9. Making The Barn Walker Problem Worse
The main conflict during season two (aside from who's on crop-watering duty) was between Shane and Rick, and of their myriad disagreements the trouble in the walker-infested barn was one of the larger flashpoints. Just to clue you back in, it goes something like this Hershel believed the walking dead can be cured, and Shane disagreed. Rick also disagrees, but humours his host so he can stay on the farm. If this was only an argument about theory, they'd probably all let it slide. Yet it wasn't there was a bloody barn stuffed with walkers, just down the way from where Rick and company were camped. Those things were a threat to everybody, and Rick only made it worse. Maybe the rules of Southern hospitality forbid you from upsetting your host, but there's a difference here you're not telling him his dinner service was woefully lacking, you're telling him that he's housing a group of murder machines just one neglected lock away from eating up the place. Plus, you've got actual scientific knowledge of this from Dr. Jenner, so if you kept hammering it home, perhaps Hershel would eventually listen, or at least stop adding to his pet horde. Instead, he gives up and helps Hershel stick more walkers in his already-crammed barn. When Shane discovered this, this the whole thing boiled over, and although he was a dick, I can totally get on board with his logic here there's a clear and present danger living next to you, and you're actively adding to it. Maybe he could've got on board eventually with the walkers, but shoving some more in there was the straw that broke the camel's back. If he was going to do it, he should've done it late at night, not during the goddamned day when everyone can see.