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The Last Man
So ... SGA fandom. Honestly, I've hit that point where I've started to waver on it; I'm still writing fic (I've still got my entries for the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ronon_love ficathon and sga_genficathon due, as well as sg_rarepairings prompt battle, though I'm leaning more towards SG-1 and crossover prompts on that one), and I'll continue to watch, but my enthusiasm is winding down now that that first flush of new fandom love is gone. Which is fine; I have plenty of fandoms to keep me occupied, and it's not like I ever really leave a fandom, anyway.
Let's cue obligatory thoughts about The Last Man. Pretty much every reaction post I've read has either been "hated it" or "loved it." And I liked it. There were bits that I loved, because I'm easy that way, and bits that I chose to gloss over so I could get back to my general enjoyment. But there's one thing that really started to bug me once I had time to sit down and think about it, and that's Teyla.
At first, I was happy. It was imperative that John go back in time, because Teyla died. And I had quite a few minutes to consider just how awesome that was. Then it became all-too-apparent (and was something I knew anyway, but was happy for it to remain implicit) that Teyla's death was not the problem; it was merely the first of many problems, and the real reason it was a problem at all wasn't because of Teyla herself, or because of what she meant to the expedition, but because of what her baby meant to Michael. So, really, it's the baby that needs to be rescued, and it'd be nice if we saved Teyla, too.
Those thoughts are not quite as nice as the ones I originally had in my head, but I could deal. It's the Everyone Dies episode; her death was not (and could not be) any more important than the death of anyone else. I'm totally on board with that, really. And I didn't start getting weird about the episode until, when reading others' reaction posts, my mind flashed on the utterly disposable (and off-camera) nature of her death.
Because, on first viewing, there's nothing inherently wrong with it. Okay, yes, she's Teyla, and she's a member of the team, and her death (even a fake-out death) should actually be dramatic and a thing of consequence, but okay, it was a fake-out death, and at this point, we're still seeing everything from the POV of Rodney and the expedition. For them, it did happen off-screen, and it probably came across as cruel and pointless and arbitrary to them as it did to the audience. And that's okay; it's a choice I can get behind. Except, then, here's the thing: the episode is not, in fact, told from Rodney's (or anyone's) POV. We get to see the final moments of Sam and Ronon's deaths, which were lovely, and I can readily accept that, in those moments, we are no longer within the narrative that Rodney is relating to John, but are able to see outside that, to give those deaths the sense of poignancy and fatalism they rightly deserved. And it was only when I noticed others pointing out the slight weirdness of that, and completed my own rationalisation, that I could see what was wrong here: if Sam and Ronon get their heroic last moments, if we get to see the way that Sam is practically radiant (admittedly, from the proximity of soon-to-be fatal explosions) and Ronon's frankly awesome expression as he pushes the button, where was Teyla's? If we get to experience these moments, despite them being clearly outside any scope of the supposed narrator's possible knowledge, if we aren't restricted to an objective, single third party POV, where the fuck was Teyla's death scene? If we can see through characters' eyes other than Rodney's, if we get to see their dying breaths and why they happened and what they meant - why was Teyla's death (which, considering that the thing they need to do is save Teyla and stop her child from falling into Michael's hands, may just have been the most important death of anyone's) relegated to finding her corpse on the floor of an empty factory? Give me one reason why we couldn't have seen that death, other than the fact that Teyla is approximately a million months pregnant and therefore apparently a delicate flower, and they just couldn't come up with anything remotely cool for her to do, and I really could have ended this season (reasonably) happy.
On the brighter side, I'm currently watching The West Wing from the beginning, which I haven't done since it was, like, on TV (and still haven't seen at least the last half of the series), and it's making me ridiculously happy. Like, I love these people. I love this show! And it's just ... yes. And JOSH/DONNA!!!, because I shipped them way before I knew what the hell shipping was, or that you were allowed to do it to characters who weren't (obviously) going to end up together, and way before I encountered this great huge thing called fandom, and now that I'm in fandom, and watching this show, I just ... can't articulate. Fittingly, or not. So very, very happy.
ronon_love ficathon and sga_genficathon due, as well as sg_rarepairings prompt battle, though I'm leaning more towards SG-1 and crossover prompts on that one), and I'll continue to watch, but my enthusiasm is winding down now that that first flush of new fandom love is gone. Which is fine; I have plenty of fandoms to keep me occupied, and it's not like I ever really leave a fandom, anyway.Let's cue obligatory thoughts about The Last Man. Pretty much every reaction post I've read has either been "hated it" or "loved it." And I liked it. There were bits that I loved, because I'm easy that way, and bits that I chose to gloss over so I could get back to my general enjoyment. But there's one thing that really started to bug me once I had time to sit down and think about it, and that's Teyla.
At first, I was happy. It was imperative that John go back in time, because Teyla died. And I had quite a few minutes to consider just how awesome that was. Then it became all-too-apparent (and was something I knew anyway, but was happy for it to remain implicit) that Teyla's death was not the problem; it was merely the first of many problems, and the real reason it was a problem at all wasn't because of Teyla herself, or because of what she meant to the expedition, but because of what her baby meant to Michael. So, really, it's the baby that needs to be rescued, and it'd be nice if we saved Teyla, too.
Those thoughts are not quite as nice as the ones I originally had in my head, but I could deal. It's the Everyone Dies episode; her death was not (and could not be) any more important than the death of anyone else. I'm totally on board with that, really. And I didn't start getting weird about the episode until, when reading others' reaction posts, my mind flashed on the utterly disposable (and off-camera) nature of her death.
