When I realized this episode would exclusively follow Tyrese (who I enjoy and think is played well by Chad Coleman), Carol, psycho & softy, and the miraculously still-breathing Judith. And the first half of this episode gave me little reason to change my view. I probably will not win any detective props for saying I've thought since the stay at the prison our psycho was distributing rats to zombies, and was responsible for the serial killer coming of age behavior manifesting around then. But as the episode further unfolded and constructed the differences between the two sisters I found it painfully obvious the younger soft sister was going to bite it at psychotic Lizzy's hands, or more likely I thought, it would be more indirect, as almost developed on the train tracks as Lizzy fed a maimed zombie. So even up to the scene where Lizzy stood over her dead body I was still feeling pretty tepid about this one. Then we come to Carol, a character I've never been compelled by. She commits one of the worst sins of inattention this side of Marty Hart on True Detective, when Lizzy tells Carol, after Lizzy's near death experience w/ her sister at the railroad, "I know what I need to do." An ominous fucken line, given the context. And what does Carol do? She utters, "Oh, so happy to hear that. Gee-boy-oh, glad we have this idyllic cottage and a puzzle. Do you like puzzles?" Okay, maybe not, but she totally lets that just slip by. What does Lizzy need to do? Put on a fucken Ronald Nixon mask and wave a battle axe around? So I was honestly very satisfied and somewhat surprised Carol delivered some post-apocalyptic justice to this poor sick-headed girl. It was her atonement. Then, given I think that it had to be so obvious to Tyrese after that cold-hearted bastard of a necessary move that Carol was the killer in the prison. Noting Tyrese's reactions in the past concerning those murders, I was somewhat worried Tyrese would at least slap Carol, at worst shoot her. Actually, somehow I think slapping her may be the worst. In hindsight, this episode, even w/ its good amount of resolution, still offered a lot of character development, and to wipe out Carol after all that would seem like a bad decision to me. Not only was it emotionally potent to have Tyrese forgive her, not only was it a strong appeal to humanity, but it was primarily a deepening of his character. I really think they came out of what I thought would be a filler episode w/ such a strong character portrayal.
And I think they had to get rid of those girls, not just to move them on to 'Terminus/Alexandria(?), but also to relieve us of their acting.... at least Micha (the softy).
EDIT: I also reconciled Judith surviving, a divergence from the comic, as I've realized that is probably the darkest moment in the comic and television audiences would take it badly. Normally I'd never say this, but the show is still very bold, despite not going as far as they may've needed. I dunno, typing it out now, maybe I've not completely reconciled it....
