[patman345]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I was really interested by the fact that Carl kept pointing his gun at Rick..I just want some opinions, anyone think that shot was meant for Rick? Or if Carl was really thinking about shooting him?

[Judari]

He wasn't pointing his gun at Rick,

Spoiler

He was pointing his gun at Shane because he saw him start to re-animate.

Clever editing, but totes predictable.

[patman345]

I know it was very predictable, it just seemed kinda weird to me because I feel like he was pointing the gun at Rick before Shane reanimated, but i don't know, it could have just been the angle we were looking at.

[Ciren]

Rick kept on telling Carl "It's not what it looks like, son," while Carl was pointing the gun at him before Shane reanimated. Therefore I'm pretty sure Carl initially thought his dad may have just killed Shane. He didn't know whether he did it for a reason or not - he was very confused - so I'd say yes, he was pointing the gun at Rick, but no, he wasn't going to shoot him.

Just one very confused, strange, bewildered little boy with a habit of somehow getting past 10 or so people undetected countless times...

[maniacalzombie]

As per Chandler Riggs:

Link:
http://www.amctv.com...d-better-angels

Quote

Riggs - Carl follows Rick and Shane into the woods to look for Randall because Carl feels like he wants to prove himself worthy and if he can go out there and finds Randall he thinks he will get some kind of big reward or something and instead he finds Rick with Shane.

He is very disappointed but Carl shoots Shane to protect his dad. I know he was very sad and disappointed because Shane is his best friend

[mr teaspoon]

patman345, on 12 March 2012 - 06:19 AM, said:

I know it was very predictable, it just seemed kinda weird to me because I feel like he was pointing the gun at Rick before Shane reanimated, but i don't know, it could have just been the angle we were looking at.

No, you're right. I don't know if it's the directors fault or something that happened in editing, but Carl definitely points that gun before Shane moves. And I don't buy that we're supposed to believe he was pointing it at Rick. That whole scene was a mess.

[Judari]

patman345, on 12 March 2012 - 06:19 AM, said:

I know it was very predictable, it just seemed kinda weird to me because I feel like he was pointing the gun at Rick before Shane reanimated, but i don't know, it could have just been the angle we were looking at.

I'm thinking it was the angle. If I remember correctly we didn't see zombie Shane close up until he was on his feet, just vague pan outs once Carl showed up. He could have been twitching or something, it was just two secs before that we saw his flash of reanimation.

But like was mentioned before he could have been aiming initially at Rick but he wouldn't have shot him regardless.

edit: Going to go back and watch, the whole scene was confusing lol, but I do remember not really being able to see a clear shot of Shane on the ground to tell if he was completely still

Edited by Judari, 12 March 2012 - 07:49 AM.

[TheBaio]

First time posting but after tonight's episode I had to see what other people were thinking about it!

I watched this scene a few times and there is no doubt in my mind that Carl had his gun pointed at Rick.   As for if he was actually going to shoot his dad, probably not but he definitely looked scared enough to do it.

In that scene, it looks like after the gunshot and Rick's screaming, Carl finds them and starts to piece together what happened.  He stands there looking at Rick hunched over Shane's body and his immediate reaction is to pull out his gun.  Even though Rick was his dad, you  have to remember that Shane was a key father figure throughout Carl's entire life and I think he was upset / confused about what Rick did.  

As for Shane already being a zombie, from what I saw, his body doesn't move during the first couple glimpses we get.  Shane turned undead REALLY fast but I highly doubt Carl would have noticed he was a zombie til he sat up.  There had to at least be some sort of shock as to what was happening which sort of explains why zombie Shane was able to walk a bunch of steps towards Rick.

I do agree that the camera angle was horrible.  I think Carl's reaction to what Rick did in the finale and next season will tell us how he feels about what happened.

[asmarti08]

mr teaspoon, on 12 March 2012 - 07:36 AM, said:

No, you're right. I don't know if it's the directors fault or something that happened in editing, but Carl definitely points that gun before Shane moves. And I don't buy that we're supposed to believe he was pointing it at Rick. That whole scene was a mess.

You are SO sure of that aren't you? No, you DON'T know that because the camera was not showing Shane when Carl pulled his gun up. You don't think Carl saw something before the director showed you the same thing?

Have some imagination, people. It's a device used by the writers simply to make it possible for either outcome to have been true. So you get to decide who Carl was pointing the gun at. My opinion is that Carl was pointing the gun at Shane (camera didn't show him reanimating until after Carl saw it), and the drama from Rick was only there to build the suspense of the moment.

[Blazeffd]

Maybe at first he was pointing at his dad as he wasn't sure if his dad was a z or whatnot. Then saw Shane as a z and his dad was legit. I don't think it crossed his mind to shoot his dad.

[Scummy]

He wasn't ever pointing his gun at Rick.. That was just a clever camera angle for them to make it look like he was. You can see Shane dead on the ground, then the camera moves off him, and a couple seconds later you see Carl raise his gun. You could see Shane twitching slowly during the close-ups, and it probably would've taken him a minute to get up anyways. When he did stand up, it was from a different position, so Carl obviously was pointing the gun at him while he was rising up.

[Logic?]

LOL @ people that are positive Carl was pointing his gun @ Rick, considering the camera did not show Shane until he was fully up and moving.  How can you be positive about something that was not shown?  

[Living Dead Grrrl]

Keep it civil, people.

