User blog:Modernmyrmidon/PE Removal Proposal: Shepard Lambrick

Hello everyone! Hope y'all are doing well! If I may, I'd like to take a bit of your time to share why I feel Shepard Lambrick from Would you rather ​​​​​shouldn't qualify as Pure Evil. He is currently listed as such and I'd like to share why I feel that shouldn't be the case.

What is Would you rather? What's the work?
Would you rather is a psychological thriller film released in 2012 that tells the story of a woman named Iris that is looking for the funds to find a doner for her ill brother. A wealthy man named Shepard Lambrick offers to provide said funds and offers to find a doner for her, if she participates and wins his "game", that she will be playing with other people that also want the money. The game, at first glance, seems simple. Simply choose which you would rather do out of provided options. However, things soon turn out to be not what they seem, and before the players realize, they're fighting for their lives in a game of survival.

Who is Shepard Lambrick? What has he done?
Shepard Lambrick is introduced as a wealthy and powerful man who seems generous and willing to help, given that his side of the bargain is fulfilled. However, what he requests of Iris and the other players involves testing how far they are willing to go. This is first shown when he gathers the players together for the party to commence and offers Iris money to eat steak, despite the fact that she is a vegetarian. He seems intrigued to observe someone go against their moral values just for something that he is able to dispose of easily. This happens again, granted on a much larger degree, when he offers money to Conway to drink alcohol. This is even worse due to the fact that Conway has spent much of his life trying to overcome a powerful addiction to alcohol that had been ruining his life. Shepard feels control over him considering the fact that Conway was willing to embrace his inner demons for the sake of money, which is, again, something that Shepard doesn't understand considering the fact that money means nothing to him since he's so wealthy. Shepard then reveals that he is going to put the players in life threatening situations. An intoxicated Conway loses his temper and tries to leave disgusted by Shepard, only for Bevans, one of Shepard's butlers, to kill Conway. After that the games begin, with a series of deadly games where the players must choose one option provided by Shepard and try their best to survive.

Reasons why he could qualify
Shepard is shown to be very sadistic, as he forces the players into deadly scenarios and doesn't hesitate to coldly kill them should they defy him. He is also pleased to watch them die or fail their challenge. One of the players Amy had a tragic background as her husband murdered their child and Shepard taunts her about it, which is a very evil and insensitive thing to do. At the end of the movie, Iris and another player named Lucas are the last survivors. Shepard gives Iris a gun and gives her the option to let Lucas live and both of them being able to walk away alive but empty handed, or she can kill Lucas and take the money for herself. After she kills Lucas, Shepard can't contain his excitement and claps hysterically along with his butlers, congratulating Iris and he is shown to be very proud of her. It seems as if Shepard likes seeing people suffer and make decisions that could cost them their lives. He also seems to enjoy having control over them, ultimately controlling their fate.

Reasons why he shouldn't qualify
Despite that, Shepard is shown to be quite honorable and somewhat sympathetic. When Iris and the others try to escape at one point, Shepard's son Julie tries to sexually assault Iris. After that happened, Shepard showed Iris mercy and gave her another chance at the game. At another point, one of the players named Peter had a stick of dynamite attached to his hand and when Peter asked if the dynamite was a dud if he had to do it again, to which Shepard reassuringly told him no, again, willing to give him a second chance. And at the end, when Iris wins the game, Shepard fulfils his part of the bargain and give Iris not only enough money for the bone marrow transplant for her sick brother, but he also gives her enough money to go to school. That money being able to change Iris's life.

Final verdict
While there are plenty of good reasons as to why he could qualify, overall I don't think he does. He is shown to be willing to give people second chances and is willing to help people tremendously if they do what he wants. He's also shown to show repsect fot his butlers and treat them well. In general, there were many parts he could have been worse. I think he should be removed from the Pure Evil category but I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions in the comment section down below. As always, thanks for reading!