, it was Phoebus who chose Sheppard to be Thalen's host. I took it to be primarily on the grounds that Sheppard's knowledge would make him a dangerous 'enemy-ally' (as Thalen, who Phoebus intended to fight) but a worse 'enemy-enemy' (as Sheppard, who would fight Phoebus).

And the kiss seemed to be part of this whole UST-challenge thing that Phoebus and Thalen had going, not any residual thought-feeling-desire on the part of either Shep or Liz. Shep looked about as enthusiastic at playing the part of 'husband to the alien who's imprinting Liz' as he did at discovering he was going to go bug-nuts in 'Conversion'; Liz's sink into the bed at the end suggests she wishes the damn thing had never happened.

...

Am I missing something?

The Confession

Uh, under duress, peoples! Thalen would say anything to keep his life at that point - wouldn't you? However, the fact that he chose to pick the "he cares about you more than you know" to say on top of "You kill me, you're killing him [Shep]" indicates that Thalen (and therefore probably Shep) thought that it might stay Teyla's hand. Which suggests that Thalen (and Shep) thought there was something there.

Except that Teyla isn't encouraging Shep. She doesn't encourage him after this ep, she didn't encourage him after 'Conversion'. I don't think Teyla's interested in John that way right now. It's a possibility, but it's not anything she wants at this moment.

Which says to me that if anyone's interested in anyone else, it's Shep who's interested in Teyla, but Teyla isn't interested back.

This seems to be reflected by the actors: Joe Flanigan says there's emotional tension between John and Teyla, but Rachel Luttrell doesn't seem to have a relationship preference for Teyla at this point.

Final Pairing Thoughts

None of this affects fanon, the pairings I like, or anyone's enjoyment of the show, unless you have to have your pairing canon. This is just the way I'm reading the episode cues.

Comments

[goddess09807.livejournal.com]

You made sense ;)I definitely, definitely agree with you on the fact that Teyla has a mask on all the time and that we should pay attention to the small cracks. It's interesting 'cause I think that Teyla has control issues. She's definitely a control freak and that control is mostly directed towards herself. Since she can't control the events around her, especially concerning the wraith, she controls herself. Her emotions and her actions.

It's why Gift is one of my all time fave episodes because it gives a glimpse into Teyla's charcter and reveals her control freak tendencies. I mean, coming out of a nightmare she was still so controlled and even though throughout the episode we see cracks in her mask, she still keeps it together, and baring her little admission of nightmares to Shep, she doesn't let people in. Even in the sessions with the psychologist, she holds back.

I especially liked this part of your comment:
She has learned the value of separation, of distance, and of reservation. She has become an expert at burying her emotions, bottling up feelings, and keeping a carefully constructed mask in place no matter what happens.

But I can't help but wonder if it is not just her background that makes her wear her mask ALL THE TIME but maybe also a really bad experience regarding her letting someone in and either they hurt her or the left or died.

You know how fandom always goes on on how John has commitement/intimacy issues? I think Teyla is the one with the intimacy issues.

Also, while I am a Shep/Teyla shipper (and a Rodney/Teyla shipper), I actually think that she is a bit more reserved with Shep most of the time.

[tielan]

You know how fandom always goes on on how John has commitement/intimacy issues?

I don't think John has committment or intimacy issues so much as abandonment issues.

[goddess09807.livejournal.com]

as abandonment issues

Those too!

[snoggingpicard.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow you're awesome!!!

"She's definitely a control freak and that control is mostly directed towards herself."

How right you are. She even says this to Shep in the first episode when she tells him that she and her people do their best to control everything in their lives that they can since so much of who they are is taken away from them by the Wraith. Teyla is the living embodiment of that, and I think that her position as a leader and example to the Athosians only increases this need to be in control and show this control to others. I think she has come to value this aspect of herself, and wouldn't quite know what to do with herself if she had to let her emotions constantly run free. I don't think she's the sort of person that has to always be in control of others, but you were definitely right when you said that she feels she always needs to be in control of herself. I think this attitude is partly because she feels more comfortable with this control and partly because she feels that it is her duty and obligation as a leader to have this emotional hold on herself.

"But I can't help but wonder if it is not just her background that makes her wear her mask ALL THE TIME but maybe also a really bad experience regarding her letting someone in and either they hurt her or the left or died."

Wow. This is a really, really good idea. I hope we get to look more into all of the characters' backgrounds next season, particularly Teyla's. I think that she harbors a lot of bad experiences and pain, and that not all of it is due to the influence of the Wraith and the loss of her father. She is such a closed book, that I wonder what it will take for her to open up to someone about a part of her past and just how much she will reveal when that time comes. She has clearly had a very painful past, but I feel that it might not all be explained by the most obvious reasons. This is a very interesting concept and could well explain why she feels the need to maintain such control over herself, emotionally and physically. This would also lend itself very well to why she seems to distance herself from those that she is close to -- Sheppard being one of them. She does have intimacy issues, and she does have difficulty getting truly comfortable with someone else and recieving their affection in return. Again, hopefully something that we'll see addressed next season.

[goddess09807.livejournal.com]

Thanks your awesome too!

I really hope that they do explore Teyla's character in S3, though at this point I don't really have much faith in TPTB.

In the meantime, I hope that fic writers, *cough*Tielan*cough* could come up with and write some backstory for Teyla. Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Also about her keeping herself and especially her emotions in check, it's a beautiful contrast to Rodney. Rodney wears his heart on his sleeve and does let his emotions guide him whereas Teyla keeps hers bottled up inside and tries so hard to choose with her head rather than her heart. It doesn't always work though.
It's part of why I just adore interactions between Rodney and Teyla. They're just so different but I think they have/could have a really special, tender relationship (friendship or otherwise) and she does understand him.

[snoggingpicard.livejournal.com]

I really like their scenes together too. They complement each other very, very well and I always look forward to their interaction. Does that make me a bad shipper? ;) Nah...I'm a multi-shipper personally, so yeah, more Rodney/Teyla scenes would be great.

[astropoet.livejournal.com]

I agree, much as I have a liking for Ronon/Teyla, I do have a very big soft-spot for Rodney/Teyla - I really hope that in future, rather than go the completely shippy route and concentrate on one pairing, we get episodes where the relationships between different characters are explored. Like Rodney and Teyla being stuck in a cave or something and having to work together to get out and that process developing their relationship.