the ongoing theme is that everybody loves parts of this show and wants the whole to be better, but it just isn't for one reason or another. I think it might be a little bit of the old Maple Leafs syndrome, where it's a juggernaut almost independent of the actual product, so the motivation to grow and improve might be secondary. my fear is that if ratings ever start to drop, rather than trying to clean up the writing, they go for quick fix gimmicks that result in brief gains but cheapen the experience even further.
for me this past episode was some kind of bizarre PETA nightmare. but the one scene where the daughters see their dad for the last time and fail to finish him off, that was one of the good parts that keeps me going despite all the other flaws. it really puts you in that situation and makes you ask yourself if you could get it done, or if you'd just crumble like that kid did.
with regards to the frequent question about why they didn't reinforce the prison better, I think about that board in Beth's cell that had 30 days without an accident or something. I don't know how much time has actually passed since Woodbury, but they'd been living in that prison for a quite a long time without any zombies getting through the fences, so I could chalk it up to complacency. but yeah, once they saw them all gathering at one spot, they should have looked into it a little bit more than not at all.
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