A Thing About "Sateda," and welcome to the spin zone.

[mylittleredgirl]

Among the ten billion favoritest things about sparktober is the part where I re-watch lots of Atlantis episodes that are less overtly Sparktacular, either because I'm looking for secret scenes or am too lazy to change the DVD or am just *overwhelmed* by my forever love of this stupid show. (If you were about to take offense at "stupid show," just remember how many times you have also yelled that at your TV while Atlantis was on. I SAY IT MOSTLY WITH LOVE.)

So I watched "Sateda"/Assassin's Creed: Pegasus last night and this is one of my favorite scenes for the whole season. (I mean, I'm sure there's no way I enjoy this as much as the Sheyla fandom enjoyed this - don't read the comments if you're feeling ship-threatened today - but just put on your spin-zone hats and go with me.)

I just love Sheppard and Teyla both so very much, and they've got a great connection on the show (OMG DON'T PANIC, PUT DOWN THAT UNFRIEND BUTTON RIGHT NOW). It pretty much always goes like this:

Sheppard: *nonsense*
Teyla: *poking him with a stick*
Sheppard: *confused*
Teyla: *bemused by this endearing weirdo Earthling*

But MORE importantly, this scene just encapsulates so much about how I see both their characters. Teyla always feels like an outsider, because she is, and I really love that the writers let her stay aware of that despite Sheppard's attempts to melting-pot her into Atlantis. (Also, it gives her a speshul bond with Ronon in addition to their sex-bond, "THANK YOU FOR RESCUING RONON," spin zone laaa.)

And Sheppard! <3 This scene feeds my Sheppard/Weir heart of hearts like crazy because it says so much about him (and god, watch this scene and then think about all the tragedies coming down the pike and just TRY not to feel for him). John sucks at feeling-things (and word-things, which is one of Elizabeth's strengths, and probably one that seems like magic to him). He expresses his love for people by actions - he'd so rather take a bullet for someone than have one of those conversations about feelings. I can't even imagine the kind of cold sweats this dude would go through before (and after!) telling Elizabeth he loves her, probably after 6 or 7 years of not figuring it out himself and giving her pottery and breaking quarantine and stuff.

Anyway, this just goes to support my theory that Teyla knows everything about everyone before they know it themselves and gets a huge charge out of all the idiot Earthlings. She and Ronon totally kick back and LOL about their Earthling teammates like 3 times an hour.

ETA: A thing I realized while looking at the related videos? Sheyla is really big in French-speaking countries. Now you know! And a thing I realized while watching "Before I Sleep" dubbed in Spanish last night (for reasons) - Sheppard/Weir is either really big in Spanish-speaking countries or the telenovela actors they've got doing the voiceovers were told they were dubbing a soap opera and are having a wild off-microphone affair.

Comments

[peanutbutterer.livejournal.com]

I always enjoy your commentaries. So insightful.

He was very awkward with the touching at the end. Is he always that awkward touching? Teyla? Elizabeth even? I don't remember. It's been too long! Obviously, it's time for an SGA rewatch. I am finally getting other ships and they are overlapping with the Sparky in my mind and that is unacceptable!

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

You were the one I could count on to remain trueeee to Atlantis and not be led astray! ;)

I don't recall him doing a lot of touching ever with the people he cares most about. Both Elizabeth and Teyla hug him at emotionally charged moments throughout the series, and he kind of freezes and barely pats their backs before he makes an escape. (WE ALL NEED TO WATCH THIS NOW OF COURSE: Siege III (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GcHoi5Ulow)) I now want a full accounting of Shep!touching throughout the series!

Off the top of my head I think of:

- Makeouts with random aliens (Chaya, Mara).
- Elizabeth hand-grabbing in "The Eye" (practical - she's in shock and he's like no seriously we should probably GTFO right now, and also, he's avoiding her *emooootions* with physical motion)
- Touching Elizabeth's arm in "The Real World" (again - practical and life-saving).
- The haaaawkward touching in the scene above, where he's pretty much crippled by having Feelings And Kind of Mentioning Them. Am I the only one who thinks that after he leaves he goes back to his quarters and takes a nap from the stress exertion of that conversation?

