"We shot that scene all night long. And the entire cast came out and spent the entire night out on that field to be there for the last scene, and Jeff DeMunn [who played the recently deceased Dale] actually had been gone. He lives on a farm in upstate New York, and he had flown down and surprised me to be there for my last scene, which just touched me. And like I said, there was a lot of feeling about the last scene. The writers wanted it to be one way, the actors wanted it one way, the producers wanted it to be another way, I think everybody just sort of had their idea of what that scene should be, and it was just Andy and I in the woods walking out together, and Andy and I turned to each other and said, “You know what, man, this is you and me. Let’s do this for you and me.”
The final sequence of “Better Angels” was arguably the most well crafted set piece of this season. With Rick and Shane alone in a foggy field under the light of a full moon (okay, the moon was a little too big), it felt like a horror movie. It was dark, cold and scary. They had it out — the two alpha males who we knew could never coexist — in a sneaky set up where ultimately Rick was the devious one, coaxing Shane with talk of a truce before literally plunging a knife into his heart. Passion strained the bonds of affection between Rick and Shane, and they became enemies despite the better angels of their nature.
Still, it’s a little sad. Shane stood out as perhaps the most compelling conflicted character in season two. It was never clear what Shane might do next, and on a show where everyone has had the same argument at least five times, a dose of unpredictability was welcome.
Shane’s starkly black and white approach to handling life’s major obstacles will be profoundly missed. From now on, we’ll just have to watch “Walking Dead” while always asking ourselves WWSWD — What would Shane Walsh do?
With Shane gone, the broken group just might be able to find cohesion again; there is no longer an instigator to question Rick and Hershel's more pacifist, humanist leanings. But in the world of "The Walking Dead," rarely do things get better.
"For provocations, “Better Angels” offers two choices: Lori’s possibly misinterpreted message of thanks to Shane for his just-after-the-apocalypse heroics on her behalf, which he might have heard as “I still love you, Shane.” Or Rick’s unilateral decision-making over the groups’ affairs, notably reversing last episode’s near-consensus in favor of executing the captive Randall.
"... the simpler interpretation could also be correct: Shane is a twisted psychopath who will kill for what he wants. His scheme to kill Rick borrows from both of his past plots. "
WARNING & DISCLAIMER:
SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted
on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please
review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this
site.
Previous Topic
Index
