All beside the point,
Thorn is right. If at the end of having everything done FOR us (society/civilization) we do not retain whatever control over our destiny remains to us, and retain the freedom to choose as our hearts, minds and souls/essence/guts dictate, then SURVIVAL IS IRRELEVANT.
Ben Franklin said: "A society willing to exchange freedom for security is deserving of neither." This statement holds true on the individual scale even more so. If Survival becomes your Holy Grail, to the point you turn over all free will and personal responsibility to someone who you either give that responsibility to, or who takes it of their own initiative "for your own good" you are NOW LIVESTOCK.
In essence, anyone who looks at what Shane did and believes it to be Good because Lori and Carl are still alive, when it all comes crumbling down I wish folks like you were wearing some identifying insignia, so I'd know who to use as meatshields to bypass zombies, and who not to exert the tiniest effort saving, because you have zero worth as humans. Because, end of the day, you are no longer human in just as profound a way as the zombies.
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Now, as for Shane: Shane is RELISHING his control over that group. In the name of "protecting them" he as assumed authority over 98% of every aspect of their entire lives. His confronting Ed over the fire was not a dirty job he recognized needed doing and did out of a sense of duty or moral obligation. It was a demonstration of his control, capped off with a twisted version of a phrase he used as a cop. "I appreciate your co-operation" means JACK & SHIT when the sentence before that was something along the lines of "Do you really want to get into it with me full-on right now Ed?" That was the bigger gorilla not-so-subtly reminding the less dominant gorilla "Comply or I feed you your guts."
Second, Shane was NOT happy to see Rick return. His face has a flat affect, and is very sulky, UNTIL Rick looks in his direction. As Rick begins his turn, Shane plasters what I'm sure was the old familiar "Hey Buddy" smile Rick would recognize on his face, lying to Rick with his very expression.
Need proof of this? How about Shane up on the RV roof staring daggers at the camper that Lori is inside of w/ Rick and Carl. That's an angry man, feeling wronged and bitter. Not a man feeling even the SLIGHTEST BIT good his alleged "best friend" is still alive. His focus was 100% on the "loss" of Lori and Carl to him.
More proof? When Lori tells him her and her family are off-limits to Shane from now on, he goes into the whole "That isn't really fair, Rick's my best friend bit." Only when his connection to Rick can be perceivably useful to Shane as Lori is slamming the door definitively to shut him out does Shane go there. Yes it IS FAIR, Rick his supposed best friend, that SHANE CHOSE to lie about being dead to Rick's wife, doesn't now want to accept the consequences of that lie coming back to cost him. All of a sudden "It's not fair."
Where was Shane's concern for how unfair it was to SEIZE the decision about the future of her husband and father of her child. Or how unfair it was of him to make her feel awkward and/or embarrassed or even ashamed that she was wearing the locket and Rick's wedding ring on a chain until she took it off? How about how unfair it was to Lori, that as a cop with every reason to understand that women that have suffered a spouse's loss to violence are vulnerable, does he take what MIGHT have begun as a one-time mistake in the heat of and pain of the moment and push it into an ongoing sexual/romantic relationship that includes stepping in as Carl's father-figure, less than a MONTH after Lori had suffered that loss?
How about how unfair it was to Carl? Shane's sneaking around with his mother, but behaving as his "Uncle Shane", a father figure he looks to for strength and stability in the wake of the most devastating thing that can happen to a child, the loss of a parent. Why were they sneaking around? Because even Lori knew Carl would never accept that, not yet anyways. We see how raw and open Carl's wounds still are when he sees loved ones and a father being reunited with his family upon the return from Atlanta and he begins to freely cry (something boys that age are LOATHE to do in front of adult men unless they are fucked up enough to wipe the thought of being embarrassed about their tears clean from their head.)
Unfair to Shane? No, actually it was EXACTLY what Shane deserved. To have his ill-gotten gains seized from his clutches, his position as tyrant eroded by the addition of a man able to stand up to him who won't stand for it for long, and his hopes and feelings crushed as surely as the hopes and feelings he crushed of his own free will.
Looks a lot more to me like justice than unfairness.
No, Shane doesn't have a shred of decency about him. Ask yourself this: Do you genuinely believe he would serve that group as protector had the group insisted on one of the other men (or women) being its leader?
In no universe can you credibly say you could swallow that. He'd strike out on his own, but more likely convince Lori and Carl to come with him and leave the group. If someone else was the leader, he wouldn't have his need for control and dominance fulfilled. What do we see within HOURS of something not going his way? Shane transfers his frustration, bitterness and jealousy onto Ed and savagely beats him as a stand-in for Rick. Again, he didn't much give a rat's ass about what Ed had been doing behind closed doors. Only the public setting allows Shane to exert the power he craves. Only when it suited HIS needs did he do anything about Ed.
Shane is more dangerous to that group than a few hundred Walkers right now. The only thing keeping him going is the cherished hope that this time Rick won't come back.
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Originally Posted by Thorn
Cops' wives worth anything should already be prepared for that call, especially if their husband is as good and heroic a man as Rick is.
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