Teyla is bringing Dr. Keller to spend some time with her people for checkups and general merriment. As they head to the gate, Sheppard, simultaneously standing and lounging (how does he do that?) on the balcony, teases Teyla about being dressed for a "hot date" and calls Teyla and Keller "you kids." John is so gay it hurts sometimes.
Walking in the woods from the gate to the village, Teyla tries to carry Keller's stuff (she overpacked, including bringing an entire fishtank container of lollipops for the kids), but Keller insists on carrying it herself. Next scene, Teyla is carrying it. Heh.
Keller grinningly asks if Sheppard was right about the hot date. At this point I create an interpretation whereby Keller is essentially asking "Am I getting laid?", but upon further reflection I don't think that is really the case. Read on...
When they arrive, they find the village abandoned. Teyla is afraid the Wraith have found the planet, but then they see some big lunky guys--kind of Orc-like--and realize they're the threat. Teyla hears the call to "the hunt" and tells Keller it is imperative that they stay alive until their Atlantis check-in time the next day.
Keller freaks out, saying she's not like Teyla, can't fight, and is bad at survival. She also twists her ankle at one point. I wonder if this episode was originally written for Sheppard and McKay.
Teyla is kind, sage, and encouraging at first, but grows weary with Keller's constant can't-do attitude. When they reach a rope bridge and Keller says she can't cross it (despite Teyla's assurance that it is safe) because she has "an inner ear thing," Teyla snaps that she can just stay behind, then, and walks across without her. Whoa! It takes a lot to break Teyla's patience. But it's true that patience wasn't really helping.
This is when I understand that this episode isn't about established relationship femslash and it isn't (inner ear thing notwithstanding) a rewritten Sheppard and McKay episode. It's too tame, too basic for Sheppard and McKay. They've gone through this kind of thing and McKay bitches and moans but he knows he can do amazing things and he and Sheppard work together like a well-oiled machine. (Very well-oiled, I sometimes think.) Teyla and Keller have a Sheppard and McKay vibe, superficially, but it's Sheppard and McKay without the love. Without the years of experience working together, facing danger side-by-side, trusting each other to get the job done. This isn't an episode that relies on that kind of relationship existing; it's an episode about developing that kind of relationship from the ground up.
Anyway, Keller slips off the bridge (it doesn't snap! unbelievably) and dangles, yelping, until a strong hand grabs hers and pulls her up... Teyla! Heroic music. Jeez. Even I'm in love with Teyla now.
Keller thinks it's encouraging that they haven't found any bodies, but Teyla hints that the Uruk-Hai or whatever the names of the orcs are eat their victims. Great. This is at least the second show where Jewel Staite has had to run from Reavers. (I don't remember it happening on Space Cases, but I wouldn't discount it.)
Teyla gets a badass stick/knife/mace fight with the orcs made all the more awesome by her long, Ronon-esque, date night jacket.
Holy Wow Freaking Teyla! One of the guys from her fight runs, so after quickly asking if Keller's all right, she runs him down and I think she's going to interrogate him about her people but no, she just wanted to crush his windpipe. Just as she returns, Keller is clutching a dagger, looking terrified, as one of the thought-to-be-vanquished enemies stirs. Teyla just takes the dagger, walks up, and slits the guy's throat as Keller turns her head away instinctively and then slowly looks back with this look of pure horror. Like, not just, I was almost killed, but Who is this merciless machine I'm travelling with?
With Teyla's day-to-day kindness and civility on base, it's not always clear that when the chips are down she will do what she has to do, and it's nice that we're getting to see that side of her through the eyes of a newcomer. Because we don't really know her much better than Keller does, and it's about time they awesomed her up a bit. (Especially when they still write lines for her like earlier tonight's "I know this is something for which you were not prepared." Sheesh.)