[babyMOMMAdrama]

I only have watched the episode once, so after a rewatch I'd be able to talk about this better. But from initial reaction to the scene I did feel he had the gun pointed at his father momentarily. I could have been tricked by the angle, or what not. But it felt like Carl was extremely frightened and shooken up upon finding his dad standing over Shane's body. I think he may have for a second pulled the gun  out as instinct thinking that maybe Rick was a walker (he did have blood all over him if I remember correctly). Then I think Carl was more shocked as the reality of the situation started to sink in. I don't feel like he ever was going to shoot Rick, just was confused and scared.

Nice shot by Carl though. Bullseye.

[Weasel Slayer]

Based on what Carl says in the preview for next week, I'm thinking that Carl was originally pointing the gun at Rick because he just straight up killed Shane. Then when he sees Shane re-animate, he's probably thinking that there was a walker and that Rick was crying over Shane being attacked. But then he asks Rick what happens in the preview once he notices no walkers nearby.

[simplysarah]

I don't think Carl had any intention of shooting Rick. It was just made to look like that for the dramatic effect.

[Ciren]

Logic? said:

1331560135[/url]' post='45159']
LOL @ people that are positive Carl was pointing his gun @ Rick, considering the camera did not show Shane until he was fully up and moving.  How can you be positive about something that was not shown?  

I honestly believe that was the intentions the writers had -- to get you to think Carl was pointing it at Rick first. I mean, that's what Rick thought, too...

[mr teaspoon]

asmarti08, on 12 March 2012 - 10:07 AM, said:

Have some imagination, people. It's a device used by the writers simply to make it possible for either outcome to have been true. So you get to decide who Carl was pointing the gun at.

That's not a free pass, though. As I said, I think it's sloppy editing or directing. Even taking the devils advocate and assuming it was intentionally ambiguous as to who Carl was aiming at, it's still a mess.

[JaeBoogie]

Considering how the camera angle was, its IMPOSSIBLE to know if he was pointing it at Rick or not....so how are you guys "sure"? Lmao!

the only way u could say "for sure" is if the camera was directly behind carl or directly behind rick...the angled shot was obviously made so it would look like he was, but clearly shane was behind rick out of camera view....

I highly doubt he'd pull the gun on his dad

[Buckeyegeek]

JaeBoogie, on 12 March 2012 - 03:47 PM, said:

I highly doubt he'd pull the gun on his dad

Why not? For a while there Shane was more of afather figure to Carl than Rick was.

I believe he pulled the gun out because he didn't know what was going on. It would've been dark and he saw a figure hunched over another. Initially he could have thought his dad was a Walker and then when zombie Shane popped up he made a miraculous head shot to save his dad.

I mean he is a kid that was taunting a zombie the day before. It's not like he makes great decisions. He must take after his mother.

[Planetary]

asmarti08, on 12 March 2012 - 10:07 AM, said:

You are SO sure of that aren't you? No, you DON'T know that because the camera was not showing Shane when Carl pulled his gun up. You don't think Carl saw something before the director showed you the same thing?

Have some imagination, people. It's a device used by the writers simply to make it possible for either outcome to have been true. So you get to decide who Carl was pointing the gun at. My opinion is that Carl was pointing the gun at Shane (camera didn't show him reanimating until after Carl saw it), and the drama from Rick was only there to build the suspense of the moment.

It was poorly executed and cheapened the moment, IMO. There was enough drama packed into those few minutes without trying to milk even more.

Even if they decided to keep the scene, it would have worked better if they had panned out to show the beginning of Shane's reanimation.  As it stands, they showed nothing but Carl pointing a gun at Rick until — several seconds later — zombie Shane stands up and starts making his way over. That delay is what's convincing people Carl had the gun aimed at his father.

Did Shane "twitch" or stagger or show any other indication he was back from the dead before he fully stood up? We don't know, because it was all off-camera. I had the same questions everyone else did, and it seems like the scene was confusing to most people.

[Major Tom]

simplysarah, on 12 March 2012 - 03:08 PM, said:

I don't think Carl had any intention of shooting Rick. It was just made to look like that for the dramatic effect.

BING FREAKING GO

Thank you!!

[zombiemma]

It was an odd camera angle to make the audience believe that Carl was aiming his gun at his father. This was merely done for dramatic effect, like someone has already stated above. In my opinion, though, Carl was aiming the gun at Shane the entire time.

[Ciren]

JaeBoogie said:

Considering how the camera angle was, its IMPOSSIBLE to know if he was pointing it at Rick or not....so how are you guys "sure"? Lmao!

First off, no one is saying they're "sure". Carl pointed the gun at Rick before Shane stood up and Rick approached Carl with his hand out trying to settle Carl down even saying "It's not what it seems" as if he too thought Carl took the situation as Rick killing Shane. Carl was confused and had no clue what was going on so he didn't know if Rick killed him on purpose, for a reason, or if a walker did it. And I'm in no way saying Carl was going to shoot Rick, he just drew it on him out of confusion and being incredibely scared and devestated at the sight of seeing someone he looks up to dead (Shane).

So it's not absurd, and in no way deserving of a "lmao" or smilie. It's an opinion and everyone has a different view and can decipher several aspects of TWD in several different ways.

[Jimmy]

lol at people saying he wasn't pointing the gun at Rick. He was crying and confused, and his gut reaction was to draw his gun on his dad who clearly just killed Shane. I don't think he would of shot Rick. For those who are saying he wasn't aiming at Rick at all, do you really believe Rick is too stupid to not see where the gun is pointed? You also want us to believe he was aiming the gun at Zombie Shane well before he even stood up? He shot zombie Shane when he eventually saw him coming. I find it too hard believe that someone who never fired a gun before would not only get a perfect head shot but also not fire multiple times.

A little off topic, but did anyone else find it hilarious the way Zombie Shane was walking?

Edited by Jimmy, 12 March 2012 - 11:48 PM.