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I have mixed feelings about this episode.
On one hand, it's a pretty good 'team' episode - or about as team-y as it gets these days. Lots of John, lots of Rodney, and a bit of everyone else.
On the whole, it was good. Lots of action, lots of drama, lots of ohnoes moments. Bringing Atlantis back to Earth was a neat idea; guest starring half the Earth military guest stars was also kinda cool.
Overall, one of the better episodes, but...it felt too brief and squished to be a "final episode" for the series. It needed to be part of a broader arc, the way the ending for SG1 S8 was - building up to something big.
I liked it. I have issues with it, of course, but it's rewatchable.
I expect a lot of people will go "awww" at Woolsey's talk to Teyla and Ronon, but miss what the talk actually highlights, quite obviously. Within the show and outside of it, people talk a lot about being a team, but very few people write Teyla and Ronon as though they're valuable for their skills. This tends to happen a lot with Teyla more than Ronon - because Ronon's big and growly and useful for carrying things and scaring the locals. Teyla is...well, background to most people. She doesn't have a 'niche' and so she's not allowed to do anything that might intrude on someone else's 'niche' - never mind that she's capable in all the fields as needed. She can give orders to military personnel, she can be technologically capable, she can intimidate (hell, she did intimidating while she was pregnant), she can be the peacekeeper.
They're valuable for who they are - Teyla and Ronon...but they're never given a chance to be valuable.
Do you get what I'm saying?
In "Enemy At The Gate" I'm a little confused why they didn't use Teyla in the scenes with Todd. Didn't she broker the Wraith Alliance? So shouldn't she be doing some talking with Todd as the rep from Atlantis? They really did shaft Rachel Luttrell this season. And, yes, I'm bitter that Joe Mallozzi and just about everyone else doesn't really care that they did - that this is considered acceptable by the writers and the fandom.
As a John/Teyla fan...Rachel took a very broad interpretation of "together at the end of the show". They're standing together, anyway. And it's pretty clear that Rodney has Keller, and Ronon has Amelia, so... Yes, very much stretching it.
I've had people tell me my shippy expectations were too high for Stargate. I'm very aware of that. But, hey, with the opening scene of this season, tell me that I was wrong to hope. Think about your own OTP having a glass of wine by candlelight or having the moment John and Teyla did in Rising, and tell me that I was 100% wrong and stupid to even hope that there'd be a John/Teyla ending to this show.
Final Words
As an episode of Stargate, it was fine.
As a season ender, it was pretty good.
As a series ender...it felt like it needed more time to really draw out the tension. It feels like they didn't plan for that to be the final episode.
Like I said. Mixed feelings. Maybe someday I'll come back and watch it with greater pleasure. Maybe not.
It could have been worse, but then...it could have been better, too.
And that's my thoughts on the matter.
On one hand, it's a pretty good 'team' episode - or about as team-y as it gets these days. Lots of John, lots of Rodney, and a bit of everyone else.
On the whole, it was good. Lots of action, lots of drama, lots of ohnoes moments. Bringing Atlantis back to Earth was a neat idea; guest starring half the Earth military guest stars was also kinda cool.
Overall, one of the better episodes, but...it felt too brief and squished to be a "final episode" for the series. It needed to be part of a broader arc, the way the ending for SG1 S8 was - building up to something big.
I liked it. I have issues with it, of course, but it's rewatchable.
I expect a lot of people will go "awww" at Woolsey's talk to Teyla and Ronon, but miss what the talk actually highlights, quite obviously. Within the show and outside of it, people talk a lot about being a team, but very few people write Teyla and Ronon as though they're valuable for their skills. This tends to happen a lot with Teyla more than Ronon - because Ronon's big and growly and useful for carrying things and scaring the locals. Teyla is...well, background to most people. She doesn't have a 'niche' and so she's not allowed to do anything that might intrude on someone else's 'niche' - never mind that she's capable in all the fields as needed. She can give orders to military personnel, she can be technologically capable, she can intimidate (hell, she did intimidating while she was pregnant), she can be the peacekeeper.
They're valuable for who they are - Teyla and Ronon...but they're never given a chance to be valuable.
Do you get what I'm saying?
