‘The Walking Dead.’ Shit gets real.

“Better Angels” was a great episode, but I am so pissed that I already knew Shane would die. I didn’t think too much about the recent spoilers that the AMC store printed something or other about “Shane’s last episode,” because I’ve seen it coming for some time, what with him dying in the first issue of the comic. While watching “Better Angels” last night, though, my husband had such a strong shocked reaction to Rick getting all stabby with Shane, that I couldn’t help being jealous of him. We had discussion that went something like this:

“Surely you knew he was going to die, right?”

He did not.

“Yeah, but you had to figure he would because in the comic…”

“STOP!!! I haven’t read the comic yet, don’t tell me anything!!”

Wow. Okay. I haven’t read the comics yet either (I’m working on it,) but I was flabbergasted that anyone could not have just read or heard somewhere about Shane kicking the bucket. I mean, I guess it’s possible to not inadvertently find out these basic details if you steer clear of all websites, blogs, and podcasts that have anything to do with The Walking Dead or TV in general. But who would choose to live like that?!?!

Anyway, I wish I could have experienced the surprise and horror that my husband felt during the show, but I still loved every second it.

Let’s just go ahead and get everything with Shane out of the way. Yeah, he totally went bonkers in this episode, but I still think that killing Randall was the right move. He totally knew where his crew was. (By the way, I totally thought Zombie Randall was going to be the end of Daryl for a minute there. Phew!) I loved that we got to see a bit more of Shane fathering Carl. You know, he kind of was a better father. Maybe he didn’t always have the right ideas, but he certainly showed more concern for Carl than Rick seems to. It was interesting to note that Rick went ahead and took Shane’s advice about talking to Carl right away. I enjoyed the scene where Lori makes peace with Shane, but it made me wonder if Shane’s intention was to kill Rick all along, or if Lori gave him the idea that maybe he would still have a chance with her if Rick was out of the way. Guess we’ll never know.

Those zombie-flash scenes when Shane died scared the crap out of me – both times! And I only have one thing to say about Carl shooting Zombie Shane: What the hell, Lori? A house full of people on edge about Randall getting away, and Carl just slips right out the door?

Okay, on to some of the non-Shane related parts of the episode. Rick and Daryl seem to make a pretty good team, and I appreciated that Daryl mentioned something about Rick not having to do all of the heavy lifting. It seems like he’s deciding to take an active role in the group, which is good for two reasons: 1) He’s fairly level-headed and seems to be a good decision maker, and 2) We get to look at Daryl more often. Nice.

Speaking of being level-headed, Andrea has done a complete turn-around since the beginning of the show. She is calm, cool, collected, and quickly becoming my favorite bad-ass. She doesn’t take shit off of people and knows how to take care of business, even though Lori feels “the men” don’t need any help with those sorts of things. Suck it, Lori!

The understated scene with Andrea and Glenn working on Dale’s RV was my favorite. Andrea and Glenn represent Dale’s closest family, and I thought it was a touching moment. I’m glad that it wasn’t overdone.

While we’re on the subject of Glenn, let me close by saying “Glenn! Grab your stuff and head up to Maggie’s room for god’s sake! What are you thinking, dude?!”

‘The Walking Dead’ Jack Bauer shows up, Carl acts like a little shit, and Carol’s kind of weird.

I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s episode of The Walking Dead.

The “are we still civilized?” undercurrent really made me think, and I kept pausing to discuss what I would do in that situation. My husband totally hates it when I do that. I forced the issue though, and it turned out that he and I completely disagreed about how the situation should have been handled. He felt that Dale was right, and that they should basically keep Randall as a prisoner. I think that’s crap. I mean, sure he is being made out to seem like he could be a good guy, but if there is even the slightest chance (and there is!) that he could bring danger to the farm, the boy has got to go. Of course, if I were in charge instead of Rick, this wouldn’t even be an issue because I would have shot Randall (out of mercy, mind you,) when he was stuck to that fence.

Anyway, I was surprised that they ended up letting Randall live. I thought for sure that Shane or Jack Bauer Daryl would just go ahead and get it over with already. Again, I feel the need to say that I don’t dislike Randall, it’s a wrong place/wrong time kind of situation here. By the looks of next week’s promo, not killing him turns out to be a mistake. Although the promos always tend to mislead, so who knows..

Oh Dale, I am so sorry for all of the times during this episode that I felt so annoyed by you that I thought they should just go ahead and get rid of you, too. Because they did. This was another shocker. It’s amazing to me how this show can make you feel so attached to a character that, even if he annoys the hell out of you, you want to cry when he is inevitably ripped open by a zombie and shot by one of his own people. Oh, so we now know who was on the other side of that gun, by the way. I totally knew it couldn’t be Merle. I do wonder if Merle is part of this other group, though.

Carl, you little shit, what were you thinking in this episode?! Actually I kind of liked where they went with Carl because it was a bit of a reminder that he’s still a kid. He’s been so mature and well-behaved so far this season, and that’s just not realistic. A kid would totally sneak into places he’s not supposed to and say stupid things to adults that end up getting him in trouble. Whether a kid would steal a gun or throw rocks at a zombie, I can’t attest to. I wonder if Carl will fess up about leading the walker into camp? While we’re on the subject of Carl, I think it’s interesting that Shane still seems to have more of a fathering role with him than Rick does. What’s up with that?

Did anyone else think that Carol was really weird this episode? Kind of like they are trying to figure out what to do with her? On a related note, I have decided that I like T-Dog and his role in the group. You know, he doesn’t do or say much, but that’s cool with me. In a random group of people, I think it’s realistic to imagine that one or two of them would hang back and be a bit more reserved. T-Dog’s not interested in the drama that’s going on, but he steps up when he’s needed.

My least favorite thing about this episode was the realization that there are only two more left. Nooooooo!