Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Is Chris The New Shane?
By Liam O'Leary
On the latest episode of Fear The Walking Dead, Chris seemed to be beginning a rapid descent into a dark place he may not come out of…
Since Fear The Walking Dead began last summer, it’s only been natural that fans of The Walking Dead started looking for parallels between its cast and that of its sister show: Some might see Daniel as some sort of equivalent to Hershel or a more badass version of Dale, Tobias an equivalent to Morgan, Madison as Rick, and so on and so forth.
Now, obviously, not all of the cast have necessarily made people draw parallels with a hypothetical The Walking Dead counterpart (I can’t think of who Nick would remind me of), but, after watching Sunday’s Fear The Walking Dead, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t make at least one comparison…
Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Chris is the new Shane.
One person The Group hasn’t really had yet is someone who is an equivalent to Shane: A person who is cracking under the circumstances, and is responding through threats and violence, and has become dangerously accustomed to lying about it, well, I think Chris is filling that role nicely.
Don’t believe me? That’s fine, but, I think I have evidence on my side, if you’ll indulge me…
Let’s take a look at Chris’s “heroism” when The Group were forced to combat the infected parishioners:
While Madison was tackled to the ground by one, Chris, despite being perfectly capable of doing so, just stood there, watching the whole thing.
Sure, Alicia swooped in and made the save, but, when asked about it, he just makes a convenient excuse.
Funny, I recall a guy putting his best friend in the sights of his shotgun, and when caught doing it, he just laughed it off, like it was just a mistake. Now, who was that guy, again?
…Oh yeah, Shane.
Then, we have the threats. After Alicia confronts Chris about his failure to even try to help Madison at the church, Chris, instead of apologizing or asking how he could make amends, what does he do? He grabs Alicia and tells her that she can’t tell The Group, when she asks what if she did, he replies “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
If this sounds kind of familiar, it might be because you’ve already seen a guy threaten an old man who confronted him about pointing a shotgun at his best friend. Now, who did that, again?
…Oh yeah, Shane.
Lastly, there’s the lies.
When Ofelia finds Chris after he shoots Reed (Rather poorly, I might add), he tells her that Reed was going to turn. Now, this could just be seen as Chris being premature, and thinking it was inevitable Reed would turn, so put him down to prevent it.
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However, that suddenly comes into question when Alicia confronts him about his failure to help Madison. There, he tells her that he simply froze. Something Alicia knows to be untrue.
What does this mean? Well, it certainly seems like Chris may have killed somebody…and then lied about it.
Sure, he seemed shaken by it but, that doesn’t make the lie any less of a lie. And when confronted about nearly letting another member of The Group die (In what could be considered convenient circumstances), he turns around, and, without so much as a hint of hesitation, lies again.
Now, I recall a guy killing someone; He
was
shaken up by it, but, he chose to
lie
about it. When he came close to killing another member of The Group (In what could have been seen as a
convenient
circumstance), he also
lied
about that. Who was that again?
…Oh yeah, Shane.
And, if that weren’t enough…he’s even dressing like him.
So, that was my latest The Walking Dead Theory. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know! And, if you like this and want to read more of my writings, specifically about how to survive a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!