In "Enemy At The Gate" I'm a little confused why they didn't use Teyla in the scenes with Todd. Didn't she broker the Wraith Alliance? So shouldn't she be doing some talking with Todd as the rep from Atlantis? They really did shaft Rachel Luttrell this season. And, yes, I'm bitter that Joe Mallozzi and just about everyone else doesn't really care that they did - that this is considered acceptable by the writers and the fandom.
As a John/Teyla fan...Rachel took a very broad interpretation of "together at the end of the show". They're standing together, anyway. And it's pretty clear that Rodney has Keller, and Ronon has Amelia, so... Yes, very much stretching it.
I've had people tell me my shippy expectations were too high for Stargate. I'm very aware of that. But, hey, with the opening scene of this season, tell me that I was wrong to hope. Think about your own OTP having a glass of wine by candlelight or having the moment John and Teyla did in Rising, and tell me that I was 100% wrong and stupid to even hope that there'd be a John/Teyla ending to this show.
Final Words
As an episode of Stargate, it was fine.
As a season ender, it was pretty good.
As a series ender...it felt like it needed more time to really draw out the tension. It feels like they didn't plan for that to be the final episode.
Like I said. Mixed feelings. Maybe someday I'll come back and watch it with greater pleasure. Maybe not.
It could have been worse, but then...it could have been better, too.
And that's my thoughts on the matter.
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Admittedly, they had time to prepare for it, to develop it. On the other hand, they had two months from the announcement of the cancellation, and I figure they could at least have made it a two-parter.
I don't think they've ever remembered that it's an ensemble show. They've certainly done Rachel Luttrell a huge disservice by relegating her character to "irrelevant and useless" status in the show.
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I'm mostly bitter about the fact that Teyla got background status while they moved Keller to center stage (maybe partly based on the Rodney/Keller angle). That annoyed me quite a lot, especially when they never gave Beckett the same kind of screen time that they gave Keller. *shrugs* I just don't understand it. Again, I don't hate this last season (though I haven't seen most of it), I'm just disappointed by the writers/show runners treatment of it.
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But they included both Zelenka and Keller in the story.
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I was quite miffed that they wasted the possibility of a nice John/Teyla moment at the end with having Rodney say, like, the lamest line that seemed completely cheesy and out-of-character. *rolls eyes*
ETA - I'm extremely glad that Ronon didn't stay dead though. I've joked before that if they ever killed him off I would be DONE with the show. Funny that they did a fakeout of it in the final ep...
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Mostly, I'm cheesed off that it's gotten to the point where they're not just "unable to find space" for Teyla (and Ronon) in the show, but seem to be actively avoiding using the character(s) or giving her anything more than the Greek Chorus lines or backup-support.
Well, I did initially think it was for realz...but then I remembered the final scene, which was released before the episode came out. So, not dead after all.
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Yes, this is what disappointed me about the finale and about the last season in general.
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Admittedly, they had time to prepare for it, to develop it. On the other hand, they had two months from the announcement of the cancellation, and I figure they could at least have made it a two-parter.
I don't think they've ever remembered that it's an ensemble show. They've certainly done Rachel Luttrell a huge disservice by relegating her character to "irrelevant and useless" status in the show.
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I'm mostly bitter about the fact that Teyla got background status while they moved Keller to center stage (maybe partly based on the Rodney/Keller angle). That annoyed me quite a lot, especially when they never gave Beckett the same kind of screen time that they gave Keller. *shrugs* I just don't understand it. Again, I don't hate this last season (though I haven't seen most of it), I'm just disappointed by the writers/show runners treatment of it.
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But they included both Zelenka and Keller in the story.
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I was quite miffed that they wasted the possibility of a nice John/Teyla moment at the end with having Rodney say, like, the lamest line that seemed completely cheesy and out-of-character. *rolls eyes*
ETA - I'm extremely glad that Ronon didn't stay dead though. I've joked before that if they ever killed him off I would be DONE with the show. Funny that they did a fakeout of it in the final ep...
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Mostly, I'm cheesed off that it's gotten to the point where they're not just "unable to find space" for Teyla (and Ronon) in the show, but seem to be actively avoiding using the character(s) or giving her anything more than the Greek Chorus lines or backup-support.
Well, I did initially think it was for realz...but then I remembered the final scene, which was released before the episode came out. So, not dead after all.
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Yes, this is what disappointed me about the finale and about the last season in general.