Walking Dead – ‘Better Angels’ Episode Recap

In the second to last episode of the season for AMC's 'The Walking Dead' they have set us up for a season finale of epic proportions.  Yes, there are spoilers in here.

First of all can I just say hooray, Shane is dead!  Since the day he killed Otis, I knew Shane was unstable and needed to go.  After proving more, and more, and more, that he could not be trusted and was a danger to the group, Rick finally takes care of what needs to be taken care of.  More of that in a bit.

Obviously the loss of Dale is hard on the whole group.  Everyone seems to be missing some part of Dale, and now it's all about picking up the pieces.  So lets go bash in some walker skulls.  If anything,  Dales death has brought the group back together, well, everyone except for Shane.  He continues to be a loner with his own agenda.  Guess who makes things worse?  Laurie.

She decides to go out and talk Shane back to the side of good, but instead just totally makes a mess of his head.  In the meantime, Carl has confessed to Shane about seeing the walker in the swap that killed Dale, but he failed to do anything about it.  Shane tells Rick, but Rick isn't going to do anything about it right away.  Not until Shane calls out his parenting skills.  Not cool.

So Rick goes to talk to Carl and assures him that Dale's death is not his fault.  He also gives Carl a gun for protection, and tells him no more kid stuff.  That is the ultimate sign that the world is never going to be the same.

Now we are back to Randall the prisoner and his crazy existence.  They are going to drive him out and free him, but psycho Shane decides to take matters into his own hands.  He takes Randall out, pretends to befriend him, and kills him, all in an attempt to get Rick into the woods to murder him because he believes that he is better for the Laurie, better for Carl, and better for the group.  He has flipped his lid fully.

In the woods, Daryl and Glenn are looking for Randall, because they believe that he has escaped and attacked Shane, though Daryl has his suspicions.  They find Randal, but he is now a walker.  He has not been bitten, and now a million questions are going through our heads.

Shane and Rick are in the fields not far from the farm in an ultimate showdown.  Shane is going to kill Rick, but he obviously wants Rick to fight back, but he won't.  Rick is the better man, but Shane refuses to follow his lead because he has been driven crazy.  In one final move Rick lunges at Shane and drives a knife into his chest.  After weeks of Shane giving him a hard time about not being able to take out threats, he takes out the ultimate threat, his best friend.

But oh no, Carl followed them.  This kid needs a constant babysitter.  I will say though, it's a good thing he was there because out of no where Shane turns into a walker.  What?  How?  Carl uses the gun that Rick gave him to shoot Shane in order to protect his father.  Also in the woods there are tons of walkers that all of a sudden hear the gun fire.  Not good.

So now we have to start thinking of theories.  How are people who haven't been bit or anything being turned into walkers?  Daryl and Glenn find that Randall has not been bit, but he turned, and Shane obviously has not been it, but he turns.  A theory that I have is that at the CDC at the end of last season the guy whispered something into Ricks ear.  I think it's that everyone has the virus, and death in general makes them into the walkers.  If that is the case, then boy are they in trouble.

Get a sneak peek at next weeks season finale here, and please, lets hear some of those theories below.