After Rick’s touching eulogy during the funeral (during which Daryl was staring rather fixedly at Carol. Omg, they are so going to get it on.) for Dale, 
Theodore (I’m still refusing to call him T-Dog, sorry.), Andrea, Daryl, and Shane zoom around Doc’s land in a truck, checking the fences, looking for any more zombs that have wandered onto the property. They come across a small group—Herd? pride? cluster? Oooh, yes. Cluster.—cluster of zombs in a field feeding on a cow and enthusiastically dispatch them with bow and arrow, shovel, hammer, and pitchfork. Hell yes.
Cold weather’s moving in; Rick and peeps are moving into the farmhouse. Thank god it’s so big, as there will be 14 people under one roof. Rick’s instructing everyone on where to go and what to do; Doc’s stocking the basement with a few days’ supply of food and water. (And at some point, I hope they run through a few In Case of Zomb Attack Drills.) Shane’s mad cuz Rick’s not going to kill Randall; 
Rick tells him to get over it. Later, Carl gives Shane the gun he (Carl) stole from Daryl and confesses that Dale would probably be alive if he (Carl) hadn’t royally botched killing that zomb. “I was gonna do it! Shoot it right in the head,” he insists. Poor kid, the guilt’s really eating at him. Shane tells him that what happened was not his fault (I say again: I’ve always liked Shane for not taking out his frustrations with Rick and Lori on Carl.), and that he needs to keep the gun. Carl says he’s never touching another gun again, give it back to Daryl.Domestic stuff: Maggie invites Glenn to put his stuff in her room, but he’s entirely uncomfortable with that with her Dad around. Heh. Doc tells Lori she and Carl can have his bed; he’ll sleep on the couch; she’s all, oh no, this is your house; he’s all, but you’re preggo; Theodore’s all, if y’all can’t decide, I’ll take it. LOL. Take the damn bed, Lori.
Lori has a chat with Shane, tells him she’s so sorry for how everything turned out, that she doesn’t even know whose baby she’s carrying, that she’s so grateful that he kept her and Carl safe when Rick was presumed dead, and she’s just so, so, sorry. The look on Shane’s face as she walks away is … hard to read. 
Daryl and Rick consult a map, discuss where they’re going to drop Randall. Rick thanks Daryl for mercy-killing Dale, then asks him if he’s ok with abandoning instead of killing Randall. Daryl pointedly answers, “I don’t see you and I trading haymakers on the side of the road.” LOL. I had to translate that for the friend I was watching with. A “haymaker” is southern slang for a punch. (Thank you, redneck upbringing.) In other words, Daryl answered, “Dude, yes. We’re not about to beat the shit out of each other over it, the way you and Shane did.” LOL. Daryl leaves; Shane approaches, tells Rick about Carl’s brush with the Dale-killing zomb, suggests he talk to Carl about it. Rick says they can talk after Randall’s been taken care of. Shane volunteers to go with Daryl to drop Randall off. Rick, who knows damn well that’ll end with Daryl unconscious, Randall dead, and Shane telling a whopper of a lie about what happened, passes on that. Shane gives Rick the gun Carl gave him, complains that taking care of Randall is more important to Rick than Rick’s own son, and storms off. When the hell DOESN’T Shane storm off? Really. 
Have you noticed that? He’s, like, almost incapable of calmly walking away. At the RV, Andrea and Glenn share a touching I-really-miss-Dale moment. *sad* I almost start crying right along with Glenn. 
At the farmhouse, Rick passes Beth and Jimmy, boarding up the farmhouse windows, on his way to find Carl, sitting with binoculars in the barn, keeping watch. He tells Carl that Dale’s death wasn’t his fault, that people are going to die and Carl has to be able to defend himself, that it’s no-more-kid-stuff time, and Carl needs to take the gun. Carl takes it. 
Oh, whaddya know. Shane played Rick like a fiddle. That whole “Randall’s more important to you than Carl” bit was just to get Rick to delay taking Randall away. Shane sneaks into the shed where Randall sits chained and blindfolded. Shane just stares at him for several seconds. You know he’s ITCHING to kill him, but doesn’t want to upset the peace. He wants to do it so badly he actually beats himself in the head a couple of times—which is actually rather disturbing to see. It’s like he’s gone completely nutso.—then makes up his mind to just effing do it. 
