I recently started watching The Walking Dead. One of the things I really enjoy about the show is the internal chaos within the group, while there is external chaos all around them. The key to any good story is conflict and if our heroes are fighting with each and the walkers at the same time, it’s a great way to keep out interest.

And the character who excels at internal conflict is Shane, and here’s why:

1. He often does the right thing the wrong way



Even if Shane has good intentions, he invariably doesn’t care how he does something, just as long as it gets done. Like when he stops Ed from hitting his wife, he nearly beats him to death. Stopping Ed is a good thing, beating the man mercilessly is not. Or when he lies to Lori (who is out searching for Rick at night). Shane tells her Rick is back at the camp when he isn’t, because Shane wants to keep her safe. And, of course, the ultimate, freeing all the walkers from the barn and mowing them down in front of Hershel (who believes they can be cured) just to prove a point. Shane’s right, those people can’t be cured, but when you’re a guest at somebody’s home diplomacy matters.

And every time Shane does something like this he creates conflict between himself and everyone around him and I LOVE IT.

2. He’s too valuable and too reasonable to abandon



Shane isn’t like Merle; he can play well with others, he just frequently chooses not to. He was also kinda-sorta the guy in charge of the camp before Rick showed up, so people look to him for leadership.

Also, as far as most of the group knows, he isn’t crazy so he can be reasoned with. So after Shane and Rick try to kill each other, Rick has a conversation with him and thinks everything is going to be OK.

Shane is also good at killing walkers, so from a practical standpoint it’s difficult to justify expelling him from the group because they need him.

All this means that every time Shane does something bad, there are plenty of justifications to keep him around, which means Shane can do a lot of bad things without consequences. This makes him dangerous and exciting to watch.

3. He constantly disagrees with Rick



Rick wants the group to hunt for Sophia? Shane wants the group to give up and move on. Rick wants to go back and help Merle, Shane doesn’t want the group to split up. Rick wants to release their captive alive and away from their camp, Shane wants to kill him.

It’s almost like Shane disagrees with every one of Rick’s ideas and the unfortunate thing is Shane’s ideas are often more ruthless, more survival oriented, but safer. Having Rick, Glen, and Daryl around when the walkers attacked might have been better. Killing a guy who is part of a heavily armed group of pillagers is safer than letting him go.

The more Shane disagrees with Rick, the more tension it adds to the show.

4. Priorities

Shane has three simple rules:

Survival matters Lori matters Carl matters

Everything and everybody else be damned. He keeps telling Rick, “the world isn’t like it was,” and while that’s true there are a lot of things outside the box of Shane’s priorities. Even though he’s in a group of people, none of those people ultimately matter to Shane, which means he could do anything to any one of them, at any time, and that is an exciting possibility to have around.

5. He’s fun



Shane is like a time bomb that gets to explode over and over. He has the strength and ability to see all of his convictions through and he sees no reason why he shouldn’t. he provides so much yelling and acting without thinking, it’s wonderful television. Everyone loves Daryl and Glen, but when you have a story of people that have to work together in close quarters and are stuck with each other, it’s more interesting to watch a hot head creating conflict, than it is to watch someone being reasonable.

Would Daryl, Glen, Hershel, Carol, Tyreese, or Maggie beat a man senseless? (I guess they might, people change quickly and I’m only on Season Four, but let’s call this an educated guess). Would any of them throw open the barn doors like Shane did and let those walkers out? Disagree with, and yell at Rick at every turn?

The key to keeping any show interesting is conflict and in The Walking Dead, the more potential for internal struggle, the better. When Shane was around there was always the possibility for an argument, a fight, a disagreement, an amoral decision made for survival reasons, a dissolution of diplomacy — pure anarchy. He’s the worst guy to keep around and that makes him the BEST guy to keep around for the show.