Discussion of The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter Six

Join Maggie and Cam in their irrational hatred and fear of Tom Bombadil. He shows up at just the right time and offers our heroes exactly what they need. It's suspicious – and he speaks in nonsense words and sings about himself in third person. Oh and he might be a wizard, whose convenient little house in the clearing of an evil wood gives Cam some strong Hansel and Gretel vibes. Horrifying. In this episode, we break down all of our suspicions about Tom. We also unpack the numerous similarities between this chapter and the spooky journey through Mirkwood in The Hobbit. That adventure was a highlight of Bilbo's story for us, but this chapter might be the first dud in The Lord of the Rings. We have a great time investigating all the expectations and echoes that led to our mutual disappointment. This episode gets a little silly.

In our Second Breakfast segment, Cam tries to figure out why some stories can thrill us while being riddled with callbacks and echoes and limiting their scope to just a few characters and locations. To illustrate this point, we talk about a few plotlines on The Office. These comparisons serve to further our main discussion about why Mirkwood works better than the Old Forest, but Cam also develops a theory about "roads less travelled" in storytelling, and the value of teasing out multiple endings. Maggie reflects on this chapter's surrealism by comparing it to another freaky and unpredictable story she's been enjoying lately, In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt. This chapter was a bit of a stinker for us, but don't worry – the episode is still fun! Plus, we get more of Terrifying Tom next week. Oh joy.

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