The Walking Dead - 2x12 - Better Angels

    Dale is buried, and the group pulls together.  Rick finalizes his plan for getting rid of Randall in a humane way.  Shane and Lori have a talk, which leads him to decide that he needs to take action.  So Shane comes up with a plan to kill Rick to usurp his position as leader.
    I really liked how this episode started off.  The whole crew is working together.  People get their assignments, and there's much more of a sense of everyone helping each other out.  Hershel is actually a good person at this point.  I don't think it makes much sense for people to be so aggressive to each other.  When there aren't many people left, you'd be interested in having as many allies as possible.
    So it takes awhile for the episode to take shape.  Most of the episode is about Shane having a hard time submitting to being under Rick's authority.  He behaves fine, but clearly resents it.  Shane's plan for dealing with it is actually pretty clever, although he seems to be getting more and more unbalanced as the episode progresses.
    I suppose the show has been making regular hints that Shane is deteriorating, but it seems more pronounced at this point.  Maybe if it had ramped up, instead of just being periodic reminders.  It's been a long time since he aimed his gun at Rick, which I would consider to be more menacing than their fight back in 18 Miles Out.
    The change from the comics is substantial - in this case, Rick stabs Shane, then Carl shoots the dead Shane.  In the comics, Shane is holding Rick at gunpoint, and Carl shoots Shane.  I have some speculation that they didn't want Carl to be seen shooting a live person, but they wanted to accomplish a similar sense of guilt - and that's why they had him feel responsible for Dale's death in the previous episode.
    Despite Shane being one of the best drawn characters of the show, I'm glad that he's gone.  I felt like they were drawing out his presence more than they should have.