Knittykat is a Shane Walsh Apologist Part 2
Okay. I've decided to take people's complaints and arguments one at a time, to put SOME semblance of coherence to this mess.
1. Shane left his best friend Rick for dead.
Okay, okay, this is true in the strictest literal sense. The last show of the season shows a flashback in which Shane attempts to carry Rick (who is unconscious) out of the hospital as zombies gather around the room. I am going to go ahead and say that even if Shane realized that Rick was still alive, he either a) figured he would be dead soon without life support or b) realized he could not carry Rick and escape with both of their lives intact.
In a life or death situation, the brain switches into full survival mode. People have argued that Shane left Rick for dead because he coveted Rick's wife, Lori. While he may well have been attracted to Lori, that sort of conniving is unrealistic in a true life or death situation. If anything, he may have realized that if he did not escape, Rick's family would not survive without his help, and decided to trade the life of his best friend for his best friend's loved ones.
Were Rick conscious, I don't doubt he would have agreed. What heroic man would not give up his (tenuous) grasp on life so that his family may survive?
And so while Shane may have known Rick was not completely dead, he must have realized that rescuing him was an impossible feat, and made the difficult choice to leave him behind.
2. Shane ends up forging a relationship with Lori, Rick's wife, in his absence.
Again, yes, literally true. Shane told Lori that Rick was dead, because by that point he was convinced that he would not have survived the zombie attack even if he survived his gunshot wound when the life support systems went down. I am going to go out on a limb and say that this, too, was a move to protect Lori's feelings and her memory of her husband. Who wants to believe their husband was devoured by zombies? Wouldn't it be easier and more comforting to believe that he died in the line of duty (he was a police officer after all)?
As the de facto leader of the small group of survivors, Shane is especially protective of Lori and Carl, who is Rick and Lori's son. He moves quickly into a father role with Carl, trying to fill the void left by Rick's absence. And yes, he does end up having a sexual relationship with Lori.
While I admit I was surprised by this at first, I had to remind myself that I have never experienced an apocalyptic zombie attack. If my home, my husband, my friends, my TOWN, and everything I knew and relied upon were suddenly gone, you can bet that I would be seeking any source of comfort available to me. Shane is not a random guy to Lori--he's been Rick's best friend since grade school. A person that close is like part of the family, and I cannot judge Lori or Shane for seeking comfort in each other. When the entire infrastructure of your life has been shattered, all bets are off.
Stay tuned for part three.
1. Shane left his best friend Rick for dead.
Okay, okay, this is true in the strictest literal sense. The last show of the season shows a flashback in which Shane attempts to carry Rick (who is unconscious) out of the hospital as zombies gather around the room. I am going to go ahead and say that even if Shane realized that Rick was still alive, he either a) figured he would be dead soon without life support or b) realized he could not carry Rick and escape with both of their lives intact.
In a life or death situation, the brain switches into full survival mode. People have argued that Shane left Rick for dead because he coveted Rick's wife, Lori. While he may well have been attracted to Lori, that sort of conniving is unrealistic in a true life or death situation. If anything, he may have realized that if he did not escape, Rick's family would not survive without his help, and decided to trade the life of his best friend for his best friend's loved ones.
Were Rick conscious, I don't doubt he would have agreed. What heroic man would not give up his (tenuous) grasp on life so that his family may survive?
And so while Shane may have known Rick was not completely dead, he must have realized that rescuing him was an impossible feat, and made the difficult choice to leave him behind.
2. Shane ends up forging a relationship with Lori, Rick's wife, in his absence.
Again, yes, literally true. Shane told Lori that Rick was dead, because by that point he was convinced that he would not have survived the zombie attack even if he survived his gunshot wound when the life support systems went down. I am going to go out on a limb and say that this, too, was a move to protect Lori's feelings and her memory of her husband. Who wants to believe their husband was devoured by zombies? Wouldn't it be easier and more comforting to believe that he died in the line of duty (he was a police officer after all)?
As the de facto leader of the small group of survivors, Shane is especially protective of Lori and Carl, who is Rick and Lori's son. He moves quickly into a father role with Carl, trying to fill the void left by Rick's absence. And yes, he does end up having a sexual relationship with Lori.
While I admit I was surprised by this at first, I had to remind myself that I have never experienced an apocalyptic zombie attack. If my home, my husband, my friends, my TOWN, and everything I knew and relied upon were suddenly gone, you can bet that I would be seeking any source of comfort available to me. Shane is not a random guy to Lori--he's been Rick's best friend since grade school. A person that close is like part of the family, and I cannot judge Lori or Shane for seeking comfort in each other. When the entire infrastructure of your life has been shattered, all bets are off.
Stay tuned for part three.
posted by knittykat @ 8:37 AM
1 Comments:
At 2:52 PM,
ladyjanewriter said…
"While I admit I was surprised by this at first, I had to remind myself that I have never experienced an apocalyptic zombie attack."
^^^This is seriously one of the most amazing sentences you've ever written.
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