July 3, 2024 • 66 mins
Jessica and Kritter have finished The Two Towers and here's the Wrap Party to prove it! Listen along as they discuss the highs, the lows, and how we're one step closer to One MVP to Rule Them All!
Don’t forget to follow us at But Are There Dragons on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and But Dragons Pod, just one t, on X, formerly known as Twitter.
You can find Kritter at Kritter XD on YouTube, TikTok, and X, and at Kritter _XD on Instagram.
You can find Jessica by searching Shelf Indulgence on TikTok, Instagram, and X.
Music credit to: Frog's Theme by Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda
ReMix: Chrono Trigger "Theme of Frog's" - OC ReMix
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kritter (00:00):
where two friends pick a book at least one of them has
not read and work their waythrough it a few chapters at a
time.
I'm your host, critter, and I'myour host, jess.
And we finished the Two Towers.
Baby, this is the wrap party.
We did it, we did it.
Yeah, we did.
We have read the Hobbit, theFellowship of the Ring and now
we have completed the Two Towers, feeling pretty good.
(00:21):
How are you feeling, jess?
Jessica (00:25):
Awesome, Like a rock star.
We just did a little mentalmath backstage before we joined
you guys to try and figure outhow long it took us.
We did two towers in two monthsflat and I'm like good job,
Critter.
Kritter (00:38):
We nailed it, we did great, we really crushed it.
Okay, sorry, I just had to makesure we were actually live on
youtube and it looks like we areso nice nailed it awesome super
awesome.
Yeah, so two months timefinished it, outlined it, talked
about it, really digested it,you know, broke it into its
fundamental parts, um, and itwas really good.
(01:00):
Did you like it?
Jessica (01:02):
it was, there was so much more to it than I thought
going into it based on I thinkthat's in one of the streams I
mentioned that I consider thetwo towers to, I went into it
with a preexisting bias that thetwo hours would have like
middle child syndrome and nothave a lot going for it and but
now that we're on the other sideof it can confirm that I don't
(01:23):
feel that way anymore.
Kritter (01:25):
Yeah, I tend to agree.
No middle child syndrome wecould talk about, like the
various stages of the book,because it was structured
differently than the Fellowshipand the Hobbit.
For sure, we got our first sortof split POV by book book, which
(01:46):
was interesting, um, and in thecontext of all of this, we
ended up going to see, or, youknow, jess went and saw the
first two movies right afterhaving waited to see them this
whole time that we've beenreading them, and I went and saw
the return of the king, becauseI only went and saw one of them
whenever they were in theaters,um, and so we have like a new,
fresh look at, you know, thebooks versus the movies, which
(02:10):
is fun.
And actually, I guess return ofking had part of two towers in
it anyways, when we're talkingabout she loves.
So I did get to see part of thetwo towers, um, which was great
.
So, yeah, yeah, I guess, sincewe were starting here with
talking about our whole journey,you know, so far, hobbit
fellowship, two towers.
(02:30):
I warned you about this, but Ididn't warn you long ago.
Have you considered how youwould rate them, the three that
we've read so far?
Jessica (02:40):
So the three we would read that we've done so far.
I think that fellowship stilltakes the cake over the hobbit
by a narrow margin.
Okay, um, which surprises evenme.
I just figured that out in thatmoment, but that's how I,
that's how my heart, voted um.
Two towers, although not amiddle child, and substantially
a better book than I expected itto be, is still not as complete
(03:05):
or as engrossing as thefellowship was, although there
was some incredible action thisbook this season we did.
We saw a lot of very cool stuff.
Kritter (03:18):
Yeah, okay, I forgot what your answer was when we
talked about this last time, andso now, cause I thought I
thought we had the same answerand and now I we don't.
I'm pretty sure that my answerlast time and I stand by it is
that the Hobbit beat thefellowship.
(03:38):
For me, I think I think that'swhat I said, just cause I feel
like the Hobbit was so fun toread.
You know, it was just like a,it was just like a, just a bop,
you know, and and, but don't getme wrong, I think Fellowship is
next.
I agree with you that, like,hobbit and Fellowship are one
and two.
(03:58):
Neck and neck, I just andthey're very much neck and neck
yeah.
Jessica (04:02):
Yeah, I think that possibly.
So I am always subject torecency bias and I I admit you
know like I am, so vibes driven,it's not even funny.
So I don't doubt that I gaveone answer one day and another
answer another day.
I completely can see me doingthat.
But I would just say in mydefense, I feel more strongly
(04:24):
now about this party at the endof Two Towers because I know
them better than I did at theend of Fellowship, and I would
say that that type of recencybias is probably influencing why
now I'm saying Fellowship morethan Hobbit.
I love that Hobbit one, yes, isself-contained.
(04:45):
Uh, yes, is a bot, but also theself-contained nature, like the
Hobbit, is its own nugget.
Um, but now that I've been withthese guys, a whole nother book
, I think it might be fellowship.
Kritter (05:07):
Okay, no, honestly, like that's totally fair Cause I
do think it like two towersadding added more to the overall
story, which makes sensebecause it was written as a
singular book and it was justsplit apart to, you know,
accommodate the publishers orwhatever, um, so I do think two
towers builds on it and andthere were some really really
excellent passages from Towers,like some of my favorite stuff
in the stuff that happens inFellowship just a little more
(05:29):
overall, I also like how theparty is together and comes
(05:54):
together and builds right, it'sa fun thing to witness.
And the two towers like theparty split up, which is kind of
sad, and so I think thestructure sort of suffers not
suffers, but like I think.
I think the I like thefellowship structure better
because it's it's more of abuild, whereas two towers is
(06:14):
like this is half the story,this is the other half of the
story and it's very much likeone after the other.
Right, yeah, what are you gonnalike?
We're, I guess, both used towheel of time, for example,
where some some povs will getlike paragraphs and then they'll
jump back and forth betweenthem and so you're getting live
updates about everybody involved.
(06:35):
Sometimes that doesn't happento be fair, but sometimes it
does um, so I think that's partof why fellowship beats out two
towers for me, but only, only,only by a little bit.
Jessica (06:46):
And fellowship sets the stage so heavily.
Yeah, yeah, but two towers,absolutely.
I was not expecting the waythat two towers would really
cement how I feel and progresshow I feel about some of our
party members.
I was not expecting that somuch like I'm trying to think
(07:07):
back to fellowship honestly muchlike going together yeah, much
like going to ribbondale andhaving all of that lore dropped
on us.
Two towers gave us so muchcontext that again I felt like
really new content for me as thefirst timer.
(07:27):
That was probably theresubtextually in the iterations
that I had seen before, but Idid not get and really amplified
actions when it came.
So, learning just how politicaland Machiavellian Sauron is,
(07:50):
learning that Saruman is vyingfor himself, that there's
different factions of orcs, thatSauron has manipulated groups
of men and traded on their oldgrudges to get them to enlist,
and all of these things arereally they don't change the
(08:12):
storyline, right, you know itdoesn't change who Guajir
rescues or where Gandalf getsstranded or any of those.
It doesn't change plot points.
But I never in a million yearscounted on how much they would
amplify the read um and justmake you know some of those
really key points so much moreuh, meaningful when I got to
(08:35):
them in the story yeah, that'ssuch a good point.
Kritter (08:38):
Also, I can't believe I didn't say this, but hi, chat,
this is a live recording and, uh, and I love to see some of you
here from over from the discordaldora data luhu, uh, not all
who wonder are lost.
You guys are the real ones.
Thank you for showing up live,um, and if you're listening
(08:59):
after the fact you, it's obviousthat we're also going to post
this on the podcast eventuallyas like a bonus episode, but
it's fun to do a live recordingevery now and then.
So, hi, I know some of you arein some pretty wild time zones
to show up, so we do reallyappreciate you, we do.
Jessica (09:18):
Brother Zachariah just showed up.
Thank you guys.
Kritter (09:23):
Yeah, thank you so much for being here and for
listening to the podcast.
We appreciate all of you andthe conversations that we get to
have over on discord and thecomments on youtube and all of
that stuff.
It's been a good time readingthis and reading all of the
books so far um really has.
So I mentioned this in my mykind of overview of how I feel
about the books.
But how, how did you like ortake the?
(09:48):
The very split up nature of thebooks, like you know how we got
the Mary Pippin, gandalf,aragorn Gimli section and then
we got the Sam and Frodo section?
Did that?
Jessica (10:04):
go well for you.
Well, to your point, I'm usedto reading a book series that
you can have a POV switch perparagraph or you can not see a
POV for an entire book andeverything in between.
So I wouldn't say I wasn'tprepared for it.
It does change how the bookfeels, right.
(10:24):
It does absolutely change theride a little bit, and I think
for the better.
Honestly, like I can, Iunderstand your point that the
vibes were good when we were infellowship, we were, you know it
was very much so, by definition, about the fellowship
themselves.
And then, coming to the twotowers, to me, whether
(10:45):
intentional or not, there's somesymmetry that we have two
storylines split across thiscontrived book to simulate the
separating of the party.
So I kind of liked it.
I thought that the symmetry ofthat experience as the reader
(11:06):
was good, you know, kind ofaligned with what was happening
with the parties.
Kritter (11:10):
Yeah, it does help you get like sucked in, I guess.
Right, even though we missed orI missed Sam and Frodo at the
beginning.
Right, it was nice to just getto see what happened with the
people that we were following.
Right, without having to jumpback and forth, because it is a
fun way for some writers tocreate like cliffhangers mid
(11:31):
book.
Right, because you can stop, goto a different pov.
Just right at the moment thatyou're like, oh no, like what's
gonna happen?
Right, this tolkien's like no,we are going to, we're just
gonna, we're gonna take youright through everything that
happened yeah, we are gonna playit through.
Um, so that was nice, right,because I did miss frodo and sam
(11:52):
, but at the same time I was, Iwas invested in the first half
and then we stopped and it waslike it did amp up the payoff,
though, when we did get Frodoand Sam back.
Jessica (12:05):
So I remember you asking me pretty early on in the
first half of the book when doyou think we'll see the boys
again?
And I'm like I have no idea.
I again just so passively.
We switched into book four andI was like oh okay.
So the first book was oh okay,now I get it.
I am just so like along for theride.
(12:26):
It's not even funny sometimesbut it you know the symmetry, I
really kind of dug and I didthink that it added to the
experience in its own way and itdid make me really, really
excited to see them.
It made me very excited forthem to get reunited.
You know, once Gimli andLegolas and Aragorn got reunited
with Merry and Pippin, it madeall of that.
(12:49):
It gave me bigger buy-in forthat.
Kritter (12:53):
Okay.
So we got a comment in the chatfrom Aldora.
I wasn't a fan of the separatedPOVs, I think, sorry.
I think reading the entirefirst plot with Treebeard,
helm's Deep, saruman etc.
All done, my mind was thenready for Return of the King.
So going back felt weird.
I get you.
I tend to agree.
It's kind of like, even thoughyou didn't get the mini
(13:16):
cliffhangers which are possiblewhenever you're shifting POVs,
you did get the big cliffhangerwhich is like Gandalf's taking
pippin off into the west or offinto the wild yep, and there may
or may not be naskal followingthem and yeah, oh, like, right,
and then we have to wait for anentire half book to be yeah, I
(13:39):
know, that's what happens nextyeah, no, that's a, that's a
valid perspective, for sure.
Jessica (13:45):
Um, and also keeping in mind this is a really
jam-packed, essentially ninedays, I think we worked it out.
It really wasn't that long of astretch.
You know it's a week and a halfum, and boy did these?
Did this crew have a wild weekand a half um?
Yeah, but yeah, I, I don'tnecessarily typically like it
(14:06):
when you have to go that long,as we mentioned with that other
book series that we're both into, and I have to wait an entire
book to get a pov from acharacter I've been missing.
Kritter (14:16):
I don't like it uh-huh so this was a bit, this was a
bit drawn out, so I definitelyhear where you're coming from.
Yeah, yeah tend to agree.
Tend to agree.
Narita zaraki, welcome to thechat.
Finally caught alive, yeah well, we don't do them often.
Um, we could, but you know, atleast the end of every book, I
think, is a good balance.
(14:36):
Um, wow, I may sneeze.
Give me a moment that's okay.
Jessica (14:42):
I might take a moment to ask anybody in chat who can
remember off the top of theirhead any of the quotes from any
of the episodes.
Did you have any favorites?
Or if you had any hot MVP takes, because I do have our MVP
count up and ready to go.
So if you want to be in thatmindset and you want to troll us
(15:04):
for our choices or laud us forour choices, bring it Uh-huh.
Kritter (15:10):
Okay, Narita's saying Frodo yeah.
So if you have an overall bookMVP that you would have chosen
now that we've read the wholething, or if you didn't read, if
you'd listened because we triedto recap, we did our best Let
us know who your book MVP is andthen we can let you know what
ours was based on the votes,Because you might be pleased.
(15:35):
You might be surprised.
I'm going to keep it cageyuntil we release it.
We've got DataLooHoo hashtagSamMVP.
Okay, we've got a couple ofvotes coming in.
Jessica (15:47):
I will just to spice it up a little, tell you that we
had a total of six differentcharacters nominated for MVP
between Critter and myself.
So, of those six, you know,feel free to think about who you
think might be the winner orwho you think is the winner,
because it ultimately doesn'treally matter what I think who
you think is the winner, causeit ultimately doesn't really
matter what.
