You know, last year, when episodes leaked ahead of time, I tried to be the best I could possibly be (aside from not watching them, which would clearly have been beyond my willpower). I didn't post about them, didn't pass around links -- clamped down on all my fannish impulses, squeed quietly by myself and waited for the rest of the world to see them.

This year ... feh. I try to be a good fan, I really do; I buy the episodes on iTunes *and* on DVD; but I've been waiting months and it's not MY fault if they keep tempting me beyond endurance and ... I want to post about it, darn it!

Oh my show, my silly silly space show. I ♥ ♥ ♥ YOU SO MUCH.

Rodney delivered Teyla's baby. RODNEY DELIVERED TEYLA'S BABY. Sadly, I was spoiled for this just last night watching the 30-second preview. Had I only known! But I don't really care, because RODNEY DELIVERED TEYLA'S BABY. You know, if Mallozzi and Gero had come knocking on my door and had said, "Layla, what would you like to see in Season 5 of SGA that hasn't happened yet, no matter how unlikely?" ... aside from "realistic alien cultures", I would probably have said "Rodney delivering Teyla's baby". But I doubt if I'd even have bothered listing it on a Season 5 wishlist, because ... what are the odds of THAT happening?

Pretty good, apparently! And once again, I'm so pleased with how they've handled Teyla's whole pregnancy and, now, childbirth. They've kept her Teyla -- still capable and self-possessed and believably herself, even while delivering a baby on a hiveship. And I liked the childbirth scene -- okay, I did find myself trying really hard not to think about where the placenta got off to, but all in all, for a TV childbirth scene, it was at least passingly realistic and they kept Teyla in-character, which was what I was most worried about. None of my worst fears about the Teyla-baby storyline have come true; it was a (relatively) normal pregnancy and a (relatively) normal baby ("relatively"="by Stargate-verse standards") and they got baby AND mother back safe and sound! SQUEE!

And there was SO MUCH ELSE! All the Ronon-and-John-in-the-ruins stuff, their macho-ness and rough boy-affection and "stay with me!" and most of all their "last" stand ... and John's "McKay's alive?" to Keller with his heart in his eyes (because he hadn't even dared to ask when they rescued him about the fate of anyone in the ruins he cared about -- oh, John!) ... and FORD!!!!!! ... and John running around half-dead trying to rescue Teyla while the rest of his team tries to watch out for him (Rodney seeing right through him -- because his lousy people skills are only lousy with people who aren't John -- and Ronon's "You don't have to do everything yourself!" ♥) ... and Teyla so brave and trying so hard not to go into labor and knowing that her team would come for her ... and naming her baby after John ... and Rodney bringing Teyla the world's dorkiest bouquet of flowers ...

... and, uh, I just realized, in enumerating my squee, that we never saw what happened to Kanaan. Er. What? Last we saw, he was showing the team to safety and then ... nothing. Um. That's, er, kind of a major loose end there. I can't help thinking there should have been another scene that got cut. There were lots and lots of places where it would have been nice to have a little bit more, but nowhere else that was plot-critical in quite that way.

(Also, didn't the name of Teyla's father used to be Tagan?)

*distacts self with squee* JOHN WITH CUDDLY BABY AND DOPEY "I HAVE A BABY" EXPRESSION. DESERVES CAPSLOCK. OMG.

Anyway.

This episode was total FANFIC, all the way. And unabashedly space-opera enough that I really didn't care about nitpicky plot details such as two USAF colonels letting an injured soldier and two mildly injured civilians single-handedly pull off a rescue operation when they have a whole ship full of uninjured, trained soldiers whose job it is to do that stuff. I mean, really, IT MAKES NO SENSE but I'm so easy -- I don't care as long there are awesome space explosions (the hyperdrive window winking out when they shot Michael's ship made me gasp! I love f/x that surprise me) and John being self-sacrificing and Rodney delivering a baby and TEAMY TEAM all over the place. And cute baby! Baby with Rodney! And baby with John! Why does guy+cute baby never get old? The only thing we didn't really get was Ronon+cute baby, but he got to carry Teyla+cute baby around for awhile, so I guess it all evens out.