He unchains Randall and leads him into the forest, telling him that he wants to join up with Randall and his people. The second Randall relaxes, lets his guard down, and turns his back, SNAP! Shane breaks his neck. I’m not the least bit upset about Randall, whom I’m convinced was a bad guy, but how the eff is Shane going to explain this? Oh. Shane answers my question by running facefirst into a tree, bloodying his nose. It’s going to be the old “He sneaked up behind me” ploy. 
So, Theodore finds Randall gone, raises the alarm, bloody Shane comes rushing from the woods and says Randall sneaked up on him and got his gun, Rick orders Shane, Daryl, and Glenn to come with him and everybody else into the house. Rick and Shane go one direction, Daryl and Glenn another. At the farmhouse, Carl’s looking out of a window with his binoculars. He doesn’t have a clear view of much, just some random field. In the woods, Daryl can’t pick up Randall’s trail in the wild goose chase direction which Shane sent them, so he and Glenn circle back around, 
find the real trail, follow it, find footprints … Shane’s blood on a tree … Randall’s blindfold … and then Zomb Randall. AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!! Glenn takes him out with a machete to the skull. 
“Nice,” Daryl says admiringly. But, wait a minute. If Daryl and Glenn found the kill spot, then where the hell’s Shane taking Rick? OH MY GOD. At this moment it dawns on me: this whole thing was an elaborate ruse for Shane to get Rick alone … because he’s going to kill him. Oh no! Daryl and Glenn examine Randall's body; Daryl doesn’t see any bites, says Randall died from a broken neck. Then … how did he zombify? He and Glenn realize together that it must be automatic. You don’t have to be bitten. You die; you turn into a zomb.
Elsewhere in the forest, Shane and Rick enter a field. The rear of the farmhouse is kinda far away, but clearly visible. Shane drops the looking-for-Randall charade. Rick doesn’t even really look all that surprised. :( Rick says there’s no way anybody will believe whatever lie he tells. Shane says he’ll just say Randall shot Rick; then Shane snapped Randall's neck. It’s totally believable; plus, Lori and Carl got over Rick’s death once; they can do it again. Rick asks why. Shane says because he’s a better father than Rick, and he’s better for Lori than Rick, and he’s a better man than Rick. Rick just lets him yell, then holds his gun out butt first, offers it to Shane. 
He says nothing has happened, they can walk back to the farm together, and while talking he inches closer and closer to Shane. To hand Shane his gun, right? Nope, to grab a knife and stab Shane through the heart. BOOM! Shane’s gun discharges as Rick knifes him. Rick lowers him to the ground. Shane dies quickly. (Nice knife skills, Rick.) Distraught and crying, Rick just sits there beside the body. The body which, we’re shown, is already beginning the zombification process. GET AWAY FROM IT, RICK. Suddenly, Carl is there. Oh, they’re in that field he could see in his binocs. (I know, I know. How the hell does he keep sneaking out of the house? Well, clearly, Carl long ago mastered the art of giving Lori the slip.)
“Dad?” asks a shaken Carl. Rick gets up and approaches him. Carl pulls out the gun and points it at Rick. Rick, naturally, assumes Carl’s mad that Rick killed Shane, tries to explain. Rick doesn’t see Zomb Shane behind him, getting up and shambling toward them. Carl does what he could not do to the Dale-killing zomb. BOOM! He shoots Zomb Shane right in the forehead. Oh, yay woot cheerio high five way to go atta boy bravo and nicely done, Carl! Good thing Rick made him take that gun. Out in the woods, all the zombs wandering around head toward in the direction of all the noise. Carl and Rick slowly approach Zomb Shane to make sure he’s dead (and, I hope, to get those two guns). They don’t notice the horde of zombs pouring in from the woods at the edge of the field.Discussion:
- Was Shane’s heart in the right place? Maybe. He truly thought Rick’s alleged weakness was going to get Lori and Carl killed, and that he could better protect them. But YES OF COURSE he was wrong for wanting to kill Rick, so I won’t be shedding any tears for him.
- Wonder at which point Rick decided to kill Shane. When he first realized Shane’s intention was to kill him? Or was it realizing that Shane would never stop believing Rick wasn’t man enough to protect Lori and Carl?
- Sophia, Otis, Dale, Shane—gosh, the numbers sure are dwindling. :( Glenn/Daryl need to get over their hang-ups and have massive amounts of hot sex with Maggie/Carol. Such moments are precious.
- Carl. *wipes tear* The boy has become a man.
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