Kritter (16:05):
I think.
Yeah, there will be an official.
But are there dragons, mvp?
But everyone will have an MVPin their hearts, 100%, yeah,
gosh, okay.
So while we're, while we'rewaiting on some of the thoughts
to trickle in, I guess we cantalk about favorite parts of the
(16:28):
book, if you want to kind ofget into that like that.
Maybe that will inform who ourmvps were and I.
I have recency bias here and I'mgoing to start from the very
end, because I thought the end,the tail end of the sam and
frodo plot was just spectacular.
We got the like, we had sam andfrodo extreme bonding, we had
(16:53):
the talk about heroes, which youknow we did the, the dramatic
reading of, and then we went toshe lobes lair and got frodo
being very heroic, sam beinginsanely heroic.
I just that part, even though Ihate spiders and don't love the
idea of fighting a giant,monstrous, otherworldly spider
(17:14):
being.
That played really, really wellfor me and I love that we got
the payoff from Galadriel's filealso right, like the gift that
she had given really, truly paidoff in those moments in my
opinion.
So that was a big highlight forme from this book.
I think that those lastchapters.
What would you say?
Jessica (17:37):
one of your big highlight, I will answer, I'm
going to counter, I'm going togive you a follow-up to think on
while I answer Okay, do youthink, can you think of a thing
that you feel like you reallyenjoyed this time around that
maybe younger critter didn'tcatch or didn't give weight to?
(18:01):
percolate, percolate, percolated, yep I'm scrolling you guys, um
, so I had a lot of yeah and tocritter's point.
That end with sam and and frodois intense like boy scouts,
right, like it's really a veryheartfelt um story, part of the
story um, and very impactful asit's happening.
(18:24):
There were some other thingsthat happened in this book,
though, that I very much loved.
There were moments.
I think one of my favoritesurprises from this book was in
knowingly and the autonomy thatthis story gave them as opposed
(18:45):
to how it was represented on thescreen.
I can't, um, I like that so muchbetter, which, again doesn't
really change the the nuts andbolts of the story, but I like
that so much more and wish thatthey had kept it that way,
honestly.
Yeah, but that was huge.
(19:07):
I loved everything with treebeard.
All of that was magnificent, inmy opinion, yeah.
And then, of course, thereuniting of Legolas, gimli,
aragorn and and Pippin.
That was sweet, such likesunshine in a bottle, just such
(19:28):
good vibes.
Mary and Pippin continued toimpress me through book two, how
they are so much more than howthey were represented on the
screen.
And again, no shade to theactors who are playing them or
the way that the adaptation waswritten.
I just know so much more now.
Kritter (19:47):
Yeah.
Jessica (19:49):
And I see Dana Lou who given it up for Faramir.
Another surprise, right Likekind of Faramir is the flip side
of Thorin for me.
So Thorin was the bigdisappointment for me.
From my Hobbit read Faramir wasmy big surprise.
Faramir is so much better inthe book than I would have ever
(20:15):
given him credit for.
So I think those are some of myfavorite highlights as the
first timer on this book.
Kritter (20:22):
I think, just to jump right off of that and to answer
your question, there were acouple of favorite highlights as
the first timer on this book.
I think, just to jump right offof that and to answer your
question, there were a couple ofthings that I probably more or
less nothinged as a kid, and oneof them is I feel like I would
have remembered Faramir, becauseas an adult I read about
Faramir and I was like this manis everything Like this, is a
dreamy, wizard-like man likethat, any like.
(20:46):
He is incredible, he is noble,like Boromir, who you know what
I mean.
And I don't remember reallybeing like that into Faramir.
I think it did.
Probably when I was reading as akid I was like, okay, yeah,
like, let's just, you know whyare we stopping in this random
camp?
Right, I wanted the plot tocontinue, but as an adult, I'm
(21:07):
over here just like dang thisguy is.
He is something else, like lovehim a lot and then two, I
really think I probably nothing.
The saruman is like turning thewheels for himself, like the
politics.
I think that is something thatI just didn't really pay
attention to Cause I wasn't likewho cares, he's a bad guy.
(21:29):
They're all bad guys.
You know I don't give a crap,so I think the Saruman chapters
hit a little harder as an adultthan they did as a kid.
Cause it was.
It was more just like Ooh, thewheels are turning everywhere,
everybody's doing their thingand the plates are shifting,
whatever.
So I'd say those are the twothings, probably more than
anything else, that I really duginto more in this read than I
(21:54):
did as a kid.
Jessica (21:56):
I want to call out Aldora's comment about Legolas
and Gimli.
A hundred percent, legolas andGimli planning a vacation
together was one of my top threemoments of all time reads.
I mean not just the series LikeI, just the soft, cute boy feels
I got from.
That is beyond that and thehealing power of Rabbit Stew.
(22:20):
I think those were some of myvery favorite moments.
I do tend to get fixated onmoments that have nothing to do
with the plot and everything todo with the vibe, but I could
not get over the big, soft,squishy feels.
This gave me so 100% ahighlight.
Kritter (22:39):
Yeah, there were some real soft squishy feels in two
towers, like that's one of thereasons that I you know when I'm
rating them I'm just like gosh.
But what about the like twotowers?
It's the last.
But what about the she lobestuff?
What about sam and frodotalking about how each other
like they're heroes?
What about gimli and leglessbromancing out like all of this
stuff is so good and uh and yeah, so I, I really we've got not
(23:04):
all who wonder or lost.
I've always loved book fairmirror.
I can't believe I forgot howincredible he was that's.
Jessica (23:10):
I just didn't know what I was missing out on.
Yeah, I really, as a moviegoer,I really nothinged him as just
a second son and I have neverfelt more regret.
I was like, no, no, he'severything we love him yeah, and
I even throw back to when wehad Don on for fellowship, don
(23:33):
Marshall, obscure Lord of theFacts guy, cool dude, and him
talking about you know all thepressure that Boromir's under,
and how much.
Oh, dina Lu, is it the softsquishy center?
Kritter (23:46):
It probably is, yeah that sounds right.
Jessica (23:50):
All the pressure that Boromir is under and you know,
getting to know Boromir andFaramir's relationship really
meaningful, Just really gettinginsight and getting it from
Faramir's take.
Kritter (24:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and and it's interesting too because
we get to see like Faramir, youget hints at least of how
Faramir like actuallyunderstands Boromir Right, and
like who he is and you know, no,he knows his sibling right, so
he's not going to be like he's asaint, he's perfect.
(24:23):
He knows that he's not.
And that's a fun thing to seetoo, because in the movies it's
very much like you can tell thathe has this complex a little
bit, because Boromir's thefavorite son, right, but it
doesn't really go much fartherthan that.
But in the books he's wiserthan that, he's incredibly wise,
which is part of the reason Ilike him so much.
Jessica (24:42):
He, he's wiser than that, he's incredibly wise,
which is part of the reason Ilike him so much, and I can
totally say that with a hundredpercent sure surety now.
That that is the vibe I gotfrom how he was portrayed in the
movies.
He he looks snarly.
When he's talking to Sam andFrodo he seems malevolence,
probably a touch too strong, buthe seems far more menacing than
(25:04):
stoic.
You know what I mean.
In the read he kind of seemsstoic, reserved, holding his
cards close, which I get um,whereas in the movie he just he
seemed much more negativelyportrayed until the very end.
Kritter (25:22):
Yeah, he.
He had a stint in the movies asan antagonist, like a minor
antagonist but an antagonist.
Jessica (25:28):
But I was like did I remember that?
Did I insert that?
Did I do that?
Kritter (25:33):
No, no, they absolutely did that for sure.
So, yeah, it's, it was it.
It gave me a whole whole.
It opened my eyes again, 20years since I've read the books,
so they'll come for me.
I forgot, or just didn't evennotice, how amazing faramir was
the first time around, and thenthe movies fully corrupted me
between now and then.
(25:54):
Um, but I am back and I am afaramir stan and I will be here
to stay.
Jessica (26:01):
Uh, yeah, yeah what are some of the other?
Uh, I loved mary and pippindrinking the draft from tree
beard.
Kritter (26:11):
That was just incredible I like how all the
hobbits get like sustenance insome way, right like sam's got
his Lembas bread, mary andPippin have the Ent draft.
They're never, even though it'sperfectly sustaining, they're
always just like I'd rather havesome bread.
Jessica (26:36):
I'd rather have some potatoes, stew, whatever.
Kritter (26:42):
They're such hobbits, we never lose the hobbity factor
, which I love because, like,hobbits are just the best
creatures ever, which I thinkTreebeard came to realize, which
I think was great.
Like him, adding them to theroles of creatures was a really
fun moment and the way hedescribed them was really sweet.
I can't, I don't have it likein front of me, but it was.
(27:03):
I remember that being also veryheartwarming.
Another part of the softsquishy center, um so yeah, I'm
okay with that.
Jessica (27:12):
Maybe that's what we'll title this, this live stream
the soft squishy center ofjolteon yeah, it's because it
was.
Kritter (27:19):
It had a lot of really good vibes Granted.
Sam kind of roughened the edgesa bit when it came to his
relationship with Smeagol.
So we can't say it's allsunshine and roses.
We can't.
Jessica (27:33):
The Smeagol thing was hard.
I see Narita brings it up Sorry, no, I think it was Eldora
brought it up a little bitearlier about uh smiegel seeming
almost hobbit, like whenthey're sleeping, just before um
he, uh sam, wakes up and hashis altercation with him and
(27:53):
that.
You know, that was a reallyhard moment for me because I
don't think that that wasrepresented on the screen
anywhere, but it really feltlike a turning point in that
relationship.
But even being theself-proclaimed Smeagol stan
that I am, seeing those twofinally come to blows and have
(28:15):
at each other was was kind ofgood.
You know what I mean.
Instead of just snarling ateach other and just being
generally rotten to each other,let's go get it out of your
system.
Kritter (28:26):
Let's do this okay.
Yeah, it was.
I'd say that was probably thebiggest.
I don't want to call it adisappointment, because I think
it furthered the plot well and Ithink it was a good.
I think it added to the storyessentially.
But the thing I disliked themost was Sam's relationship with
Gollum and how angry, snarly,prickly he was toward him the
(28:55):
whole time.
And, granted, I am not a Gollumfan, I hate Gollum.
But it didn't help thesituation in any way at all and
I am a Sam Stan till the day Idie, like I am.
He is my man, but my Hobbit, Iguess.
But still, that was kind oflike a I wish that didn't happen
.
Jessica (29:15):
I think that I think we had said it during one of the
episodes.
When we were talking about it,though that that was the
tangible way in which you couldsee that Sam was carrying a
weight too.
It wasn't just Frodo who wasstruggling under the weight of
the ring.
This, to me, was a behavioralextension of the weight that the
(29:39):
quest is pressing down on himwith, and you know, gollum is
antagonizing him and jabbing athim verbally as well, too.
Kritter (29:45):
Like they are not perfect, Well, and I totally get
you know, Sam's primarydirective is protect Frodo.
Get Frodo to the finish linelike and Gollum.
While helping them to thefinish line is understandably
making him nervous, as far ashim being around is is just I
(30:07):
don't know, antecedent it's.
It's.
It's in conflict with myprimary directive, which is
protecting frodo, because Ithink at any moment he could
turn on us and and so I get it.
It's just it's hard to readbecause Sam is our little teddy
bear.
But Daniel LeHue is right inthat Sam needs to have a major
flaw he can't be perfect.
(30:27):
If he was perfect like Faramir,then you know the character
wouldn't be as deep of acharacter.
So I get it, I get it.
I just you know I'm not tryingto be fair and talk about our
likes and our dislikes, and thatwas probably my biggest dislike
of the book Understandable.
Jessica (30:50):
Understandable, I think I'm going to go ahead and give
in alphabetical order who thesix contenders are for MVP.
Okay, I'm doing this on the fly, okay.
Mvp Okay, I'm doing this on thefly, okay.
So it's Faramir Frodo, gandalfPippin, sam Treebeard Everybody
(31:14):
get that.
Those are the six contendersthat were nominated for MVPs
throughout the season.
Okay, just to give you all thatinformation.
Kritter (31:25):
There was an honorable mention at one point, correct
Technically two, Technically two.
Jessica (31:31):
So I had one and you had one.
Oh, that's right.
So if we go to episode six, youhad asked, you had said that
you thought long and hard aboutGaladriel, first because of the
file rightfully so, yeah.
And then in episode, I didn'tmark it.
(31:52):
Of course I didn't mark itbecause why would I make
meaningful notes In one of theepisodes?
I wanted to nominate both Maryand Pippin.
Couldn't do it.
I agreed with youwholeheartedly.
It's a terrible precedent toset.
So I nominated Pippin, on theunderstanding that you know he
wins by a nose because of havingthe spare pipe, as
(32:14):
representative of both Pippinand Mary vibes.
Kritter (32:18):
Yeah, so shout out to Mary and Galadriel for your
Thank you for your service,thank you for your contributions
.
Jessica (32:26):
Yeah, thank you for your contributions.
Kritter (32:27):
We appreciate you.
We see you.
I will say that Aldora is areal one and looked up the rhyme
, the Hobbit's addition into theEnt lists, and the rhyme goes.
The phrase goes Ent's theearthborn, old as mountains, the
white walkers, the wide walkers, water drinking and hungry as
hunters, the hobbit children,the laughing folk, the little
(32:50):
people just yeah, I don't knowmy heart grew three sizes there.