They find a man (not an orc) tied up and bleeding and Keller insists on treating his wound even though Teyla wants to leave him and look out for numbers 1 and 2 because he is not one of her people. For a diplomatic person, Teyla is capable of being very us vs. them. I'm tempted to say that the side of her we're seeing now is actually at odds with what we've seen of her before--generally being the compassionate one in the group--but (a) being the compassionate one in the group of Sheppard, McKay, and Ronon isn't anything to write home about and (b) it's certainly possible that she changes when she goes into Survival Mode. Interesting.
Rescued guy tells them he's Genii, had been spying on the Athosians, but then they were all culled when the orcs--Wraith-worshippers--tipped the Wraith off to their location. Man, really? It's about goddamn time. Uh, sorry. I mean, what about Halling! NOOOOOOO!
Nice scene between Teyla and Keller where Teyla compares Keller's overcautious fear to a friend's, and Keller assumes she is talking about McKay, but Teyla says it's one of the dead Athosians. We get positive confirmation that it was Teyla's sweetheart. So Sheppard's "hot date" remark must have been rooted in his knowledge of Teyla's private affairs from their weekly gabfests.
We see one of the orcs lurking around sucking on a lollipop. Heh.
FINALLY, a cut to Atlantis. McKay and Sheppard are walking down the hall, playing a game where McKay gives Sheppard the name of an actor and Sheppard has to come up with the villain they played. OMG such geeks, such friends. *adores*
Interesting scene where, after Teyla suggests abandoning the dying man, Keller--apparently correctly--deduces that Teyla wouldn't do such a thing just to save herself and that she is being extra careful in order to protect Keller from capture.
Ultimately she fails as they are ambushed by a ton of orcs. Tied-up-in-a-cage scene where Teyla asks Keller where she's from (Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin) and about her life back home. It has all the earmarks of slash, it really does, and while I think Keller could well come out of this worshiping Teyla, I don't get the feeling that Teyla feels the same way. While in theory you would think Teyla would like the role of protector, she still seems to find Keller a nuisance--not that she for a moment questions her duty to protect her, or wishes she didn't have it. Although Keller has displayed some strength and doctor-competency during this adventure, Teyla hasn't come to respect her as an equal.
Besides, she is, I guess, straight.
Interesting twist--the head orc tells Keller, "I am willing to spare her life, if you tell us everything." So Keller, who has spent the whole episode self-focused--can I do this? will I survive this?--is placed in a position of responsibility for her protector! She doesn't talk, but she comes back to the cage with a split lip. Aw, poor Keller.
Is the Genii guy's name "Meeble"?
As the orcs go to investigate the arrival of the men of Atlantis, the Genii guy rescues Teyla and Keller from the remaining orc babysitters. Then he turns around and knocks Teyla down and holds a gun on Keller, demanding the gate address of Atlantis. Keller figures he isn't really Genii, and stalls for time. She even ends up holding her own in a hand-to-hand with him, and recovering the gun. He taunts that she doesn't have it in her to kill him, so she shoots him in the leg.
Sheppard, McKay and Ronon arrive just in time as the orcs close in again. For wrap-up, Teyla recovers in the hospital, and alarms John by speaking of vengeance. She wants to get out of bed, but Keller says, "You're on my turf now, so you have to listen to me." There's some of that role reversal I was craving.
We end on Keller telling Teyla, "I've looked over your test results. There's something we need to talk about." Oh Lord, THIS storyline is starting.
Hm. I normally wouldn't give three stars to an episode with hardly any Sheppard nor McKay, but on the other hand, what we DID see of them was great. So there you are. ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zelempa
no subject
on 2007-11-11 08:03 pm (UTC)There was NO NEED for a cliffhanger when everyone watching knows what the reveal is and if they don't, it's going to be a bit of a letdown seeing as it's not really up there with some of the weirdness that goes down in this show.
If I have to pick a word to describe John and Rodney, henceforth it will always be 'well-oiled'. Mm. Yes. Definitely.
no subject
on 2007-11-12 04:05 pm (UTC)Which I guess is somewhat true...
Hee. :D