Carl's pointless death has completely sucked me out of the show. They have hyped that it leads to something, it won't. The source material is what made the show good to begin with. Straying from it forces them to rewrite and abandon certain stories and arcs.
Does anyone ecwn remember the whole show arc of the weirdo cops in the skyscraper building that kept people hostage? Most people don't even remember it until it's brought up, and even less thought it was good. That's because it was all original material, none of it came from the comics, hence why it felt so out of place. It's only real purpose was to prolong getting to Alexandria and meeting Negan. What they do next after this story arc will either revive or sink this show. I'm not optimistic for it's survival right now.