Yeah, thank you for sharing that.
I just love that rhyme, so orthat I don't know verse, so it's
so cute and it perfectlycaptures the essence of the
hobbits.
Jessica (33:05):
Yeah, and Eldor had an honorable mention for the rope
Totally.
Kritter (33:10):
It's important.
The rope saved them.
Without the rope, where wouldthey be?
Yeah, okay, so do we want to?
Jessica (33:18):
Yes, I'm going to let you share Me.
Okay, let me pull it up, let meget.
I've got, I've got this.
I've never shared on livestream before you guys, so we're
gonna make critter, do it, ohshare.
Kritter (33:33):
Okay, okay, okay, hold on, I gotta like try to zoom
this in because it's reallysmall, um, which I can
absolutely do.
Okay, yeah, that's pretty big.
Now, all right, sharing.
Okay, drum roll, please sharescreen.
This is gonna be fine we'redoing this we're doing it.
(33:54):
Okay, boop, where'd it go?
I'm currently sharing my screen.
Okay, there they are.
They are.
Jessica (34:00):
There they are, you guys.
So I think that somebody didcall it in chat.
I didn't mark it and I'm sorry,but somebody was on to us, yes
they were.
Oh, there's Aldora, Yep, aldora, right on the mark.
Yep, yep.
So it's not hard math, you guys.
Kritter (34:19):
I just put it on a spreadsheet and counted so you
got me um, I say that and Istill had to count it three
different times last time, so Iguess I shouldn't minimize and I
gotta like and I was wrongabout something completely, this
time we're sure because jessicadid it and I'm not gonna
question it it's a terriblechoice.
Jessica (34:39):
Never take anything I give you at face value Never.
This strikes me as correct,though, yeah, so we both voted
for Pippin on episode one.
We both voted.
We had a lot of samesies thisseason.
We did.
We both voted for Treebeard forepisode two.
Oh, aldora, I'm going to takethat with me this weekend.
(35:02):
I love that, thank you.
Episode three we were bothstanding Gandalf.
Episode four both Pippin.
We got to episode five.
Critter gave the the first timethat Frodo's gotten a shout out
, which is pretty wild.
I gave it up for Gandalf, andI'm pretty sure this one was.
(35:27):
He dropped all the lore thatled everybody, kept everybody
rolling.
Kritter (35:33):
Well, the fact that Gandalf and Frodo were in the
same episode means it was likeright at the break, right, and
so it was.
Yeah, it was Frodo takingcharge when they were climbing
down the cliffs, the Palantir.
Jessica (35:42):
So that's yeah, it was frodo taking charge when they're
like climbing down the cliff,palantir so that's what it was
the palantir, which was chapter11 in book three and chapters
one and two for book four.
That's right, um.
And then episode six we hadcritter went for faramir, I went
for frodo, we swapped forepisode seven, and then we came
(36:03):
together at the end and bothheartily shouted for Samwise.
Kritter (36:07):
Because man the end, he really came through.
Jessica (36:10):
The choices of master gam, master Samwise Gamgee, come
on.
Kritter (36:15):
Yeah, there's no disputing it was wild.
Jessica (36:19):
So yeah, this was a pretty close.
This was a pretty close seasonAll things considered.
Kritter (36:24):
Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna lie.
I I didn't like keep tally.
Obviously jessica was aspreadsheet queen as spreadsheet
mvp, whatever you want to say,um, but in my brain I assumed it
was gonna be gandalf, I think.
I just thought, you know, Ican't.
Who was it last book, do you?
Jessica (36:42):
remember?
Oh, I do not have.
Overall.
No, I'd have to go back becauseI don't.
I don't put the outcome in thespreadsheet.
We do it live.
Kritter (36:53):
Yeah, I think if I could be totally wrong, I want
to say Fellowship's MVP wasGandalf, just off the top of my
head Could be wrong, so I just Idon't know.
Jessica (37:05):
it was like gandalf, he's great, he's a leader, he,
whatever I have the mvp list forseason two, but I don't
remember because remember I hadto check the math like four
different times.
It was embarrassing legitembarrassing tie, no so I had
sam, gandalf and bilbo as spotsone, two and three.
(37:29):
Oh so it was maybe sam.
Okay, it might have been sam onfellowship.
Okay, I could see that we had alot more, had guests too, so
that made it a littleinteresting for me to try to
capture Apparently.
(37:49):
Apparently that's what makes ithard.
So, anyways, it looks like, ifmy last cheat sheet can be
believed, that Sam won seasontwo.
Kritter (38:00):
Okay, and now we've got , you know he only got two this
season.
Man were they.
It was a big two, like thoselast chapters whoa, yeah, whoa
that.
Jessica (38:10):
Uh, he ended with a bang um, and I'll be starting.
Kritter (38:15):
Return of the king tonight I do think, as far as
heroism goes, you you know,because, like this is by episode
, right, so it was all very muchbased on the episode breakdown
and because we didn't get causewe had, like, the first half of
the season was, you know whoeverit?
Mvp is interesting for thesebooks because the POV split, in
(38:37):
my opinion, like Sam and Frododidn't have a single chance
until halfway through the book,right, and the same goes for
everybody else.
They didn't have a chance afterthe first half of the book and
so it kind of just it.
It really I.
I'm having a really hard timearticulating this, but I want to
say if I'm picking my numberone hero from this book, it's
(39:01):
Sam, just because of how much ofa banger that last part was and
how stunningly heroic he cameacross.
Jessica (39:10):
Well, I think that this is going to bring us to a point
where we have to talk aboutwhat criteria are we deciding
who wins the whole shoot andmatch at the end?
Are we just doing who's onebook one, book two and book
three and we can only pick fromthose three?
Are we doing different criteria?
(39:32):
Are we?
We need to put some time intoit, I feel like.
I feel like our mvp choice forthe end of the season, next
season, needs to be solid andthought out.
Kritter (39:44):
Yeah, true, yeah, I guess, like adding all the
points up makes the most senseto me.
Mm-hmm, not, like you know,deciding between the MVPs of
every book overall.
Jessica (40:01):
Right, because they're meant to all be together.
He's got three picks in thisseason.
He had five picks in lastseason.
I got you Right, yeah, yeah.
Kritter (40:07):
That makes the most sense to me.
But I also think that maybethere should be like bonus
points awarded Like in some wayBased on.
Based on this like Sam didn'thave a ton of chances, but by
boy howdy, in my opinion he wasthe biggest hero.
Jessica (40:23):
Right, he was literally only in half the book.
Kritter (40:26):
And yeah, yeah, and granted, the other ones were too
.
Narita, thank you.
Stunningly heroic is really thebest description.
I love Frodo, but then in theface of Shelob, I would abandon
him so quickly.
Yeah, I mean, the file ofGaladriel doesn't lie.
It's shown like a mother whenSam had it Right.
And so I'm just saying I don'tknow, I don't know, who would
(40:49):
you, who would you put as yourlike?
Pippin is the MVP based onpoints, who would you points
aside, who do you consider yournumber one person, hero,
character for this book, forthis?
Jessica (41:10):
book.
Yeah, I would say Samwise, okay, I mean, it's really hard to
ignore.
It's really hard to ignore.
Also, like you and I have hadlong conversations about you
know the primary goal, andgetting that ring to Mordor is
the primary goal and there's so.
(41:30):
But Frodo, narita, I hear you,I hear you, frodo is doing the
lights work.
I get it.
I just can't get past in mymind.
The mental image of Frodo hasto carry it, so Sam carries him,
(41:52):
and so much of this bookstrikes that chord with me.
Yeah, oh my gosh are nails, likeabout the?
Same color I I was lookingearlier and I was like don't get
mad at me, but can we talknails for a second?
This is not what they're gonnalook like tomorrow.
They're changing tomorrow.
Kritter (42:08):
Well, still for them, we didn't plan that.
Guys, look at this.
How cute is that?
Uh, for those of you listeningand not watching, they're like a
light blue, like a they arelike a robin's egg blue, yeah,
um, and mine are waxing andwaning.
Jessica (42:23):
They are so long and so janky.
They need to go away and getfresh for a very special
occasion this weekend.
Kritter (42:30):
So this weekend this weekend yeah, data who's over
here.
Jessica (42:34):
see why I voted for Sam , for MVP, yes, I would never
question anybody for that, but Ido like the fact that we're
doing it by episode.
I really do like that becauseit does give a different
perspective, and having to do itbased on just that read gives a
very different perspective,also helps me digest what I just
(42:55):
read too.
Someone earlier asked what theread was for season four Dana
Lou and I'm going to just pullthat up.
I think that we had said we'regoing to start return of the
King.
Kritter (43:12):
Yeah, quickly actually, because if you, yes, missed my
announcement, I'm going to betaking a hiatus here soon after
we finish return of the king,because I am, uh, I am with
child and we'll be giving birthin the fall.
So we have to, we have, wecan't have a big long hiatus
(43:33):
between this book and the nextbook.
Jessica (43:34):
so we, we don't, we're going to hop right to it.
So for the first episode forseason four, for Return of the
King, we're doing chapters oneand two To answer your question,
dana Lou.
Kritter (43:46):
And that should come out.
July 9th that sounds very right.
Yes, because we're recording it.
The third, yeah, yeah.
So july 9th, chapters one andtwo of return of the king.
Jessica (44:07):
We are not wasting any time, y'all, we are jumping
straight in, um, so yeah,because we, because we really
want to wrap up this seriesbefore Baby comes.
Kritter (44:19):
Yeah, that's the plan Aldora said put the headset
around your belly and let thebaby hear Andy Serkis.
The baby has been hearing AndySerkis as I play my audiobooks
out loud in the car and anytimeI'm not on my headset, so he
will be familiar with Andy Serk,circus and the lord of the
rings soundtrack and taylorswift by the time he arrives so
(44:41):
all these essentials right, he'sgonna enter the world very well
rounded.
Jessica (44:45):
Love it, I think he will.
I think he will.
Kritter (44:47):
Yeah, amazing, um daniel, who, I agree, pippin
gets it in the first half andsam gets it in the second half
and it's I just now kind ofthought of this.
But, like you're right, I dolike that we're doing it based
on episode, because it's likealmost grading on a curve, right
, because it's not how he is inthe grand scheme, it's how he is
compared to his peers at anygiven moment in time, right, and
(45:09):
so it's fun that pippin won,right because, although I will
point out, pippin won the firsthalf, all four votes were the
first half.
Jessica (45:17):
As one would expect, frodo technically would take the
second half based on just count.
True, so true, so yeah,interesting.
We can read this early, aldora,we have not yet negotiated our
next project, but I love yourenthusiasm.
Kritter (45:39):
Yes, thank you for the comment.
We will take that underadvisement.
Okay, so fun.
Those are our MVP numbers now.
Now, how do I stop sharing?
It's a really good questionthat I'm going to learn actually
End my screen share.
Boom, okay, that was easy.
Wow, they make it so easy.
Jessica (45:59):
Now I want to try it with the quotes.
Okay, just because you know wehave all of you here with us and
it's so nice to get your inputHeads up before you share a
screen.
Okay, I understand, I'm gonnashare a word document screen.
(46:22):
You guys, bear with me.
Kritter (46:25):
It's very official brother zachariah, baby critters
.
First words will be my precious.
I'm just gonna have to strugglenot to say that like the first
time we meet.
You know what I mean.
I'm just going to have tostruggle not to say that like
the first time we meet.
Jessica (46:36):
You know what I mean.
I am sharing Critter.
You might have to give mepermission to let it on screen.
Kritter (46:41):
Okay, let me see here.
Oh, here we go.
Show on stream.
Jessica (46:48):
Look at that, that's still really small, you guys.
I'm sorry.
So all I wanted to do was wehave a really good time pulling
together these quotes and I justthought I'd share with you all
what we had this year or thisseason, excuse me, and see if
you all had a favorite.
So for episode one we had topquote farewell and may you find
(47:13):
what you seek, return with whatspeed you may, and let our
swords hereafter shine together.
Episode two if you can foresee,I'll let you read that through.
We had enough dramatic readingalready this season.
But if you have a favorite fromthose, would you be willing to
share it with us and tell us inthe chat so that we can pick it
as our official season threequote oh yeah, we gotta pick,
(47:39):
like the one you know to signoff with from this live stream
the one quote to rule them allexactly, at least in the two
towers.
Kritter (47:50):
Um, yeah, yeah, so sorry.
I'm reading them to see if Ihave a favorite.
Jessica (47:58):
I'm like I could have set that up a little bit cleaner
.
I had no intention of sharingthat document tonight.
Blood and bloody ashes.
Yeah, blood and Bloody Ashes.
(48:19):
Yeah, oh, narita is voting forsix Yep.
Farewell, dear listener.
We must each go swiftly on theways appointed to us.
Kritter (48:32):
Got it Good one, clear to the point, the ways appointed
to us.
Jessica (48:40):
Got it Good one.
Kritter (48:35):
Clear to the point.
Aldora going for the umami play.
Jessica (48:43):
Got it.
Kritter (48:47):
Quote one.
Jessica (48:51):
That's a good one.
Oh sorry, Dana Lou, I don'tknow if I can make it any bigger
and still fit.
Kritter (49:00):
Oh, I can just show it by itself, can.
Jessica (49:04):
I Suck.
