Better Angels

"Better Angels" is the twelfth episode of the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the eighteenth episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 11, 2012. It was written by Evan T. Reilly & Glen Mazzara and directed by Guy Ferland.

Plot
The group learns that someone dangerous may be on the loose near the farm. As night falls, Rick, Shane, Daryl and Glenn comb the woods to handle the situation and keep the group safe.

Co-Stars

 * Jane McNeill as Patricia
 * James Allen McCune as Jimmy

Uncredited

 * Kathy Walton Pulley, Jonna Capehart, Tyler Capehart, and Michael Koske as Walkers

Deaths

 * Randall Culver (Alive and Zombified)
 * Shane Walsh (Alive and Zombified)

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Randall Culver.
 * Last appearance of Shane Walsh. (Alive and Zombified)
 * This is the first time that two main cast characters have been killed in successive episodes.
 * Lori refers to the flashback from "Chupacabra" while talking with Shane.
 * The title of the episode, "Better Angels", comes from American President Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address of 1861, "by the better angels of our nature". Writer Evan Reilly came up with the episode's name. It could also be seen as how Dale believed in the "Better Angels" of the group and tried his best to preserve the flicker of humanity that still exists within everyone.[2][3]
 * Though Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale Horvath) is still credited as a starring character in this episode, he does not appear, as he was already written out of the show.
 * This episode marks the first time in the TV Series where Carl directly kills a walker.
 * Robert Kirkman explained, "There was actually another death in this episode that at the very last minute, after the script was written, we decided not to do. So we were going to have three major deaths in these two episodes but then that was decided it was just too much."[4] It was later explained by Glen Mazzara on The Talking Dead that Hershel was originally written to be killed by Randall as he escaped in this episode. The writers had difficulty completing the scene and instead decided to allow Hershel to live due to the dramatic possibilities that would face the character in the next episodeand season.[5]
 * Robert Kirkman stated, "It’s important to note that Shane was [Rick's] best friend. So no matter how much [Rick] knew, he didn't want to admit to himself that he knew. It wasn't until that walk out into the woods, when Shane was leading him to his death, that he really kind of accepted the fact that, Wow, this is not the guy I knew any more."[4]
 * T-Dog had six separate lines of dialogue in this episode, and Entertainment Weekly joked this was, "a new record."[6]
 * Glen Mazzara responded about Shane becoming a zombie in, "Better Angels", much faster than Amy, and not getting bit: "We worked hard to make sure that revelation landed. We knew what we were doing there. We knew it would land a punch. We've never had a main character become a zombie to this extent. Those [rapid flashes of zombie mayhem] represent the storm in Shane’s brain to some extent … Amy was a weaker character. Shane is in a murderous rage … he’s going to reanimate quicker. There’s just more life in that zombie, believe it or not. We do have internal rules for that."[7]
 * Rick said that he wanted to leave Randall at Senoia, the same town which was used to make Woodbury.
 * When T-Dog is getting Randall for Daryl and Rick, you can see the combination for the lock to the shed door is seen (upside down) as "3006" (like the popular 30.06 rifle).
 * Shane's death was accidentally leaked by the AMC TV store on March 1, 2012 in promotional materials for the Season 2 Blu-Ray set.[8] Photos of Shane as a zombie were similarly leaked and posted on many websites, including The Walking Dead Wiki.
 * Glen Mazarra revealed that there were some talks about keeping Shane alive to Season 3, “At one point, we considered not killing Shane,” Mazzara told MTV News. “But what’s important about this season is, Rick has to step forward. He has to assume leadership of the group and he has to confront Shane.”
 * Also, during his comicbook.com Q&A, Mazarra revealed that he, and the writers did talk about killing Rick by letting Shane kill him, but scrapped it out because "...this is Rick's story, not Shane's".

Comic Parallels

 * Glenn and Daryl finding out Randall reanimated without being bitten is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 15, where Rick and Tyreese discover that Julie reanimated without being bitten instead.
 * Shane confronting Rick in the woods and being killed by him is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 6, where Carl kills him instead.
 * Carl putting down a zombified Shane is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 16, where Rick puts him down instead