AMC's The Walking Dead

Shane might be as asshole but it's hard to argue he was right in the barn/Sophia discussion.

In this world, the only thing you can care about is your own safety and once Carl was safe enough to travel, the group should have stopped looking for Sophia --like Shane said, after 48 hours it's pretty hopeless--and moved on, especially when it was clear that Herschel didn't want them at that farm.

And killing the walkers, like it or not, was the right move. If there's one thing this show has proven, it's that you can't plan for a zombie invasion and having a pack of them 12 feet from your camp is never a good idea.

I like Rick as a leader and think he's the more level-headed and intelligent of the two but Shane is the one more likely to keep you alive ... provided, of course, he doesn't shoot you and use you as zombie bait to foster his own escape.

 

There's definitely going to be a schism in the group. Shane going balls out and tossing guns out of that bag to willing recipients should say enough. And to hear Rick screaming at Shane as the latter smashed the barn's lock tells you there's some serious problems between those two now. It's been building since their scuffle at the CDC.

As HejiraHenry mentioned, the director of that episode was Michelle MacLaren, who's directed seven "Breaking Bad" episodes. "One Minute," the referred title about Hank's showdown with The Twins, was nominated for an Academy Award. She's been a producer on the many of the show's episodes.

 

In the grand scheme of things, I don't understand what the fuck Rick and Co. are doing.

If I'm them, and I know first hand that armageddon has come, and I look around at the farm I'm at and realize it's the best of a bad situation, I decide this is our desert isle...we are going to hunker down here and see about riding out the storm. Go into town, find a couple of the best vehicles available, gas them up and load them up with weapons, bring them back to the farm as our escape vehicles, set up a long perimeter to keep the stragglers out...and set about living life.

Tell Herschel there's a new Sheriff in town and if he doesn't like it, he can...die.

 

I disagree. Everything in their world is dangerous -- including going to the drugstore.

So searching in the woods for a lost girl is no more dangerous than going for a pack of smokes.

And, really, what are they moving on to? What's the likelihood that going to Fort Benning is going to be a safe journey or destination?

Shane cares more about keeping himself safe than protecting the group.

 

Well, I think there are some in the group who are thinking like this or have had these thoughts. That's been completely blown up now.

One thing that Kirkman pointed out, and I think it's fair, is that these are human beings who are going to make mistakes. If they write a story about how "smart" persons would react to a zombie apocalypse (hunker down, don't venture out, all get along, etc.) then it'd be a boring-ass show. But you've got to show that these characters aren't perfect and aren't thinking straight. They're human beings. BUT, the writers have gotten in the way of this and put these characters in situations based on heavy-handed actions, not as victims of circumstances. Basically, a lot of the problems with this season is the writers have put plot ahead of characters.

 

If they follow any other ideas from the comics, we're going to see a lot more of the living human beings causing every bit as much harm to survivors as the walkers. Tends to happen in a lot of these zombie apocolypse stories -- the living end up fucking things up.

Can't believe I actually missed a good episode (Steelers on Sunday Night Football and I couldn't stay up for the replay), because it has been kind of uneven this season.

 

But going to the drug store is a necessary risk. You go to get supplies. What's necessary about finding a little girl who's basically just slowing you down anyway? And especially after a couple days when even the most optimistic person knows she's likely a goner?

If it's clear that they're going to leave that farm, they may as well get going sooner rather than later. No need dragging it out.

Now, if you're going to make the case that they could just shoot Herschel and company and take that farm over and live there forever, well then, that's a bit different.

And I agree that Shane doesn't care about the group. All he cares about is himself and MAYBE Lori and Carl.

 

I do think Shane legitimately cares about Carl. Maybe he cared about Lori, too, but now I think he'd gun her down for his own sake in a heartbeat.

 

I'm not sure where he stands after going apeshit on the walkers, but he told Lori (I believe in the penultimate ep of this season's half) the only thing that matters to him are her and Carl.

 

Speaking of the drug store, my wife raised an interesting point the last time they went...why haven't the survivors gone to all the stores in the area and taken everything they can already?

 

If safety is what matters most, why on earth would they leave the safest place they've been for the run of the show?

Shane's attitude is one of panic, fear and selfishness and while it may seem the best plan in the short term to survival, it doesn't offer much thinking for the long term. As someone else said, who knows what happens on the way to Fort Benning?

As for the barn, they've been there quite a while without it blowing up on them. Taking a little more time to try to work on Herschel, with his daughter helping -- and with folks now aware they had to watch the barn the way they keep lookout anyway -- doesn't seem as impossible as Shane makes it out to be. It's still a lot safer than the unknown.

The massacre he forced was irrational. All those gunshots just made them move vulnerable, not safer, as gunshots draw the walkers' attention. They sure had a lot of them to hear there.

As for just not bothering to look for a little girl in your group or shoot an old man to steal his land because it's all a part of survival ... I guess you could make those cases. But that's not a survival worth attaining to me.

 

That is part of what is and should be compelling about this story. Just how far will these people go to survive? What are they willing to do? Shane may look like the bad guy to some now, but what happens when things get worse down the line?