Brother Zachariah is going fornumber five, which is follow
Smeagol.
I will not be following upCritter.
Incredible performance.
Um, but I did.
You can't see but in yellow tothe right of that it says best
performance nomination, becauseI'm a smart aleck even in word
(49:25):
documents that I don't plan onsharing with anybody.
Kritter (49:29):
Thanks, um okay, yeah, it's in, it's big now, so
hopefully, thank you, I can seeit um okay oh, we did farewell
my hobbits twice.
Jessica (49:45):
Oops, that's okay, oh, that's so funny.
Sometimes we don't, we don'thave anything, and we look back
further in the book and then weforget we've already used it
apparently well, but I likedending the season on it because
the may we meet again in myhouse was like I hope to see you
again in the podcast, becausethe podcast is our house.
(50:08):
So I I loved the symmetry ofending on that I.
Kritter (50:13):
I tend to agree, man, there's some really good ones in
there.
I kind of like I like the uh, Ialso like the few can foresee
whether their road will leadthem till they come to its end
and this is our end.
Like I, I don't know I wasproud of myself for that one and
so, um, he did really like theword farewell at Eldora.
(50:35):
There's some real bangers here.
I think there were some reallygood parting of the ways
language in this book that wecompletely stole for our sign
off.
Daniel does not like the longones, so you like the one that I
.
Just.
What was it Few can foresee?
Jessica (50:57):
It is the end us go.
Yes, that was, that was you,wasn't it?
Kritter (51:01):
that was a you sign off yeah, granted, it was in the
book.
It was very much like, uh, wedon't know what to do um, give
me pithy.
Jessica (51:13):
Oh, dana lou, okay, okay, well, we have.
I don't feel like we had anydouble ups.
We had some separate, someseparate votes.
Kritter (51:24):
So six, one and five I think, um, I think I'm gonna
back up the.
We must each go swiftly on theways appointed to us.
I just wanted to shout out theand this is the end, till next
week, but I think the the dearlistener also reminds me of lady
whistle down.
Yeah, and we must each goswiftly on the ways appointed to
(51:46):
us.
It's good, it's a good one.
I like that a lot.
Jessica (51:49):
Dana Lou voting for farewell my hobbits, okay.
Kritter (51:53):
Okay, fair enough.
What's your favorite one?
Jessica (51:59):
I mean, I know you think I'm picking on you, but
follow smiegel, your read forfollow smiegel was fantastic.
I enjoyed that so much.
Um, okay, I think that numbertwo is technically my favorite.
Few can foresee whether theirroad will lead them.
Uh, just because I do, it'sflowery and that's yeah, so I
(52:25):
think that number two wins itfor me this year, this season,
okay okay, so what does thatmean?
Kritter (52:36):
I don't know.
I feel like I shouldn't havetwo votes.
That was my first vote and thenI gave it to somebody else to
basically tie-break.
Now the two that I voted forare the two that have two, so I
need to.
Jessica (52:54):
Al Dora is still advocating for number one.
It's a good one.
It is a good one.
I I abstain.
Wow, they were all so good.
Kritter (53:25):
They really are.
They're all good, oh man, okay,uh, let's give it like one more
minute.
And if you voted for somethingother than number two, the few
can foresee whether their roadwill lead them till they come to
its end.
And this is our end.
Till next week.
Versus what is it?
Farewell, dear listener.
We must each go swiftly on theways appointed to us.
If you voted for something elseother than those, please break
this tie.
Please break this tie and pickone of those two, and we can
(53:48):
call that our official sign offfor the two towers.
I will very, we will very muchappreciate your, your efforts.
If you, I will very, we willvery much appreciate your, your
efforts.
If you, if you do that andsince we are, let me I didn't
realize that we're I still amnot showing us.
Jessica (54:03):
Let me go.
That's okay.
You were letting them have agood long read, it's true, I was
okay, let's do this.
Kritter (54:10):
This is a different, no , that's not a different one.
Boop, there we, there we go,got it.
Farewell, dear listener fromDana Lou.
Jessica (54:16):
Thank you.
Thank you, Dana Lou, for endingthe torture.
Kritter (54:21):
Yes, yes, when we sign off, assuming nobody else chimes
in, and if they do, then we'lltake that into account, but when
we sign off, that'll be okay.
Nine that's sarcasm.
Oh, thank you, brotherzachariah.
(54:42):
Great, great, um.
Jessica (54:42):
Okay, so out of those number two we've still got a tie
, then good we can smush themtogether if you can foresee
whether their road will leadthem till they come to its end.
And this is our end.
Till next week.
Farewell, dear listener.
Kritter (54:55):
We must each go swiftly on the plays appointed to us
you know what daniel is gonnahate that, but she is but she's
also a very gracious person andwill forgive us okay, yeah,
unless we get another vote,that'll be, uh, that'll be our
sign off.
Um, but before we do sign off,I would like to keep these for
around an hour.
We're coming up on that time.
(55:16):
Is there anything else we wantto talk about about the two
towers, before we we bail, anyfinal thoughts?
Jessica (55:27):
I just wasn't expecting to get into it so much.
I know that sounds silly.
We started a podcast about itand the whole thing, but, um,
it's really very engrossing andI have been loving it and I can
see why people are so dedicatedto it.
Um, and uh, slight tangent,just slight tangent.
(55:49):
Uh, watching stranger thingsright now and there's so many um
, lord of the rings referencesin that and I thought I find it
very adorable because I was like, oh my God, I got that
reference.
I'm Captain America over heregoing.
I understood that reference andso Lord of the Rings in the
wild is more meaningful to menow and I really, I just love
(56:10):
that is more meaningful to menow and I really I just love
that.
Kritter (56:17):
That's awesome.
Aldora is wondering for youthoughts on the future for
Saruman Because, unlike themovies, he is alive.
Jessica (56:24):
He is alive.
He is holed up in the towerswhere we left him.
I honestly don't, can'tperceive, can't fathom that
Sauron will leave him untouched.
Like I would think thatSauron's going to come for him,
because I'm of a mind, likeGandalf said, that he does not
(56:46):
share power.
So I think that Sauron's goingto come for him, yeah.
Kritter (56:52):
I think that's a totally fair assessment, but I
will neither confirm nor denywhether it's correct.
Jessica (57:00):
Narita is willing to change votes from six to two, so
the twos have it.
Kritter (57:06):
Well, and brother Zachariah also went for two.
So we we officially have a signoff for this.
Thank you, thank you all, foraccommodating our need for um
for finality.
I don't know for a definitivepick.
Uh, I appreciate the love forall the quotes and for my
(57:27):
performance with the smiegel.
You know my impression leaves abit to be desired, not at all.
Well, I'm glad that you're intoit.
Honestly, I love these books.
I remembered loving these booksand it's just.
I can't believe I've let it goso long since I've read them and
now I can just confidentlyrecommend them to literally
(57:51):
anyone who will listen becauseit's not been they hold, to
literally anyone who will listenbecause it's it's not been like
they.
They hold the, they hold up.
Essentially, they've withstoodthe test of time and I should
have known that.
I mean the cult, it's not evena cult following, it's a rabid
following for these books.
I should have known that.
Of course they're incredible,um, but yeah, yeah, it was a
(58:13):
pleasure reading and I'm I'mhappy that I'm doing it and I'm
excited to be continuingbasically where we're at um.
Jessica (58:21):
One last question going into it, based on your
remembrance from the last timethat you read is return of the
king your favorite for reading?
Kritter (58:34):
for reading, for reading, for reading.
I doubt it.
Okay, it's been a really longtime, but I don't think so Just
based on because you and I we'renot battle skirlies, right, we
(58:55):
aren't.
Jessica (58:57):
I'm a little worried about that.
I'm like if return is as battleheavy as I expect it to be, I
I'm gonna have to, I'm gonnahave to brace for that, yeah so
yeah, I don't think so, but timewill tell and I could have a
completely different perspectiveon it as an adult versus as a
kid.
Kritter (59:16):
And for what it's worth , return of the king is my
favorite of the movies, so youknow, if there's a reason for
that, it makes me cry, and maybethis one will make me cry too.
We'll see.
When I was a kid, I was a huge.
I was really stoic, if you canbelieve that, and so, uh, there
were.
There wasn't really cryinginvolved in reading books, but
this time around theredefinitely could be I was gonna
(59:38):
say I'm a fan of closure.
Jessica (59:40):
So a lot of times the third book does very well for me
, depending on if I feelsatisfied with the outcomes.
And again, recency bias.
I'm always, I'm always subjectto recency bias, so we'll see
how it goes If it takes over forfellowship in the rankings.
Kritter (59:59):
Okay, and Narita has a great point.
Gonna cop out and say Tolkienintended for this story to be
one book, so winky face.
I agree.
I think that's.
When people ask me what myfavorite movie is, I first say
the Lord of the Rings.
Only do I specify Return of theking if they force it upon me
(01:00:21):
because it is the wholeexperience that is my favorite,
because you know what doesn'thit as hard if I haven't watched
the first two movies return ofthe king it still hits, but it
doesn't hit as hard.
So it's really for me a packagedeal the whole, and I think the
books are, like, understandably, best when digested whole as
(01:00:44):
well, like in yeah, so I willsay that I came home the second.
Jessica (01:00:49):
I got home from the movie theater, I immediately
purchased online um extendededition of all three yes, yes,
yes so that I could go back andlook.
Did I tell you that I missedlike the first five minutes on
(01:01:10):
movie one and like the first 10minutes of movie two because
they started before the air timethat was published?
Kritter (01:01:18):
no, I missed the first like five minutes because they
started exactly on time anddidn't have previews.
And when do they do that?
Jessica (01:01:24):
never, no, but so they did it with no previews but they
also.
So I came home after the twotowers and I was like they
didn't even show how Gollum hadfound them yet, like I don't
understand what's happening.
So I, like I said, immediatelypurchased all of them so that I
(01:01:44):
could watch return of the Kingthe second we finish and I
watched back to see how muchmovie I had missed and it was
like 12 minutes of movie Ofactual movie I had missed, and
it was like 12 minutes of movieof actual movie that I missed
and I was like I was in themovie theater In the two towers,
See the beginning of two towers.
Kritter (01:02:04):
That's when that's Gandalf's fight, right, yes, the
Balrog fight.
Jessica (01:02:09):
Oh, that part's so good , yep, merry and Pippin are in
custody you.
Good, yep, mary and Pippin arein custody you.
The first thing I saw was thatGollum was already with Sam and
Frodo.
Wow.
So there was a catch up on Maryand Pippin, a catch up on
Gandalf, and then we came backto Sam and Frodo.
Wow.
(01:02:29):
So, anyways, I think you knowjust a little grouse, but yeah,
I was.
Kritter (01:02:35):
I was equally a little miffed because I really didn't
expect them to start the moviewithout previews.
I am a movie goer.
I like to go to the movietheater A month or so maybe,
maybe once every other month,depending on what's coming out.
I have it down where you canliterally get to the theater at
showtime.
Jessica (01:02:57):
I walked in at 11 32 like I walked into the theater
to my seat at 11 32.
I'm like there's no.
You like that's 15 minutes ofcontent.
Not only did you have zero, um,how dare screeners, you know
but you, you legit ran 10 plusminutes a movie so you got
robbed.
Kritter (01:03:17):
I just didn't plan well enough it's basically how that.
Jessica (01:03:21):
It was the first one.
The fellowship was a little bitof both, like I was holding out
for my uh, sweet, sweet snacksat the concession stand,
thinking that I had um previewtime, yeah I made that.
Kritter (01:03:35):
I made that mistake too .
Jessica (01:03:36):
I made that mistake too .
I planned better for the twotowers, so when I walked in at
1132, I was like this is bogus.
Kritter (01:03:44):
Yeah, bs.
This is not how it's supposedto be, but anyways, we digress.
Jessica (01:03:51):
Yeah, no way.
Kritter (01:03:53):
Not us.
Can't believe that happened.
All right, do you wanna?
You know?
You're the.
You're the.
Wow, I can't.
I wasn't.
It's not collaborator, it's,it's.
It's not coagulator.
You're the person who gatheredall the sign-offs.
Yes, you're the compiler.
(01:04:16):
When I tell you Pregnancy Brainis truly real, oh, it's real,
it's very real.
If you don't believe it's real,it's real.
So you're the compiler of allthe sign-offs.
Jessica (01:04:27):
Yeah, would you like to do the honors, I'll take a stab
at it.
Okay, I think that both Critterand I want to say thank you so
much for taking time to stop in,especially if you're in a crazy
time zone.
We see you, we love you, weappreciate you in day in and day
out, through Discord, youtube,drop in comments, whatever it
might be on socials.
We love, love, love having youguys along for the ride.
(01:04:49):
So we appreciate you so much.
You have no idea we are kickingright into Return of the Kings
because we're going to try andfinish it before the end of
September.
That's our goal.
So for those of you who want tocontinue reading along.
Our first leg of the tripshould be chapters one and two.
(01:05:12):
Leg of the trip should bechapters one and two, and um,
I'll do it, we're going to letyou go to bed soon.
Um, it'll be chapters one andtwo of book five, and that
should air July 9th wherever youget podcasts, or here on our
YouTube channel.
Uh, thank you so much.
Please follow us If you're notalready.
You can find us as but Arethere Dragons?
(01:05:34):
On Instagram, tiktok andYouTube.