Because, on first viewing, there's nothing inherently wrong with it. Okay, yes, she's Teyla, and she's a member of the team, and her death (even a fake-out death) should actually be dramatic and a thing of consequence, but okay, it was a fake-out death, and at this point, we're still seeing everything from the POV of Rodney and the expedition. For them, it did happen off-screen, and it probably came across as cruel and pointless and arbitrary to them as it did to the audience. And that's okay; it's a choice I can get behind. Except, then, here's the thing: the episode is not, in fact, told from Rodney's (or anyone's) POV. We get to see the final moments of Sam and Ronon's deaths, which were lovely, and I can readily accept that, in those moments, we are no longer within the narrative that Rodney is relating to John, but are able to see outside that, to give those deaths the sense of poignancy and fatalism they rightly deserved. And it was only when I noticed others pointing out the slight weirdness of that, and completed my own rationalisation, that I could see what was wrong here: if Sam and Ronon get their heroic last moments, if we get to see the way that Sam is practically radiant (admittedly, from the proximity of soon-to-be fatal explosions) and Ronon's frankly awesome expression as he pushes the button, where was Teyla's? If we get to experience these moments, despite them being clearly outside any scope of the supposed narrator's possible knowledge, if we aren't restricted to an objective, single third party POV, where the fuck was Teyla's death scene? If we can see through characters' eyes other than Rodney's, if we get to see their dying breaths and why they happened and what they meant - why was Teyla's death (which, considering that the thing they need to do is save Teyla and stop her child from falling into Michael's hands, may just have been the most important death of anyone's) relegated to finding her corpse on the floor of an empty factory? Give me one reason why we couldn't have seen that death, other than the fact that Teyla is approximately a million months pregnant and therefore apparently a delicate flower, and they just couldn't come up with anything remotely cool for her to do, and I really could have ended this season (reasonably) happy.
On the brighter side, I'm currently watching The West Wing from the beginning, which I haven't done since it was, like, on TV (and still haven't seen at least the last half of the series), and it's making me ridiculously happy. Like, I love these people. I love this show! And it's just ... yes. And JOSH/DONNA!!!, because I shipped them way before I knew what the hell shipping was, or that you were allowed to do it to characters who weren't (obviously) going to end up together, and way before I encountered this great huge thing called fandom, and now that I'm in fandom, and watching this show, I just ... can't articulate. Fittingly, or not. So very, very happy.
no subject
But eeeeeeee, West Wing! I'm doing a S1 rewatch at the moment as well, and I just-- they make me so happy and I love them and they're so funny and smart and messed up and amazing. I just curl up and want to live in those episodes with those people forever.
no subject
And OMG yes, Ronon - I just loved his scene, because Jason Momoa really played the hell out of it, and he was so damn adorable and serene and hopeful and fatalistic and resigned and proud, and just, guh.
I love West Wing so much, and I really need the entire series on DVD, like, now, and I love the way it isn't so wrapped up in its own cleverness that it forgets to be about people, because really, I love these people.
no subject
I can think of two. :) And of course, you may take them or leave them. (I don't think I'm fanwanking, but... sometimes it's hard for me to tell.)
The first is logistical. It's not that Teyla was pregnant, it's that Rachael Luttrell was pregnant. I can understand if she didn't want to do a lot of physical stunts that far along into her pregnancy. Plus, the death is supposed to occur after the birth, and I'm not sure how they could have swung it with a heavily pregnant actress.
The second is more to the story. Sam's death and Ronon's death are not going to come close to occurring if Teyla gets rescued. However, Teyla's death is supposed to happen anytime now (hence John's panic about moving as quickly as possible on his intel).
I'm betting that the season opener (pure guess work, no spoiler knowledge) will have a redux of Teyla's death scene, but this time something changes that allows her to escape. Since they're going to retread that ground, they didn't put much detail there in the first place. Which is not true of either Sam's or Ronon's deaths.
That's my thinking so far anyway.
no subject
I'm betting that the season opener (pure guess work, no spoiler knowledge) will have a redux of Teyla's death scene, but this time something changes that allows her to escape. Since they're going to retread that ground, they didn't put much detail there in the first place. Which is not true of either Sam's or Ronon's deaths.
That's my (charitable) thinking right now; if it doesn't happen, I reserve the right to remain pissed.
As for the other point ... Rachel gave birth in October; I'm not sure exactly how far ahead episodes are filmed, but it was my assumption that, by the time this episode was filmed, she was no longer pregnant. If I'm wrong, then that's totally a valid reason, and her RL pregnancy was the major reason I wasn't too annoyed at the lack of Teyla kicking ass this season, but if she wasn't pregnant - unless they do plan to do a redux (and if so, I think it still could have been cooler first to see the tragic death scene, and then to see it averted) - there's really no excuse at all, other than "oops, out of ideas, but whatever."
no subject
Oh, absolutely. I'll be right there with you (with the added exasperation of being wrong *g*).
As for the other point ... Rachel gave birth in October; I'm not sure exactly how far ahead episodes are filmed, but it was my assumption that, by the time this episode was filmed, she was no longer pregnant.
That's a good point. I kind of assumed filmed as shown (especially with a real live pregnancy to work into the continuity), but I could very easily be wrong on that. Once again, next season will either have me singing the "I was right!" song, or doing the sadder and more frustrating (for me, anyway) "Gah!" version. ;)