I was very disappointed in this episode as the writers relied on great coincidences for things to happen and then made it seem like Teddy had it planned all along.
First coincidence, Dakota comes off the bus just in time to join Alica and Teddy, talking about her mother. This is an extraordinary leap that could not be anticipated and without Dakota there things would have been very different at the end, especially when she stops Alicia from shooting Teddy and delays her from walking away.
Second coincidence, the flat tire that leads them to be saved/ambushed by Cole and co. This turned out to be even better than what Teddy was trying to do, at least as he tells it, which is amazing. The fact that this group has turned so desperate/evil further going to demonstrating Teddy's message to Alicia. It is, at least, show don't tell, but them showing up as they did is amazingly convienient.
As a side note, why did Teddy go the the crypt of his 'mother', appear so caring toward her on several occasions? It turns out that this isn't his mother and he couldn't care less about the corpse but what was the whole charade about? Are the writers trying to show that he knew that there were some bad people around, saw the nailboard, deliberately ran over it in the hopes that he would encounter these people and then live to tell about it? If that's the case, he should have been a fortune teller for his ability to predict the future.
The third coincidence is that Cole knows Alicia and vice-versa. Even if Teddy knew that bad people were around, chances are they wouldn't be with someone that knew Alicia. They would have just as likely shot them, stolen their vehicle and gone on their way. The fact that these bad hombres have people that Alicia knows and know her is pretty much astronomical.
The fourth coincidence is that neither Alicia nor Cole and co every harm Teddy. He is condescending and horrible throughout and I'd guess that even an ethics professor would agree that the Boots of Groin Kicking could and should be applied. While Alicia says that she needs to keep him alive to find out what his group has planned, she should have realised that simply asking wasn't getting her anywhere. A good beating might have convinced him to be a little more forthcoming.
The fifth coincidence is the walker that show up just as Cole and co want to execute Alicia, Dakota and Teddy. Further to that, the walkers only seem to pose a threat to Cole and co and are easily dealt with by the initially unarmed, kneeling group and not the heavily armed, numerous others.
As a further point to this, why doesn't Alicia join Cole? She's willing to work with Teddy whom she despises. With Cole, she could have easily convinced them to follow Teddy's group to where they were going, picking up the trail from where they just left, and stopping the plan while Teddy's corpse is laying on the ground and deprives his group of leadership. It seems strange that she seems to hate her desperate and need old friends far more than a megalomaniac killer like Teddy.
The sixth and final coincidence is that Teddy's group shows up just after the fight with the walkers and Cole, just as Alicia is going her own way. Where they all waiting just around the corner? If not, why were they willing to let Cole and his group even attempt to murder their leader; why did they let the walkers get even close?
I'm sorry, but this is an example of bad writing. It might look okay on a storyboard for ways to move the plot from A to B to C, but when you're seeing it, it just looks too contrived for belief.
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