Meriadoc Brandybuck FTW

Last night Keith and I were on the couch, winding down after the hard work of painting and painting and paiting and painting, and found ourselves in a lively discussion about casting.  Specifically about the hit-or-miss casting of one Joss Whedon, show-runner-and-world-creator extraordinaire.  The discussion spawned from a particularly bad episode of the latest Joss Whedon show that we've gotten into.  It's an older Joss show that we've been Netflixing and it shall remain nameless.  Because we're embarrassed.  It is such and guilty pleasure and despite the fact that it's sometimes (almost always) insanely ridiculous, we're getting a little attached.  So we've sworn each other to secrecy and that is the end of that.

But then our discussion of Joss's casting missteps, led us into another, even more exciting discussion of the near pitch perfect casting of my favorite-movie-of-all-time Lord of the Rings.  Viggo Mortensen may come off a little wooden and weird in most of his other movies, but he is perfect as sorrowful, noble, mysterious Aragorn.  And no other actor could have embodied Gandalf quite the way the brilliant Ian McKellen did.  Wood and Astin are expertly cast as Frodo and Sam.  Mirando Otto brings a fierce strength and a graceful vulnerability to the expanded role of Eowyn.  Besides a few slightly questionable choices (mostly with the elves so maybe it's just really hard to capture the otherwordly beauty of the elves, expect for Cate Blanchett, who did it perfectly but she can do anything) we would not make any changes.

And then, I casually mentioned (fully expecting the most complete agreement from my husband) that, of course, Merry is everybody's favorite hobbit.  He looked at me like I  must be confused.  And this is where it got heated.

Keith:  You mean Pippin.

Me:  (very firmly) Merry.

Keith:  Billy Boyd!

Me:  Dominic Monaghan!

Both at the same time:  But (Pippin/Merry) is the best hobbit!

Keith:  Pippin is so great!  He's so fun and curious.

Me:  Are you crazy?  Merry is brave!  He was brave from the very beginning.  He wanted to fight!  And he was so wise...or at least wise-er...than Pippin.

Keith:  Pippin!!!

Me:  Merry!!!

And so it dawned on me, for the first time, that not everybody automatically thinks Merry is the best hobbit.  I thought this was just a given, a foregone conclusion.  So clear is it in my mind that Merry is written to be the favorite, that it never occurred to me that someone else might identify with (or just appreciate) Pippin more.  So there you go.  Even in the most perfect relationships, you do not always see eye to eye.  Sometimes, no matter how much you love him, your husband will just be entirely wrong.