So, if you've watched The Walking Dead this week...

[cyberghostface]

In this week's episode of The Walking Dead, Shane finally died. If you've read the comics, you'd know that he died early on but in a slightly different way. Here it is for comparison:
















Which do you prefer? Personally I think the comic's take is superior.

Comments

[jetblack927]

Yeah, the whole Showdown thing was all very anti-climatic, but they sorta kept it with the comic as an afterthought with Carl shooting Zombie-Shane...

In a way this works without the sub-plot of Rick going Back to Shane's grave and killing him AGAIN...

That was kinda crazy when they did that in the comic...

[kamino_neko]

Wait...they didn't put a bullet in his brain right away to stop his turning? They've been at this how long?

[darkknightjrk]

Well, I don't know how much I want to say because I don't know if you've read the comic, but they find out much later on that people turn without having to be bitten, so soon after he went back to finish the job.

[jetblack927]

Well, Shane died very early in the comic, so they just buried him...

But later on down the line, they learned that anyone who was dead, but did NOT suffer any brain trauma (ie. shot in the head or ax to the brain...) could come back as a zombie...

Since Shane was shot in the neck and bled out when they buried him, Rick came back to his grave, only to find Shane as a zombie digging his way out like twenty issues down the line.

[mastiff]

This is just a few days after Rick's awakening at this point, where they're still learning the rules. They still believed that only bites would reanimate the dead. A week later they find this isn't the case, so Rick travels back to finish the job.

In the show, I believe the scientist already told Rick that we're all turning, no matter how we die. Zombie bites are fatal due to disease and poor hygiene, but people are already infected with whatever brings us back.

[weber_dubois22]

Shane's death was long overdue IMHO.

[rainspirit]

They kept him going this long due to the popularity of the character, right? I admit he was one of the more compelling ones at the start of the season.

[cyberghostface]

I think Darabont and Kirkman planned this from the getgo. Kirkman has said he wouldn't have killed off Shane when he did if he knew how long the series the would have lasted.

[speedingtortoise]

I'm not quite sure which of the two scenes I prefer, but I will say that I like the show a lot better than the comic (it's usually the other way around for me for stuff like this).

Does anyone else feel the same way or am I the odd individual out in this respect?

[darkknightjrk]

Well, I will say that the dialogue in the show is DEFINITELY better. Kirkman has kind-of a...comic-book-y language that kinda sticks out in a human drama like Walking Dead. I also wonder if the people in the comic are a lot more nicer and without conflict then they might be in real life, and the show definitely has more of that.

[speedingtortoise]

Yes, the dialogue is definiely what makes it for me. That and how much the show focuses on character interactions. I've found myself really attacched to some of the characters on the show.

[cyberghostface]

With the exception of Daryl and Meryl I pretty much prefer the show in every single respect.

[filthysize]

For sure. The two episodes that Kirkman wrote were PAINFUL to listen to. He's writing this week's finale, too. Hopefully it'll be more action-packed so we don't have to suffer these long, static monologues that he's so fond of.

[darkknightjrk]

I think with the way it went down in the comic, it works. But, since they built Shane up with these two seasons, I think he deserved a bigger pay-off. Having it be by Rick's hand makes more sense in that regard.

[big_daddy_d]

The brilliant thing about Shane's death, I thought, is how leading up to it and his zombification, you saw him losing his humanity piece by piece. I remember after the smackdown between him and Rick, when he through the rench and you see his reflection..he looked like a walker. Something very poetic about that scene that made it perfect. He lost all of his humanity by the time his death came.

[shadowpsykie]

i'm kinda behind... how did he die?

[terabient]

Oh wow, now I have an excuse to post this vid!

Anyway, remember how the opening scene was awfully reminiscent of the Office Space scene where they destroy the printer? This guy put the two together:

http://youtu.be/ntI-n2Hd-sI

[ian_karkull]

They should have racke dup the tension between the characters a lot more (it was kind of waxing and waning, imho) and keep this as the season finale.
Either way, it was bound to happen. I'm much more puzzled by the fact that they've killed off Dale already. I wonder how this is going to affect Andrea's further character development.

[cyberghostface]

Dale died because the actor wanted to leave after Darabont was axed (as they both have a long history together).

[eyz]

I much preferred the way thigns went in the comics.
+ I always thought they were keeping Shane waaay to long in the TV version. I mean his plot was stalling, with Rick's wife and all.

Also, did we need "zombie-flash-dreams" during Shane's transformation? I mean, really??