And but Dragons Pod just one Ton X.
You can find us both on socialmedia Critter XD or myself as
Shelf Indulgence in any of ourspaces.
We love you all so much.
Here is our final send-off forseason three.
(01:05:56):
Few can foresee whether theirroad will lead them till they
come to its end, and this is ourend Until next season.
We love you guys all so much.
Good night Good night.
where two friends pick a book at least one of them has
not read and work their waythrough it a few chapters at a
time.
I'm your host, critter, and I'myour host, jess.
And we finished the Two Towers.
Baby, this is the wrap party.
We did it, we did it.
Yeah, we did.
We have read the Hobbit, theFellowship of the Ring and now
we have completed the Two Towers, feeling pretty good.
(00:21):
How are you feeling, jess?
Jessica (00:25):
Awesome, Like a rock star.
We just did a little mentalmath backstage before we joined
you guys to try and figure outhow long it took us.
We did two towers in two monthsflat and I'm like good job,
Critter.
Kritter (00:38):
We nailed it, we did great, we really crushed it.
Okay, sorry, I just had to makesure we were actually live on
youtube and it looks like we areso nice nailed it awesome super
awesome.
Yeah, so two months timefinished it, outlined it, talked
about it, really digested it,you know, broke it into its
fundamental parts, um, and itwas really good.
(01:00):
Did you like it?
Jessica (01:02):
it was, there was so much more to it than I thought
going into it based on I thinkthat's in one of the streams I
mentioned that I consider thetwo towers to, I went into it
with a preexisting bias that thetwo hours would have like
middle child syndrome and nothave a lot going for it and but
now that we're on the other sideof it can confirm that I don't
(01:23):
feel that way anymore.
Kritter (01:25):
Yeah, I tend to agree.
No middle child syndrome wecould talk about, like the
various stages of the book,because it was structured
differently than the Fellowshipand the Hobbit.
For sure, we got our first sortof split POV by book book, which
(01:46):
was interesting, um, and in thecontext of all of this, we
ended up going to see, or, youknow, jess went and saw the
first two movies right afterhaving waited to see them this
whole time that we've beenreading them, and I went and saw
the return of the king, becauseI only went and saw one of them
whenever they were in theaters,um, and so we have like a new,
fresh look at, you know, thebooks versus the movies, which
(02:10):
is fun.
And actually, I guess return ofking had part of two towers in
it anyways, when we're talkingabout she loves.
So I did get to see part of thetwo towers, um, which was great
.
So, yeah, yeah, I guess, sincewe were starting here with
talking about our whole journey,you know, so far, hobbit
fellowship, two towers.
(02:30):
I warned you about this, but Ididn't warn you long ago.
Have you considered how youwould rate them, the three that
we've read so far?
Jessica (02:40):
So the three we would read that we've done so far.
I think that fellowship stilltakes the cake over the hobbit
by a narrow margin.
Okay, um, which surprises evenme.
I just figured that out in thatmoment, but that's how I,
that's how my heart, voted um.
Two towers, although not amiddle child, and substantially
a better book than I expected itto be, is still not as complete
(03:05):
or as engrossing as thefellowship was, although there
was some incredible action thisbook this season we did.
We saw a lot of very cool stuff.
Kritter (03:18):
Yeah, okay, I forgot what your answer was when we
talked about this last time, andso now, cause I thought I
thought we had the same answerand and now I we don't.
I'm pretty sure that my answerlast time and I stand by it is
that the Hobbit beat thefellowship.
(03:38):
For me, I think I think that'swhat I said, just cause I feel
like the Hobbit was so fun toread.
You know, it was just like a,it was just like a, just a bop,
you know, and and, but don't getme wrong, I think Fellowship is
next.
I agree with you that, like,hobbit and Fellowship are one
and two.
(03:58):
Neck and neck, I just andthey're very much neck and neck
yeah.
Jessica (04:02):
Yeah, I think that possibly.
So I am always subject torecency bias and I I admit you
know like I am, so vibes driven,it's not even funny.
So I don't doubt that I gaveone answer one day and another
answer another day.
I completely can see me doingthat.
But I would just say in mydefense, I feel more strongly
(04:24):
now about this party at the endof Two Towers because I know
them better than I did at theend of Fellowship, and I would
say that that type of recencybias is probably influencing why
now I'm saying Fellowship morethan Hobbit.
I love that Hobbit one, yes, isself-contained.
(04:45):
Uh, yes, is a bot, but also theself-contained nature, like the
Hobbit, is its own nugget.
Um, but now that I've been withthese guys, a whole nother book
, I think it might be fellowship.
Kritter (05:07):
Okay, no, honestly, like that's totally fair Cause I
do think it like two towersadding added more to the overall
story, which makes sensebecause it was written as a
singular book and it was justsplit apart to, you know,
accommodate the publishers orwhatever, um, so I do think two
towers builds on it and andthere were some really really
excellent passages from Towers,like some of my favorite stuff
in the stuff that happens inFellowship just a little more
(05:29):
overall, I also like how theparty is together and comes
(05:54):
together and builds right, it'sa fun thing to witness.
And the two towers like theparty split up, which is kind of
sad, and so I think thestructure sort of suffers not
suffers, but like I think.
I think the I like thefellowship structure better
because it's it's more of abuild, whereas two towers is
(06:14):
like this is half the story,this is the other half of the
story and it's very much likeone after the other.
Right, yeah, what are you gonnalike?
We're, I guess, both used towheel of time, for example,
where some some povs will getlike paragraphs and then they'll
jump back and forth betweenthem and so you're getting live
updates about everybody involved.
(06:35):
Sometimes that doesn't happento be fair, but sometimes it
does um, so I think that's partof why fellowship beats out two
towers for me, but only, only,only by a little bit.
Jessica (06:46):
And fellowship sets the stage so heavily.
Yeah, yeah, but two towers,absolutely.
I was not expecting the waythat two towers would really
cement how I feel and progresshow I feel about some of our
party members.
I was not expecting that somuch like I'm trying to think
(07:07):
back to fellowship honestly muchlike going together yeah, much
like going to ribbondale andhaving all of that lore dropped
on us.
Two towers gave us so muchcontext that again I felt like
really new content for me as thefirst timer.
(07:27):
That was probably theresubtextually in the iterations
that I had seen before, but Idid not get and really amplified
actions when it came.
So, learning just how politicaland Machiavellian Sauron is,
(07:50):
learning that Saruman is vyingfor himself, that there's
different factions of orcs, thatSauron has manipulated groups
of men and traded on their oldgrudges to get them to enlist,
and all of these things arereally they don't change the
(08:12):
storyline, right, you know itdoesn't change who Guajir
rescues or where Gandalf getsstranded or any of those.
It doesn't change plot points.
But I never in a million yearscounted on how much they would
amplify the read um and justmake you know some of those
really key points so much moreuh, meaningful when I got to
(08:35):
them in the story yeah, that'ssuch a good point.
Kritter (08:38):
Also, I can't believe I didn't say this, but hi, chat,
this is a live recording and, uh, and I love to see some of you
here from over from the discordaldora data luhu, uh, not all
who wonder are lost.
You guys are the real ones.
Thank you for showing up live,um, and if you're listening
(08:59):
after the fact you, it's obviousthat we're also going to post
this on the podcast eventuallyas like a bonus episode, but
it's fun to do a live recordingevery now and then.
So, hi, I know some of you arein some pretty wild time zones
to show up, so we do reallyappreciate you, we do.
Jessica (09:18):
Brother Zachariah just showed up.
Thank you guys.
Kritter (09:23):
Yeah, thank you so much for being here and for
listening to the podcast.
We appreciate all of you andthe conversations that we get to
have over on discord and thecomments on youtube and all of
that stuff.
It's been a good time readingthis and reading all of the
books so far um really has.
So I mentioned this in my mykind of overview of how I feel
about the books.
But how, how did you like ortake the?
(09:48):
The very split up nature of thebooks, like you know how we got
the Mary Pippin, gandalf,aragorn Gimli section and then
we got the Sam and Frodo section?
Did that?
Jessica (10:04):
go well for you.
Well, to your point, I'm usedto reading a book series that
you can have a POV switch perparagraph or you can not see a
POV for an entire book andeverything in between.
So I wouldn't say I wasn'tprepared for it.
It does change how the bookfeels, right.
(10:24):
It does absolutely change theride a little bit, and I think
for the better.
Honestly, like I can, Iunderstand your point that the
vibes were good when we were infellowship, we were, you know it
was very much so, by definition, about the fellowship
themselves.
And then, coming to the twotowers, to me, whether
(10:45):
intentional or not, there's somesymmetry that we have two
storylines split across thiscontrived book to simulate the
separating of the party.
So I kind of liked it.
I thought that the symmetry ofthat experience as the reader
(11:06):
was good, you know, kind ofaligned with what was happening
with the parties.
Kritter (11:10):
Yeah, it does help you get like sucked in, I guess.
Right, even though we missed orI missed Sam and Frodo at the
beginning.
Right, it was nice to just getto see what happened with the
people that we were following.
Right, without having to jumpback and forth, because it is a
fun way for some writers tocreate like cliffhangers mid
(11:31):
book.
Right, because you can stop, goto a different pov.
Just right at the moment thatyou're like, oh no, like what's
gonna happen?
Right, this tolkien's like no,we are going to, we're just
gonna, we're gonna take youright through everything that
happened yeah, we are gonna playit through.
Um, so that was nice, right,because I did miss frodo and sam
(11:52):
, but at the same time I was, Iwas invested in the first half
and then we stopped and it waslike it did amp up the payoff,
though, when we did get Frodoand Sam back.
Jessica (12:05):
So I remember you asking me pretty early on in the
first half of the book when doyou think we'll see the boys
again?
And I'm like I have no idea.
I again just so passively.
We switched into book four andI was like oh okay.
So the first book was oh okay,now I get it.
I am just so like along for theride.
(12:26):
It's not even funny sometimesbut it you know the symmetry, I
really kind of dug and I didthink that it added to the
experience in its own way and itdid make me really, really
excited to see them.
It made me very excited forthem to get reunited.
You know, once Gimli andLegolas and Aragorn got reunited
with Merry and Pippin, it madeall of that.
(12:49):
It gave me bigger buy-in forthat.
Kritter (12:53):
Okay.
So we got a comment in the chatfrom Aldora.
I wasn't a fan of the separatedPOVs, I think, sorry.
I think reading the entirefirst plot with Treebeard,
helm's Deep, saruman etc.
All done, my mind was thenready for Return of the King.
So going back felt weird.
I get you.
I tend to agree.
It's kind of like, even thoughyou didn't get the mini
(13:16):
cliffhangers which are possiblewhenever you're shifting POVs,
you did get the big cliffhangerwhich is like Gandalf's taking
pippin off into the west or offinto the wild yep, and there may
or may not be naskal followingthem and yeah, oh, like, right,
and then we have to wait for anentire half book to be yeah, I
(13:39):
know, that's what happens nextyeah, no, that's a, that's a
valid perspective, for sure.
Jessica (13:45):
Um, and also keeping in mind this is a really
jam-packed, essentially ninedays, I think we worked it out.
It really wasn't that long of astretch.
You know it's a week and a halfum, and boy did these?
Did this crew have a wild weekand a half um?
Yeah, but yeah, I, I don'tnecessarily typically like it
(14:06):
when you have to go that long,as we mentioned with that other
book series that we're both into, and I have to wait an entire
book to get a pov from acharacter I've been missing.
Kritter (14:16):
I don't like it uh-huh so this was a bit, this was a
bit drawn out, so I definitelyhear where you're coming from.
Yeah, yeah tend to agree.
Tend to agree.
Narita zaraki, welcome to thechat.
Finally caught alive, yeah well, we don't do them often.
Um, we could, but you know, atleast the end of every book, I
think, is a good balance.
(14:36):
Um, wow, I may sneeze.
Give me a moment that's okay.
Jessica (14:42):
I might take a moment to ask anybody in chat who can
remember off the top of theirhead any of the quotes from any
of the episodes.
Did you have any favorites?
Or if you had any hot MVP takes, because I do have our MVP
count up and ready to go.
So if you want to be in thatmindset and you want to troll us
(15:04):
for our choices or laud us forour choices, bring it Uh-huh.
Kritter (15:10):
Okay, Narita's saying Frodo yeah.
So if you have an overall bookMVP that you would have chosen
now that we've read the wholething, or if you didn't read, if
you'd listened because we triedto recap, we did our best Let
us know who your book MVP is andthen we can let you know what
ours was based on the votes,Because you might be pleased.
(15:35):
You might be surprised.
I'm going to keep it cageyuntil we release it.
We've got DataLooHoo hashtagSamMVP.
Okay, we've got a couple ofvotes coming in.
Jessica (15:47):
I will just to spice it up a little, tell you that we
had a total of six differentcharacters nominated for MVP
between Critter and myself.
So, of those six, you know,feel free to think about who you
think might be the winner orwho you think is the winner,
because it ultimately doesn'treally matter what I think who
you think is the winner, causeit ultimately doesn't really
matter what.
Kritter (16:05):
I think.
Yeah, there will be an official.
But are there dragons, mvp?
But everyone will have an MVPin their hearts, 100%, yeah,
gosh, okay.
So while we're, while we'rewaiting on some of the thoughts
to trickle in, I guess we cantalk about favorite parts of the
(16:28):
book, if you want to kind ofget into that like that.
