Join Cam and Maggie in this unfortunate Thanksgiving extravaganza. This whole chapter is spent trapped in a “penthouse” with unnerving Tolkien supervillain Tommy Dabomba. He really bounces off the walls this time in a surreal assault of singing, third person references, troubling revelations, intriguing red flag plot developments, and unending references to colors and trees. Yeah, there’s a lot of dung to sift through this week – the man enters the room solely to compliment his wife’s girdle. Because it’s a holiday, Cam decides to commit to the bit and fully argue that Fellowship is a horror book. He leads a breakdown of all the chapter’s interesting developments, which concern magic in Middle-earth, the magical pecking order of this world, and Tom’s true identity. We get some more symbolic dreams to break down too, and Maggie wonders if any of this is really happening. Maybe Tom is dead, or a ghost, or fake – or just boring.

For our Second Breakfast segment, we break down the relationship between coincidences and storytelling. To illustrate this point, we say some mean things about August Rush and Cam asks Maggie lots of leading questions. Why do they feel so artificial and disappointing? Are coincidences always lazy writing? Does fantasy get a free pass by hiding being the thin, vague veil of “magic”? All these topics are more are explored in this Tom Bombadil Blowout.

Have an observation, comment, or theory on this episode? Email us at secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com

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Discussion of The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter Seven