8. Carl Shoots Shane ("Better Angels")
In the penultimate episode of Season two, Shane concocts a plan to lead Rick into the forest and kill him. Rick figures out fairly quickly what Shane is up to, but he gives Shane chance after chance to back down. Finally, Shane pulls a gun on him. Rick stabs Shane before Shane can shoot him. Shane dies, and Carl appears, having heard a stray shot from Shane's gun. He draws his own weapon, looking horrified. At first, it appears that he is pointing the gun at his father, but we see that dead Shane has stood up, zombified. Carl cries and fires on Shane.
Why It's Great: As psychotic as Shane became by the end of the second season, there's no denying that he was compelling to watch. He loved Rick, he loved Lori, and he loved Carl. When he learned of Lori's pregnancy and her insistence that Rick would be father to the child, regardless of his or her true paternity Shane snaps, and it is not without anguish that Rick kills him. The whole situation just escalates when Carl shows up to see that Shane is dead, and he must shoot his Walkerfied father figure to save his blood-covered father. Carl is so never going to be normal. At least it's practice for Season two.