Maybe that will inform who ourmvps were and I.
I have recency bias here and I'mgoing to start from the very
end, because I thought the end,the tail end of the sam and
frodo plot was just spectacular.
We got the like, we had sam andfrodo extreme bonding, we had
(16:53):
the talk about heroes, which youknow we did the, the dramatic
reading of, and then we went toshe lobes lair and got frodo
being very heroic, sam beinginsanely heroic.
I just that part, even though Ihate spiders and don't love the
idea of fighting a giant,monstrous, otherworldly spider
(17:14):
being.
That played really, really wellfor me and I love that we got
the payoff from Galadriel's filealso right, like the gift that
she had given really, truly paidoff in those moments in my
opinion.
So that was a big highlight forme from this book.
I think that those lastchapters.
What would you say?
Jessica (17:37):
one of your big highlight, I will answer, I'm
going to counter, I'm going togive you a follow-up to think on
while I answer Okay, do youthink, can you think of a thing
that you feel like you reallyenjoyed this time around that
maybe younger critter didn'tcatch or didn't give weight to?
(18:01):
percolate, percolate, percolated, yep I'm scrolling you guys, um
, so I had a lot of yeah and tocritter's point.
That end with sam and and frodois intense like boy scouts,
right, like it's really a veryheartfelt um story, part of the
story um, and very impactful asit's happening.
(18:24):
There were some other thingsthat happened in this book,
though, that I very much loved.
There were moments.
I think one of my favoritesurprises from this book was in
knowingly and the autonomy thatthis story gave them as opposed
(18:45):
to how it was represented on thescreen.
I can't, um, I like that so muchbetter, which, again doesn't
really change the the nuts andbolts of the story, but I like
that so much more and wish thatthey had kept it that way,
honestly.
Yeah, but that was huge.
(19:07):
I loved everything with treebeard.
All of that was magnificent, inmy opinion, yeah.
And then, of course, thereuniting of Legolas, gimli,
aragorn and and Pippin.
That was sweet, such likesunshine in a bottle, just such
(19:28):
good vibes.
Mary and Pippin continued toimpress me through book two, how
they are so much more than howthey were represented on the
screen.
And again, no shade to theactors who are playing them or
the way that the adaptation waswritten.
I just know so much more now.
Kritter (19:47):
Yeah.
Jessica (19:49):
And I see Dana Lou who given it up for Faramir.
Another surprise, right Likekind of Faramir is the flip side
of Thorin for me.
So Thorin was the bigdisappointment for me.
From my Hobbit read Faramir wasmy big surprise.
Faramir is so much better inthe book than I would have ever
(20:15):
given him credit for.
So I think those are some of myfavorite highlights as the
first timer on this book.
Kritter (20:22):
I think, just to jump right off of that and to answer
your question, there were acouple of favorite highlights as
the first timer on this book.
I think, just to jump right offof that and to answer your
question, there were a couple ofthings that I probably more or
less nothinged as a kid, and oneof them is I feel like I would
have remembered Faramir, becauseas an adult I read about
Faramir and I was like this manis everything Like this, is a
dreamy, wizard-like man likethat, any like.
(20:46):
He is incredible, he is noble,like Boromir, who you know what
I mean.
And I don't remember reallybeing like that into Faramir.
I think it did.
Probably when I was reading as akid I was like, okay, yeah,
like, let's just, you know whyare we stopping in this random
camp?
Right, I wanted the plot tocontinue, but as an adult, I'm
(21:07):
over here just like dang thisguy is.
He is something else, like lovehim a lot and then two, I
really think I probably nothing.
The saruman is like turning thewheels for himself, like the
politics.
I think that is something thatI just didn't really pay
attention to Cause I wasn't likewho cares, he's a bad guy.
(21:29):
They're all bad guys.
You know I don't give a crap,so I think the Saruman chapters
hit a little harder as an adultthan they did as a kid.
Cause it was.
It was more just like Ooh, thewheels are turning everywhere,
everybody's doing their thingand the plates are shifting,
whatever.
So I'd say those are the twothings, probably more than
anything else, that I really duginto more in this read than I
(21:54):
did as a kid.
Jessica (21:56):
I want to call out Aldora's comment about Legolas
and Gimli.
A hundred percent, legolas andGimli planning a vacation
together was one of my top threemoments of all time reads.
I mean not just the series LikeI, just the soft, cute boy feels
I got from.
That is beyond that and thehealing power of Rabbit Stew.
(22:20):
I think those were some of myvery favorite moments.
I do tend to get fixated onmoments that have nothing to do
with the plot and everything todo with the vibe, but I could
not get over the big, soft,squishy feels.
This gave me so 100% ahighlight.
Kritter (22:39):
Yeah, there were some real soft squishy feels in two
towers, like that's one of thereasons that I you know when I'm
rating them I'm just like gosh.
But what about the like twotowers?
It's the last.
But what about the she lobestuff?
What about sam and frodotalking about how each other
like they're heroes?
What about gimli and leglessbromancing out like all of this
stuff is so good and uh and yeah, so I, I really we've got not
(23:04):
all who wonder or lost.
I've always loved book fairmirror.
I can't believe I forgot howincredible he was that's.
Jessica (23:10):
I just didn't know what I was missing out on.
Yeah, I really, as a moviegoer,I really nothinged him as just
a second son and I have neverfelt more regret.
I was like, no, no, he'severything we love him yeah, and
I even throw back to when wehad Don on for fellowship, don
(23:33):
Marshall, obscure Lord of theFacts guy, cool dude, and him
talking about you know all thepressure that Boromir's under,
and how much.
Oh, dina Lu, is it the softsquishy center?
Kritter (23:46):
It probably is, yeah that sounds right.
Jessica (23:50):
All the pressure that Boromir is under and you know,
getting to know Boromir andFaramir's relationship really
meaningful, Just really gettinginsight and getting it from
Faramir's take.
Kritter (24:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and and it's interesting too because
we get to see like Faramir, youget hints at least of how
Faramir like actuallyunderstands Boromir Right, and
like who he is and you know, no,he knows his sibling right, so
he's not going to be like he's asaint, he's perfect.
(24:23):
He knows that he's not.
And that's a fun thing to seetoo, because in the movies it's
very much like you can tell thathe has this complex a little
bit, because Boromir's thefavorite son, right, but it
doesn't really go much fartherthan that.
But in the books he's wiserthan that, he's incredibly wise,
which is part of the reason Ilike him so much.
Jessica (24:42):
He, he's wiser than that, he's incredibly wise,
which is part of the reason Ilike him so much, and I can
totally say that with a hundredpercent sure surety now.
That that is the vibe I gotfrom how he was portrayed in the
movies.
He he looks snarly.
When he's talking to Sam andFrodo he seems malevolence,
probably a touch too strong, buthe seems far more menacing than
(25:04):
stoic.
You know what I mean.
In the read he kind of seemsstoic, reserved, holding his
cards close, which I get um,whereas in the movie he just he
seemed much more negativelyportrayed until the very end.
Kritter (25:22):
Yeah, he.
He had a stint in the movies asan antagonist, like a minor
antagonist but an antagonist.
Jessica (25:28):
But I was like did I remember that?
Did I insert that?
Did I do that?
Kritter (25:33):
No, no, they absolutely did that for sure.
So, yeah, it's, it was it.
It gave me a whole whole.
It opened my eyes again, 20years since I've read the books,
so they'll come for me.
I forgot, or just didn't evennotice, how amazing faramir was
the first time around, and thenthe movies fully corrupted me
between now and then.
(25:54):
Um, but I am back and I am afaramir stan and I will be here
to stay.
Jessica (26:01):
Uh, yeah, yeah what are some of the other?
Uh, I loved mary and pippindrinking the draft from tree
beard.
Kritter (26:11):
That was just incredible I like how all the
hobbits get like sustenance insome way, right like sam's got
his Lembas bread, mary andPippin have the Ent draft.
They're never, even though it'sperfectly sustaining, they're
always just like I'd rather havesome bread.
Jessica (26:36):
I'd rather have some potatoes, stew, whatever.
Kritter (26:42):
They're such hobbits, we never lose the hobbity factor
, which I love because, like,hobbits are just the best
creatures ever, which I thinkTreebeard came to realize, which
I think was great.
Like him, adding them to theroles of creatures was a really
fun moment and the way hedescribed them was really sweet.
I can't, I don't have it likein front of me, but it was.
(27:03):
I remember that being also veryheartwarming.
Another part of the softsquishy center, um so yeah, I'm
okay with that.
Jessica (27:12):
Maybe that's what we'll title this, this live stream
the soft squishy center ofjolteon yeah, it's because it
was.
Kritter (27:19):
It had a lot of really good vibes Granted.
Sam kind of roughened the edgesa bit when it came to his
relationship with Smeagol.
So we can't say it's allsunshine and roses.
We can't.
Jessica (27:33):
The Smeagol thing was hard.
I see Narita brings it up Sorry, no, I think it was Eldora
brought it up a little bitearlier about uh smiegel seeming
almost hobbit, like whenthey're sleeping, just before um
he, uh sam, wakes up and hashis altercation with him and
(27:53):
that.
You know, that was a reallyhard moment for me because I
don't think that that wasrepresented on the screen
anywhere, but it really feltlike a turning point in that
relationship.
But even being theself-proclaimed Smeagol stan
that I am, seeing those twofinally come to blows and have
(28:15):
at each other was was kind ofgood.
You know what I mean.
Instead of just snarling ateach other and just being
generally rotten to each other,let's go get it out of your
system.
Kritter (28:26):
Let's do this okay.
Yeah, it was.
I'd say that was probably thebiggest.
I don't want to call it adisappointment, because I think
it furthered the plot well and Ithink it was a good.
I think it added to the storyessentially.
But the thing I disliked themost was Sam's relationship with
Gollum and how angry, snarly,prickly he was toward him the
(28:55):
whole time.
And, granted, I am not a Gollumfan, I hate Gollum.
But it didn't help thesituation in any way at all and
I am a Sam Stan till the day Idie, like I am.
He is my man, but my Hobbit, Iguess.
But still, that was kind oflike a I wish that didn't happen
.
Jessica (29:15):
I think that I think we had said it during one of the
episodes.
When we were talking about it,though that that was the
tangible way in which you couldsee that Sam was carrying a
weight too.
It wasn't just Frodo who wasstruggling under the weight of
the ring.
This, to me, was a behavioralextension of the weight that the
(29:39):
quest is pressing down on himwith, and you know, gollum is
antagonizing him and jabbing athim verbally as well, too.
Kritter (29:45):
Like they are not perfect, Well, and I totally get
you know, Sam's primarydirective is protect Frodo.
Get Frodo to the finish linelike and Gollum.
While helping them to thefinish line is understandably
making him nervous, as far ashim being around is is just I
(30:07):
don't know, antecedent it's.
It's.
It's in conflict with myprimary directive, which is
protecting frodo, because Ithink at any moment he could
turn on us and and so I get it.
It's just it's hard to readbecause Sam is our little teddy
bear.
But Daniel LeHue is right inthat Sam needs to have a major
flaw he can't be perfect.
(30:27):
If he was perfect like Faramir,then you know the character
wouldn't be as deep of acharacter.
So I get it, I get it.
I just you know I'm not tryingto be fair and talk about our
likes and our dislikes, and thatwas probably my biggest dislike
of the book Understandable.
Jessica (30:50):
Understandable, I think I'm going to go ahead and give
in alphabetical order who thesix contenders are for MVP.
Okay, I'm doing this on the fly, okay.
Mvp Okay, I'm doing this on thefly, okay.
So it's Faramir Frodo, gandalfPippin, sam Treebeard Everybody
(31:14):
get that.
Those are the six contendersthat were nominated for MVPs
throughout the season.
Okay, just to give you all thatinformation.
Kritter (31:25):
There was an honorable mention at one point, correct
Technically two, Technically two.
Jessica (31:31):
So I had one and you had one.
Oh, that's right.
So if we go to episode six, youhad asked, you had said that
you thought long and hard aboutGaladriel, first because of the
file rightfully so, yeah.
And then in episode, I didn'tmark it.
(31:52):
Of course I didn't mark itbecause why would I make
meaningful notes In one of theepisodes?
I wanted to nominate both Maryand Pippin.
Couldn't do it.
I agreed with youwholeheartedly.
It's a terrible precedent toset.
So I nominated Pippin, on theunderstanding that you know he
wins by a nose because of havingthe spare pipe, as
(32:14):
representative of both Pippinand Mary vibes.
Kritter (32:18):
Yeah, so shout out to Mary and Galadriel for your
Thank you for your service,thank you for your contributions
.
Jessica (32:26):
Yeah, thank you for your contributions.
Kritter (32:27):
We appreciate you.
We see you.
I will say that Aldora is areal one and looked up the rhyme
, the Hobbit's addition into theEnt lists, and the rhyme goes.
The phrase goes Ent's theearthborn, old as mountains, the
white walkers, the wide walkers, water drinking and hungry as
hunters, the hobbit children,the laughing folk, the little
(32:50):
people just yeah, I don't knowmy heart grew three sizes there.
Yeah, thank you for sharing that.
I just love that rhyme, so orthat I don't know verse, so it's
so cute and it perfectlycaptures the essence of the
hobbits.
Jessica (33:05):
Yeah, and Eldor had an honorable mention for the rope
Totally.