[peanutbutterer.livejournal.com]

I know, right? I am the one that clung to Sparky so much longer than everyone else! It was all sad and lonely in this corner during the months of November through September, though. I caved eventually.

THE HUG! How could I have forgotten The Hug? I am ashamed.

I feel like he puts his hand on her arm a lot. Like, leads her places? But maybe that's just fanon? I suppose if it were canon I'd be able to pull up a photo of it and I can't think of any (besides the Conversion strangle and TLG kiss which don't count), so it must exist entirely in my head. SAD.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

I think you might be right! Wait! Wait!

Okay I can't find the FIRST scene where John chases Elizabeth to talk about Ronon, because I think he grabs her arm then, but here's this one, where you can imagine he does below camera:

[peanutbutterer.livejournal.com]

YES! He totally grabbed her like three times right there and didn't even flinch! And she didn't react to the touching, so obviously it happens ALL THE TIME.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes!!

Although this wasn't Intense Emotional Discussion touching, so I think we can probably conclude that John sucks at feelings, and when feelings are present, he worries that physical touch will let the other person READ HIS MIND or something.

And Elizabeth is kind of multiple choice with feelings. Either she is like AVOID. SHUTDOWN MODE. or she hugs.

[peanutbutterer.livejournal.com]

She spends a lot of time with her arms crossed. The first time they touched was probably weird for both of them.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

Obviously she is crossing her arms because she is working really hard to not act flirty with him because he's adorable but also trouble, but she's totally failing and flirting hard in spite of herself.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

While I'm making spin-zoney observations, I want to propose that Teyla wears these awesome cleavage shirts without ANY IDEA that Earth dudes are like "nnnngggg boobieeees." Let's say in Athosian culture their shirts are boob-exposure-friendly because they, you know, have no birth control in the Pegasus galaxy and boobs are used a lot for practical nursing purposes. And she's just kind of amused that her awesome rack seems to make her new Earth colleagues stupid.

Are there any Earth cultures that don't fetishize breasts? This seems like something someone on my flist would know.

[peanutbutterer.livejournal.com]

Of course she does. Space Hos are just misunderstood (I say this totally not facetiously).

I think a very hefty chunk of indigenous cultures are either topless or very close to it.

And then there are all the historical periods/places/cultures. Minoans are the ones that come to mind. They wore dresses that were basically cloth everywhere EXCEPT the boobs.



It's entirely plausible that the "OMG ICKY BOOOOOBS" phenomenon didn't reach outer-space.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

LOLLLL I'm imagining Team Shep on a Minoan Fashion Planet now. John and Rodney are totally nonfunctional, Ronon is all "eh, I've seen better, let me tell you about Playboy World," and Teyla is like "For fuck's sake, will you guys just wait in the jumper?"

[peanutbutterer.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha. Perfect.

And then they come back and Elizabeth asks how it went and John and Rodney won't meet her eyes and Teyla's just like, "They saw boobs."

And Elizabeth makes some comment about it probably being the first time for both of them, and then she and Teyla go off and have tea.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

And five minutes later once the haze wears off John and Rodney are like "HEY. WE HAVE TOTALLY SEEN BOOBS BEFORE LIKE LOTS OF THEM." And John really wants Elizabeth to go negotiate there so that she will have to wear the clothes, for some reason that only makes sense in his head. Except he doesn't want that, because then other dudes will also be seeing the boobs. And he's trapped in this boob-related indecision while Teyla LOLs and Elizabeth plots how to use this to her advantage.

[peanutbutterer.livejournal.com]

And when they are proclaiming that they are well-versed in the world of boobs, and they've seen so many boobs it's crazy, really, to have seen so many boobs, Elizabeth just folds her arms and raises and eyebrow and John makes a face that clearly reads: but yours, Elizabeth, are the BEST BOOBS EVER and I will never look at another pair again I swear to god, please don't kill me.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

THIS IS AMAZING AND TOTALLY HAPPENS. And she should totally keep him all panicked about this and he's all WHERE IS 1-800-FLOWERS WHEN YOU NEED IT and eventually she breaks down and tells him to stop groveling because it's getting annoying and she really doesn't care and also the men on Fireman Stripper Calendar Planet totally walk around pantsless sometimes and she's really looking forward to negotiating with them for fire prevention services.