#walkingjas

Something he would make himself. like some kind of leather knife holster with their initials on it…Something meaningful.

you can watch it here: http://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead/full-episodes/season-06/episode-01/first-time-again

I feel you so.fucking.much

1. Introductions

Keep them safe. That was Shane’s job. Keep Lori and Carl safe. But somehow that had grown into keeping the Peletiers safe too. And then Glenn joined them, then Dale and the sisters with their RV, and Jim and Jaqui and T-dog and before long there is a group of them at the quarry and he’s in charge. Honestly he’s not sure how it happened, it feels a lot like he blinked and missed his own election, but it’s happened and now here he is, dealing with it. So he knows the main rule is to keep them safe and eyeing the beat up truck that winds it way closer to their camp, he hefts the shotgun higher as he takes a step forward. 

There is yelling from inside the truck, he can see two figures in there swatting at each other, bickering and yelling but then a door is kicked open, and out come one of the new comers. Redneck. Boots, leather vest, gun and from the looks of it a bad attitude. But he can see the way he holds the rifle, the way he knows the weapon and Shane knows they need more people who can shoot. 

“Howdy there Sheriff.” The newcomer smirks, stepping forwards like he owns the place and not looking at all contrite. “Looks to me like you’ve got a nice little set up here. Any room for two more?”

Shane isn’t sure. But before he can even open his mouth the second guy is climbing out of the truck. He’s smaller in size, looks younger, but just as much a redneck as the other man. He watches as the smaller one sidles up to the first man, look pissed as hell as he smacks at his shoulder and hisses. “Mer come on, we don’t need this shit.”

“Hey now don’t be so rude baby brother.” The elder brother grins, grabs his brother around the shoulders and shakes him in a way that looks more painful that affectionate. “I’m Merle Dixon, this is my baby brother Daryl. We’ve been on the road a while, was hoping you nice people might think of letting us join your group.”

“And why would we do that?” Shane has to ask. Because he’s been nice so far, but everybody they’ve helped so far has been like them, lost and looking for guidance. These hicks didn’t look like they needed guidance, just looked like they were looking for a fight. One that Shane doesn’t want to have. “Everybody here pitches in. We work together, you boys don’t look like you play nice.”

WHAT

12: Most complex character and reason for thinking so.

Well it’s no secret that Daryl is my favourite character and one of the things I adore about all my fandoms is getting to explore my favourites. But despite my love of exploring Daryl, he’s not that complex. Really he’s actually pretty standard and shows clear behaviour related to his past, he’s textbook really but still fun. 

But Shane Walsh? Now that’s a complex bugger, if only because we only know so much about him. Now when Rick first awakens in the hospital he mentions Shane’s grandmother giving him that awful vase, so we know that Rick has met Shane’s grandmother, or at least knows of her, so she’s ‘alive’ at this point in their relationship, ZA not taken into account. So from this we can assume that Shane’s parents are alive and well and since we know this is their home town in King’s County then it makes sense they’d be nearby if Shane and Rick both grew up here. 

Yet Shane Walsh is with Lori and Carl. Now yes, Rick and Shane are BFFs and of course we all understand that Shane is saving all he can for Rick who he thinks is dead. But just take that in to consideration. It’s the end of the world as we know it, people are dying, those who are older, frail, are more likely to die. Yet for whatever reason, Shane Walsh is not found with his family who we know were at least around, he’s with Lori and Carl, Rick’s family. Now sure, maybe he went to his family and they were turned, maybe he had no choice, maybe they made him leave, we don’t know. But we don’t know. Maybe Shane made that choice and chose for Rick. 

Just think about that. Think about making that choice yourself. Deciding between your own mother and father and the wife and son of your ‘dead’ best friend. There is loyalty yes, and then there is Shane Walsh’s loyalty. 

See, we see Shane Walsh before the ZA, we see him try so fucking hard for Rick. Hiding from gunfire instead of running, trying to save his best friend. Heck even if he gets Rick out of there, he’s in a coma, what is he going to do? But he can’t bear the thought of leaving him behind. But we also saw him sitting in the cop car with Rick, trying to help in his own way, trying to make him smile, trying to help even if he’s shit at it. 

then we see him after he’s no doubt had to kill people, had to save Lori and Carl, had to deal with the grief of losing his BFF and his family and his hometown and humanity himself and it’s no wonder that Shane is breaking down. Being the funny guy isn’t going to save this. There is no backup of Rick here, there is no law to follow or someone to guide him. He’s suddenly got the wife and child he’d never had in his old life and taking care of them is a tougher job now than providing a big enough paycheck each month. Shane’s been forced to become the stable adult he never claimed to be in a space of a few weeks, and we wonder why he’s a little unstable?

A lot of people see Shane as the villain and I understand he’s a needed bad guy to Rick’s hero attitude, that’s how it’s meant to play out and everything. But sometimes I feel he got the shit end of the stick. I’ve always liked Shane because from my own personal POV he was making the tough choices at the start, the thing is, no one had the time to get used to it. Rick in season 5 is making similar choices no, but everyone else has grown into this world, they know this now, it’s needed. But Shane was season 1, he made the choices faster and people didn’t know how to take it. I think he was trying so fucking hard, and though he was a dick and everything, people don’t give him enough credit for what he did sometimes.