Kritter (33:10):
It's important.
The rope saved them.
Without the rope, where wouldthey be?
Yeah, okay, so do we want to?
Jessica (33:18):
Yes, I'm going to let you share Me.
Okay, let me pull it up, let meget.
I've got, I've got this.
I've never shared on livestream before you guys, so we're
gonna make critter, do it, ohshare.
Kritter (33:33):
Okay, okay, okay, hold on, I gotta like try to zoom
this in because it's reallysmall, um, which I can
absolutely do.
Okay, yeah, that's pretty big.
Now, all right, sharing.
Okay, drum roll, please sharescreen.
This is gonna be fine we'redoing this we're doing it.
(33:54):
Okay, boop, where'd it go?
I'm currently sharing my screen.
Okay, there they are.
They are.
Jessica (34:00):
There they are, you guys.
So I think that somebody didcall it in chat.
I didn't mark it and I'm sorry,but somebody was on to us, yes
they were.
Oh, there's Aldora, Yep, aldora, right on the mark.
Yep, yep.
So it's not hard math, you guys.
Kritter (34:19):
I just put it on a spreadsheet and counted so you
got me um, I say that and Istill had to count it three
different times last time, so Iguess I shouldn't minimize and I
gotta like and I was wrongabout something completely, this
time we're sure because jessicadid it and I'm not gonna
question it it's a terriblechoice.
Jessica (34:39):
Never take anything I give you at face value Never.
This strikes me as correct,though, yeah, so we both voted
for Pippin on episode one.
We both voted.
We had a lot of samesies thisseason.
We did.
We both voted for Treebeard forepisode two.
Oh, aldora, I'm going to takethat with me this weekend.
(35:02):
I love that, thank you.
Episode three we were bothstanding Gandalf.
Episode four both Pippin.
We got to episode five.
Critter gave the the first timethat Frodo's gotten a shout out
, which is pretty wild.
I gave it up for Gandalf, andI'm pretty sure this one was.
(35:27):
He dropped all the lore thatled everybody, kept everybody
rolling.
Kritter (35:33):
Well, the fact that Gandalf and Frodo were in the
same episode means it was likeright at the break, right, and
so it was.
Yeah, it was Frodo takingcharge when they were climbing
down the cliffs, the Palantir.
Jessica (35:42):
So that's yeah, it was frodo taking charge when they're
like climbing down the cliff,palantir so that's what it was
the palantir, which was chapter11 in book three and chapters
one and two for book four.
That's right, um.
And then episode six we hadcritter went for faramir, I went
for frodo, we swapped forepisode seven, and then we came
(36:03):
together at the end and bothheartily shouted for Samwise.
Kritter (36:07):
Because man the end, he really came through.
Jessica (36:10):
The choices of master gam, master Samwise Gamgee, come
on.
Kritter (36:15):
Yeah, there's no disputing it was wild.
Jessica (36:19):
So yeah, this was a pretty close.
This was a pretty close seasonAll things considered.
Kritter (36:24):
Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna lie.
I I didn't like keep tally.
Obviously jessica was aspreadsheet queen as spreadsheet
mvp, whatever you want to say,um, but in my brain I assumed it
was gonna be gandalf, I think.
I just thought, you know, Ican't.
Who was it last book, do you?
Jessica (36:42):
remember?
Oh, I do not have.
Overall.
No, I'd have to go back becauseI don't.
I don't put the outcome in thespreadsheet.
We do it live.
Kritter (36:53):
Yeah, I think if I could be totally wrong, I want
to say Fellowship's MVP wasGandalf, just off the top of my
head Could be wrong, so I just Idon't know.
Jessica (37:05):
it was like gandalf, he's great, he's a leader, he,
whatever I have the mvp list forseason two, but I don't
remember because remember I hadto check the math like four
different times.
It was embarrassing legitembarrassing tie, no so I had
sam, gandalf and bilbo as spotsone, two and three.
(37:29):
Oh so it was maybe sam.
Okay, it might have been sam onfellowship.
Okay, I could see that we had alot more, had guests too, so
that made it a littleinteresting for me to try to
capture Apparently.
(37:49):
Apparently that's what makes ithard.
So, anyways, it looks like, ifmy last cheat sheet can be
believed, that Sam won seasontwo.
Kritter (38:00):
Okay, and now we've got , you know he only got two this
season.
Man were they.
It was a big two, like thoselast chapters whoa, yeah, whoa
that.
Jessica (38:10):
Uh, he ended with a bang um, and I'll be starting.
Kritter (38:15):
Return of the king tonight I do think, as far as
heroism goes, you you know,because, like this is by episode
, right, so it was all very muchbased on the episode breakdown
and because we didn't get causewe had, like, the first half of
the season was, you know whoeverit?
Mvp is interesting for thesebooks because the POV split, in
(38:37):
my opinion, like Sam and Frododidn't have a single chance
until halfway through the book,right, and the same goes for
everybody else.
They didn't have a chance afterthe first half of the book and
so it kind of just it.
It really I.
I'm having a really hard timearticulating this, but I want to
say if I'm picking my numberone hero from this book, it's
(39:01):
Sam, just because of how much ofa banger that last part was and
how stunningly heroic he cameacross.
Jessica (39:10):
Well, I think that this is going to bring us to a point
where we have to talk aboutwhat criteria are we deciding
who wins the whole shoot andmatch at the end?
Are we just doing who's onebook one, book two and book
three and we can only pick fromthose three?
Are we doing different criteria?
(39:32):
Are we?
We need to put some time intoit, I feel like.
I feel like our mvp choice forthe end of the season, next
season, needs to be solid andthought out.
Kritter (39:44):
Yeah, true, yeah, I guess, like adding all the
points up makes the most senseto me.
Mm-hmm, not, like you know,deciding between the MVPs of
every book overall.
Jessica (40:01):
Right, because they're meant to all be together.
He's got three picks in thisseason.
He had five picks in lastseason.
I got you Right, yeah, yeah.
Kritter (40:07):
That makes the most sense to me.
But I also think that maybethere should be like bonus
points awarded Like in some wayBased on.
Based on this like Sam didn'thave a ton of chances, but by
boy howdy, in my opinion he wasthe biggest hero.
Jessica (40:23):
Right, he was literally only in half the book.
Kritter (40:26):
And yeah, yeah, and granted, the other ones were too
.
Narita, thank you.
Stunningly heroic is really thebest description.
I love Frodo, but then in theface of Shelob, I would abandon
him so quickly.
Yeah, I mean, the file ofGaladriel doesn't lie.
It's shown like a mother whenSam had it Right.
And so I'm just saying I don'tknow, I don't know, who would
(40:49):
you, who would you put as yourlike?
Pippin is the MVP based onpoints, who would you points
aside, who do you consider yournumber one person, hero,
character for this book, forthis?
Jessica (41:10):
book.
Yeah, I would say Samwise, okay, I mean, it's really hard to
ignore.
It's really hard to ignore.
Also, like you and I have hadlong conversations about you
know the primary goal, andgetting that ring to Mordor is
the primary goal and there's so.
(41:30):
But Frodo, narita, I hear you,I hear you, frodo is doing the
lights work.
I get it.
I just can't get past in mymind.
The mental image of Frodo hasto carry it, so Sam carries him,
(41:52):
and so much of this bookstrikes that chord with me.
Yeah, oh my gosh are nails, likeabout the?
Same color I I was lookingearlier and I was like don't get
mad at me, but can we talknails for a second?
This is not what they're gonnalook like tomorrow.
They're changing tomorrow.
Kritter (42:08):
Well, still for them, we didn't plan that.
Guys, look at this.
How cute is that?
Uh, for those of you listeningand not watching, they're like a
light blue, like a they arelike a robin's egg blue, yeah,
um, and mine are waxing andwaning.
Jessica (42:23):
They are so long and so janky.
They need to go away and getfresh for a very special
occasion this weekend.
Kritter (42:30):
So this weekend this weekend yeah, data who's over
here.
Jessica (42:34):
see why I voted for Sam , for MVP, yes, I would never
question anybody for that, but Ido like the fact that we're
doing it by episode.
I really do like that becauseit does give a different
perspective, and having to do itbased on just that read gives a
very different perspective,also helps me digest what I just
(42:55):
read too.
Someone earlier asked what theread was for season four Dana
Lou and I'm going to just pullthat up.
I think that we had said we'regoing to start return of the
King.
Kritter (43:12):
Yeah, quickly actually, because if you, yes, missed my
announcement, I'm going to betaking a hiatus here soon after
we finish return of the king,because I am, uh, I am with
child and we'll be giving birthin the fall.
So we have to, we have, wecan't have a big long hiatus
(43:33):
between this book and the nextbook.
Jessica (43:34):
so we, we don't, we're going to hop right to it.
So for the first episode forseason four, for Return of the
King, we're doing chapters oneand two To answer your question,
dana Lou.
Kritter (43:46):
And that should come out.
July 9th that sounds very right.
Yes, because we're recording it.
The third, yeah, yeah.
So july 9th, chapters one andtwo of return of the king.
Jessica (44:07):
We are not wasting any time, y'all, we are jumping
straight in, um, so yeah,because we, because we really
want to wrap up this seriesbefore Baby comes.
Kritter (44:19):
Yeah, that's the plan Aldora said put the headset
around your belly and let thebaby hear Andy Serkis.
The baby has been hearing AndySerkis as I play my audiobooks
out loud in the car and anytimeI'm not on my headset, so he
will be familiar with Andy Serk,circus and the lord of the
rings soundtrack and taylorswift by the time he arrives so
(44:41):
all these essentials right, he'sgonna enter the world very well
rounded.
Jessica (44:45):
Love it, I think he will.
I think he will.
Kritter (44:47):
Yeah, amazing, um daniel, who, I agree, pippin
gets it in the first half andsam gets it in the second half
and it's I just now kind ofthought of this.
But, like you're right, I dolike that we're doing it based
on episode, because it's likealmost grading on a curve, right
, because it's not how he is inthe grand scheme, it's how he is
compared to his peers at anygiven moment in time, right, and
(45:09):
so it's fun that pippin won,right because, although I will
point out, pippin won the firsthalf, all four votes were the
first half.
Jessica (45:17):
As one would expect, frodo technically would take the
second half based on just count.
True, so true, so yeah,interesting.
We can read this early, aldora,we have not yet negotiated our
next project, but I love yourenthusiasm.
Kritter (45:39):
Yes, thank you for the comment.
We will take that underadvisement.
Okay, so fun.
Those are our MVP numbers now.
Now, how do I stop sharing?
It's a really good questionthat I'm going to learn actually
End my screen share.
Boom, okay, that was easy.
Wow, they make it so easy.
Jessica (45:59):
Now I want to try it with the quotes.
Okay, just because you know wehave all of you here with us and
it's so nice to get your inputHeads up before you share a
screen.
Okay, I understand, I'm gonnashare a word document screen.
(46:22):
You guys, bear with me.
Kritter (46:25):
It's very official brother zachariah, baby critters
.
First words will be my precious.
I'm just gonna have to strugglenot to say that like the first
time we meet.
You know what I mean.
I'm just going to have tostruggle not to say that like
the first time we meet.
Jessica (46:36):
You know what I mean.
I am sharing Critter.
You might have to give mepermission to let it on screen.
Kritter (46:41):
Okay, let me see here.
Oh, here we go.
Show on stream.
Jessica (46:48):
Look at that, that's still really small, you guys.
I'm sorry.
So all I wanted to do was wehave a really good time pulling
together these quotes and I justthought I'd share with you all
what we had this year or thisseason, excuse me, and see if
you all had a favorite.
So for episode one we had topquote farewell and may you find
(47:13):
what you seek, return with whatspeed you may, and let our
swords hereafter shine together.
Episode two if you can foresee,I'll let you read that through.
We had enough dramatic readingalready this season.
But if you have a favorite fromthose, would you be willing to
share it with us and tell us inthe chat so that we can pick it
as our official season threequote oh yeah, we gotta pick,
(47:39):
like the one you know to signoff with from this live stream
the one quote to rule them allexactly, at least in the two
towers.
Kritter (47:50):
Um, yeah, yeah, so sorry.
I'm reading them to see if Ihave a favorite.
Jessica (47:58):
I'm like I could have set that up a little bit cleaner
.
I had no intention of sharingthat document tonight.
Blood and bloody ashes.
Yeah, blood and Bloody Ashes.
(48:19):
Yeah, oh, narita is voting forsix Yep.
Farewell, dear listener.
We must each go swiftly on theways appointed to us.
Kritter (48:32):
Got it Good one, clear to the point, the ways appointed
to us.
Jessica (48:40):
Got it Good one.
Kritter (48:35):
Clear to the point.
Aldora going for the umami play.
Jessica (48:43):
Got it.
Kritter (48:47):
Quote one.
Jessica (48:51):
That's a good one.
Oh sorry, Dana Lou, I don'tknow if I can make it any bigger
and still fit.
Kritter (49:00):
Oh, I can just show it by itself, can.
Jessica (49:04):
I Suck.
Brother Zachariah is going fornumber five, which is follow
Smeagol.
I will not be following upCritter.
Incredible performance.
Um, but I did.
You can't see but in yellow tothe right of that it says best
performance nomination, becauseI'm a smart aleck even in word
(49:25):
documents that I don't plan onsharing with anybody.