[mastiff]

I think the "zombie-flash-dreams" were based on the scientist's revelation at the end of the first series; he would still need to kill Shane again, even though he hadn't been bitten, or he'd end up becoming one of the roaming undead. I think it was to show the extra layer of despair and guilt he would need to deal with.

[schala_kid]

I liked both versions of Shane's death, I think both worked great within their context and story. Carl shooting Shane in the comic was a powerful scene that was a step towards the end of Carl's childhood and introduced to Rick one of the horrors that were yet to come (which is that the living were more dangerous than the dead). Rick stabbing Shane worked better for the show, because by the time Shane and Rick confront each other in the show, Rick already started knowing the horrors and dangers of the living during the zombie Apocalypse and Carl's childhood had already ended.

Rick stabbing Shane was powerful because at that point in the show they both just broke and just couldn't coexist anymore. They already fought and tried to kill each other two episodes prior to this, not to mention Rick could fully become the group's leader as long as Shane was there and Shane couldn't get things his way as long as Rick was there, this showdown was inevitable.

And another thing about Shane's death in the show is that it was more of an emotional scene about Rick and Shane and later Carl than just a scene about Rick and Carl. In the comic we don't really get to know Shane's character that much other than the fact that he was Rick's cop partner, and we don't really get much depth to his character and he comes off as more than a nuisance than anything.

In the show Shane is more developed, we know that he and Rick were childhood friends, went to the same high school, and that they both ended up working as as partners in King County's Sheriff Department. Then when Rick gets shot we see him panic over him, then in a flashback we see Shane try taking Rick from the hospital only to realize that the machine kept him alive, then agonize about leaving him in the hospital.

Even after Rick comes back alive to the camp and things start going downhill, we see more of Rick and Shane's relationship with both of them joking around and referring to each other as brother. Then when Carl gets shot and Rick is giving Carl his blood there's an intimate scene with Shane wiping Rick's forehead with a towel and both of them touching foreheads and being all touchy feely and then when Shane comes back without Otis he and Rick hug.

It scenes like those that show how close those two were and that Shane did have some love for Rick before he hit rock bottom and started hating him and becoming obsessive over Lori, and it is scenes like those that show those two really did care for each other.

Which makes their falling out more personal and tragic, and the scene with Rick stabbing Shane more impacting. Watch that scene again, their whole conversation, the way Rick tells Shane that everything is OK and that they are going to forget this and act like it never happened (even if both know that's not true), then gives him the gun and stabs him. The way Shane grunts in pain and how Rick slowly lets him down and collapses over him, and angrily cries at him "THIS WAS YOU! NOT ME! YOU DID THIS TO US!!!" and when Shane starts dying Rick starts crying and holding his hand and caressing his face. And when Shane dies he becomes distraught and starts agonizing about what just happened.

And then the scene with Carl shooting zombie Shane and Rick still being too distraught to notice him, then when him and Carl hug, it was pretty powerful scene too.

I think it was just tragic really, and I felt bad for Rick and what he lost and how the Zombie Apocalypse just took an important person from him, twisted him, and forced Rick to take him out to survive.

[schala_kid]

Also the acting in the scene was wonderful, Andrew Lincoln and Jon Bernthal have great chemistry and it helped that both of them became really good friends while making the show. Not to mention Jon said that everyone (writers, producers, and other actors) in the show had different ideas as to how the scene was going to go down and in the end Jon and Andrew decided to make the scene how they wanted it to be since it was about them and their characters.

So yeah it was more Jon and Andrew's scene and their interpretation more than anything, and it really showed, I loved it.

[filthysize]

I thought the show did good. Honestly, I think it's far more interesting for Rick to kill Shane than Carl, given what they've been brewing about for the past few episodes, especially after Rick's promise to keep Dale's wishes alive. The way the show has developed their relationships, I wouldn't have readily bought Carl just shooting Shane.

Also, they found a way to keep Carl's guilt by making him responsible for Dale's death. Not the same as shooting a live person, obviously, but the seed's planted and I think in Season 3 that's going to be an important subplot in hardening Carl.

[mastiff]

I think the differences between the characters made the differences in story outcome necessary. Carl was a lot closer to Shane in the series than the comic, so I couldn't see the TV Carl shooting Shane, not even to save his Dad.

Shane was the go-to guy when Carl needed to talk to someone about Daryl's gun. We've seen he's still not entirely comfortable shooting zombies, let alone the one confidante and mentor he has in the camp. Dad may be busy keeping the group safe, but Shane always had time to stop what he was doing and listen.

It would have seemed entirely out-of-character for TV Carl to be able to make a snap decision that Shane needed to die.

I'm glad we got both versions, to be honest. I enjoy the show because despite having read the comic, I can still be surprised.