since Sam's death. It's been several weeks since the walls were breached, and the Alexandrians settled into a routine. So much so that Carol (and Rick) found a kindred spirit and she enjoyed returning to a somewhat normal life. There was no irony in her passing out cookies as the mundane-ness of it brought her genuine joy.

Why is that such a stretch? The whole point of Alexandria, from Deanna to Rick to Michonne to Gabriel to Glenn/Maggie to pouty girl was all about finally attaining a sense of normalcy and community. After the horde and Wolves crises were resolved, they finally got what they were seeking. Carol's return of decency makes sense because it's organically consistent with the rest of the group.

> also, her beef with Morgan seemed unresolved unless i missed something major, so its not like Morgan had suddenly convinced her to see the light, or, if he did, they did a really poor job of conveying that.

Agreed, it's not resolved. Carol wants to be normal and part of her realizes that Morgan, at some level, was right. She was diametrically opposed to Morgan this entire time and now she's grappling with the fact that she's starting to sympathize with his worldview (which is dangerous, she knows).

> man, if we're gonna have Morganized Carol then i hope she dies soon.

I actually hope not. Badass Carol is great, but if she stays that way forever that's a boring character. There's far more nuance and complexity in the Carol we see now, which is infinitely more interesting because it shows growth in the character. This is juxtaposed by the switch in the group's actions, where now they're being portrayed as the ruthless killers.

Seriously, marinate on it a bit. This is a big reason why the second half of this season is so strong, because the writing is so good.

Rick's group used to be the peaceful motley crew where individuals needed to harden themselves to survive against threats.

Now they're the band of mercenaries aggressively staking out territory in the interest of survival... where hardened individuals are now questioning just how heartless they've become.