Kritter (49:29):
Thanks, um okay, yeah, it's in, it's big now, so
hopefully, thank you, I can seeit um okay oh, we did farewell
my hobbits twice.
Jessica (49:45):
Oops, that's okay, oh, that's so funny.
Sometimes we don't, we don'thave anything, and we look back
further in the book and then weforget we've already used it
apparently well, but I likedending the season on it because
the may we meet again in myhouse was like I hope to see you
again in the podcast, becausethe podcast is our house.
(50:08):
So I I loved the symmetry ofending on that I.
Kritter (50:13):
I tend to agree, man, there's some really good ones in
there.
I kind of like I like the uh, Ialso like the few can foresee
whether their road will leadthem till they come to its end
and this is our end.
Like I, I don't know I wasproud of myself for that one and
so, um, he did really like theword farewell at Eldora.
(50:35):
There's some real bangers here.
I think there were some reallygood parting of the ways
language in this book that wecompletely stole for our sign
off.
Daniel does not like the longones, so you like the one that I
.
Just.
What was it Few can foresee?
Jessica (50:57):
It is the end us go.
Yes, that was, that was you,wasn't it?
Kritter (51:01):
that was a you sign off yeah, granted, it was in the
book.
It was very much like, uh, wedon't know what to do um, give
me pithy.
Jessica (51:13):
Oh, dana lou, okay, okay, well, we have.
I don't feel like we had anydouble ups.
We had some separate, someseparate votes.
Kritter (51:24):
So six, one and five I think, um, I think I'm gonna
back up the.
We must each go swiftly on theways appointed to us.
I just wanted to shout out theand this is the end, till next
week, but I think the the dearlistener also reminds me of lady
whistle down.
Yeah, and we must each goswiftly on the ways appointed to
(51:46):
us.
It's good, it's a good one.
I like that a lot.
Jessica (51:49):
Dana Lou voting for farewell my hobbits, okay.
Kritter (51:53):
Okay, fair enough.
What's your favorite one?
Jessica (51:59):
I mean, I know you think I'm picking on you, but
follow smiegel, your read forfollow smiegel was fantastic.
I enjoyed that so much.
Um, okay, I think that numbertwo is technically my favorite.
Few can foresee whether theirroad will lead them.
Uh, just because I do, it'sflowery and that's yeah, so I
(52:25):
think that number two wins itfor me this year, this season,
okay okay, so what does thatmean?
Kritter (52:36):
I don't know.
I feel like I shouldn't havetwo votes.
That was my first vote and thenI gave it to somebody else to
basically tie-break.
Now the two that I voted forare the two that have two, so I
need to.
Jessica (52:54):
Al Dora is still advocating for number one.
It's a good one.
It is a good one.
I I abstain.
Wow, they were all so good.
Kritter (53:25):
They really are.
They're all good, oh man, okay,uh, let's give it like one more
minute.
And if you voted for somethingother than number two, the few
can foresee whether their roadwill lead them till they come to
its end.
And this is our end.
Till next week.
Versus what is it?
Farewell, dear listener.
We must each go swiftly on theways appointed to us.
If you voted for something elseother than those, please break
this tie.
Please break this tie and pickone of those two, and we can
(53:48):
call that our official sign offfor the two towers.
I will very, we will very muchappreciate your, your efforts.
If you, I will very, we willvery much appreciate your, your
efforts.
If you, if you do that andsince we are, let me I didn't
realize that we're I still amnot showing us.
Jessica (54:03):
Let me go.
That's okay.
You were letting them have agood long read, it's true, I was
okay, let's do this.
Kritter (54:10):
This is a different, no , that's not a different one.
Boop, there we, there we go,got it.
Farewell, dear listener fromDana Lou.
Jessica (54:16):
Thank you.
Thank you, Dana Lou, for endingthe torture.
Kritter (54:21):
Yes, yes, when we sign off, assuming nobody else chimes
in, and if they do, then we'lltake that into account, but when
we sign off, that'll be okay.
Nine that's sarcasm.
Oh, thank you, brotherzachariah.
(54:42):
Great, great, um.
Jessica (54:42):
Okay, so out of those number two we've still got a tie
, then good we can smush themtogether if you can foresee
whether their road will leadthem till they come to its end.
And this is our end.
Till next week.
Farewell, dear listener.
Kritter (54:55):
We must each go swiftly on the plays appointed to us
you know what daniel is gonnahate that, but she is but she's
also a very gracious person andwill forgive us okay, yeah,
unless we get another vote,that'll be, uh, that'll be our
sign off.
Um, but before we do sign off,I would like to keep these for
around an hour.
We're coming up on that time.
(55:16):
Is there anything else we wantto talk about about the two
towers, before we we bail, anyfinal thoughts?
Jessica (55:27):
I just wasn't expecting to get into it so much.
I know that sounds silly.
We started a podcast about itand the whole thing, but, um,
it's really very engrossing andI have been loving it and I can
see why people are so dedicatedto it.
Um, and uh, slight tangent,just slight tangent.
(55:49):
Uh, watching stranger thingsright now and there's so many um
, lord of the rings referencesin that and I thought I find it
very adorable because I was like, oh my God, I got that
reference.
I'm Captain America over heregoing.
I understood that reference andso Lord of the Rings in the
wild is more meaningful to menow and I really, I just love
(56:10):
that is more meaningful to menow and I really I just love
that.
Kritter (56:17):
That's awesome.
Aldora is wondering for youthoughts on the future for
Saruman Because, unlike themovies, he is alive.
Jessica (56:24):
He is alive.
He is holed up in the towerswhere we left him.
I honestly don't, can'tperceive, can't fathom that
Sauron will leave him untouched.
Like I would think thatSauron's going to come for him,
because I'm of a mind, likeGandalf said, that he does not
(56:46):
share power.
So I think that Sauron's goingto come for him, yeah.
Kritter (56:52):
I think that's a totally fair assessment, but I
will neither confirm nor denywhether it's correct.
Jessica (57:00):
Narita is willing to change votes from six to two, so
the twos have it.
Kritter (57:06):
Well, and brother Zachariah also went for two.
So we we officially have a signoff for this.
Thank you, thank you all, foraccommodating our need for um
for finality.
I don't know for a definitivepick.
Uh, I appreciate the love forall the quotes and for my
(57:27):
performance with the smiegel.
You know my impression leaves abit to be desired, not at all.
Well, I'm glad that you're intoit.
Honestly, I love these books.
I remembered loving these booksand it's just.
I can't believe I've let it goso long since I've read them and
now I can just confidentlyrecommend them to literally
(57:51):
anyone who will listen becauseit's not been they hold, to
literally anyone who will listenbecause it's it's not been like
they.
They hold the, they hold up.
Essentially, they've withstoodthe test of time and I should
have known that.
I mean the cult, it's not evena cult following, it's a rabid
following for these books.
I should have known that.
Of course they're incredible,um, but yeah, yeah, it was a
(58:13):
pleasure reading and I'm I'mhappy that I'm doing it and I'm
excited to be continuingbasically where we're at um.
Jessica (58:21):
One last question going into it, based on your
remembrance from the last timethat you read is return of the
king your favorite for reading?
Kritter (58:34):
for reading, for reading, for reading.
I doubt it.
Okay, it's been a really longtime, but I don't think so Just
based on because you and I we'renot battle skirlies, right, we
(58:55):
aren't.
Jessica (58:57):
I'm a little worried about that.
I'm like if return is as battleheavy as I expect it to be, I
I'm gonna have to, I'm gonnahave to brace for that, yeah so
yeah, I don't think so, but timewill tell and I could have a
completely different perspectiveon it as an adult versus as a
kid.
Kritter (59:16):
And for what it's worth , return of the king is my
favorite of the movies, so youknow, if there's a reason for
that, it makes me cry, and maybethis one will make me cry too.
We'll see.
When I was a kid, I was a huge.
I was really stoic, if you canbelieve that, and so, uh, there
were.
There wasn't really cryinginvolved in reading books, but
this time around theredefinitely could be I was gonna
(59:38):
say I'm a fan of closure.
Jessica (59:40):
So a lot of times the third book does very well for me
, depending on if I feelsatisfied with the outcomes.
And again, recency bias.
I'm always, I'm always subjectto recency bias, so we'll see
how it goes If it takes over forfellowship in the rankings.
Kritter (59:59):
Okay, and Narita has a great point.
Gonna cop out and say Tolkienintended for this story to be
one book, so winky face.
I agree.
I think that's.
When people ask me what myfavorite movie is, I first say
the Lord of the Rings.
Only do I specify Return of theking if they force it upon me
(01:00:21):
because it is the wholeexperience that is my favorite,
because you know what doesn'thit as hard if I haven't watched
the first two movies return ofthe king it still hits, but it
doesn't hit as hard.
So it's really for me a packagedeal the whole, and I think the
books are, like, understandably, best when digested whole as
(01:00:44):
well, like in yeah, so I willsay that I came home the second.
Jessica (01:00:49):
I got home from the movie theater, I immediately
purchased online um extendededition of all three yes, yes,
yes so that I could go back andlook.
Did I tell you that I missedlike the first five minutes on
(01:01:10):
movie one and like the first 10minutes of movie two because
they started before the air timethat was published?
Kritter (01:01:18):
no, I missed the first like five minutes because they
started exactly on time anddidn't have previews.
And when do they do that?
Jessica (01:01:24):
never, no, but so they did it with no previews but they
also.
So I came home after the twotowers and I was like they
didn't even show how Gollum hadfound them yet, like I don't
understand what's happening.
So I, like I said, immediatelypurchased all of them so that I
(01:01:44):
could watch return of the Kingthe second we finish and I
watched back to see how muchmovie I had missed and it was
like 12 minutes of movie Ofactual movie I had missed, and
it was like 12 minutes of movieof actual movie that I missed
and I was like I was in themovie theater In the two towers,
See the beginning of two towers.
Kritter (01:02:04):
That's when that's Gandalf's fight, right, yes, the
Balrog fight.
Jessica (01:02:09):
Oh, that part's so good , yep, merry and Pippin are in
custody you.
Good, yep, mary and Pippin arein custody you.
The first thing I saw was thatGollum was already with Sam and
Frodo.
Wow.
So there was a catch up on Maryand Pippin, a catch up on
Gandalf, and then we came backto Sam and Frodo.
Wow.
(01:02:29):
So, anyways, I think you knowjust a little grouse, but yeah,
I was.
Kritter (01:02:35):
I was equally a little miffed because I really didn't
expect them to start the moviewithout previews.
I am a movie goer.
I like to go to the movietheater A month or so maybe,
maybe once every other month,depending on what's coming out.
I have it down where you canliterally get to the theater at
showtime.
Jessica (01:02:57):
I walked in at 11 32 like I walked into the theater
to my seat at 11 32.
I'm like there's no.
You like that's 15 minutes ofcontent.
Not only did you have zero, um,how dare screeners, you know
but you, you legit ran 10 plusminutes a movie so you got
robbed.
Kritter (01:03:17):
I just didn't plan well enough it's basically how that.
Jessica (01:03:21):
It was the first one.
The fellowship was a little bitof both, like I was holding out
for my uh, sweet, sweet snacksat the concession stand,
thinking that I had um previewtime, yeah I made that.
Kritter (01:03:35):
I made that mistake too .
Jessica (01:03:36):
I made that mistake too .
I planned better for the twotowers, so when I walked in at
1132, I was like this is bogus.
Kritter (01:03:44):
Yeah, bs.
This is not how it's supposedto be, but anyways, we digress.
Jessica (01:03:51):
Yeah, no way.
Kritter (01:03:53):
Not us.
Can't believe that happened.
All right, do you wanna?
You know?
You're the.
You're the.
Wow, I can't.
I wasn't.
It's not collaborator, it's,it's.
It's not coagulator.
You're the person who gatheredall the sign-offs.
Yes, you're the compiler.
(01:04:16):
When I tell you Pregnancy Brainis truly real, oh, it's real,
it's very real.
If you don't believe it's real,it's real.
So you're the compiler of allthe sign-offs.
Jessica (01:04:27):
Yeah, would you like to do the honors, I'll take a stab
at it.
Okay, I think that both Critterand I want to say thank you so
much for taking time to stop in,especially if you're in a crazy
time zone.
We see you, we love you, weappreciate you in day in and day
out, through Discord, youtube,drop in comments, whatever it
might be on socials.
We love, love, love having youguys along for the ride.
(01:04:49):
So we appreciate you so much.
You have no idea we are kickingright into Return of the Kings
because we're going to try andfinish it before the end of
September.
That's our goal.
So for those of you who want tocontinue reading along.
Our first leg of the tripshould be chapters one and two.
(01:05:12):
Leg of the trip should bechapters one and two, and um,
I'll do it, we're going to letyou go to bed soon.
Um, it'll be chapters one andtwo of book five, and that
should air July 9th wherever youget podcasts, or here on our
YouTube channel.
Uh, thank you so much.
Please follow us If you're notalready.
You can find us as but Arethere Dragons?
(01:05:34):
On Instagram, tiktok andYouTube.
And but Dragons Pod just one Ton X.
You can find us both on socialmedia Critter XD or myself as
Shelf Indulgence in any of ourspaces.
We love you all so much.
Here is our final send-off forseason three.
(01:05:56):
Few can foresee whether theirroad will lead them till they
come to its end, and this is ourend Until next season.
We love you guys all so much.
Good night Good night.
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