Shauna’s awful and that’s okay!

Shauna’s little speech about honoring the dead and wanting specifically to honor Ben is just another example of her being a sociopathic, manipulative liar.

From the beginning, Shauna has always been a non-believer. Something that has persisted until the present timeline - “there was no It! It was just US!” We know she doesn’t buy into Lottie’s (or anyone else’s) visions or participate in their prayer circles. We’ve seen her literally go out of her way to hide her son’s final resting place far away from the group because she quite literally doesn’t want him to be included in any way in any of their ceremonies.

She very obviously lied about her intentions when it came to the ceremony “honoring” Ben. She was notably the most outspoken critic against Ben during his trial and listed numerous ways to torture/kill him, even suggesting they burn him at the stake. She hated him for being a bystander during her traumatic birthing experience.. there is no logical explanation for her furthering crippling him to then “honoring” him and turning into a religious zealot like everyone else, other than it was just the most convenient excuse to get her revenge and satiate her ever growing bloodlust.

Having Natalie dismember him and making him the literal centerpiece of this ceremony was a way to quite literally twist the knife even further, even after Ben was dead. Shauna is a petty, vindictive, twisted individual and she wanted to humiliate Ben to the utmost degree despite knowing deep down that there was nothing he could’ve done to save her son and that he most likely did not cause the fire. She’s very obviously been lashing out at anyone and everyone.

All the survivors are awful, but Shauna is truly a shell of a person and beyond any redemption. This season.. this last episode especially.. has cemented that fact. I don’t say any of this because I hate the character, the show or the writers.. I went into this series knowing it was dark and gruesome, but I’ve composed all my thoughts and felt inclined to share them as a character analysis of Shauna, to open people’s eyes to the fact that this show revolves around awful people doing awful things (and that’s okay!). I keep seeing people defending Shauna on different discussion forums (here, TikTok, etc.) - even going so far as to say that Shauna forcing Natalie to butcher Ben was merciful, and that her intention was to create a bonding experience between herself and another survivor (so that they could understand what she went through with Javi). I don’t think Javi and Shauna’s dynamic is at all comparable or even remotely similar to Nat and Ben’s, and I think it’s honestly insulting to equate Shauna butchering Javi to the punishment Nat was given (considering the fact that Shauna wasn’t forced or punished into butchering Javi).. but that’s a whole other thing for now.

I’m not sure it’s bias or if it’s a lack of media literacy, but this season Shauna’s been loud and proud about her aggression so I don’t understand why the fans are so unwillingly to accept this aspect of her character. There’s more I’d like to say, but those are my long winded thoughts on Shauna.