Well I think the idea is that it was not how it actually happened. That was the retooled version that Alpha told Lydia to confuse her about events. Alpha told the story to Lydia as if it was an accident, when in reality she must have done something more deliberate to kill him.

 

I actually thought it worked pretty well. They were dropping little hints to us that things were amiss. This strange death by Alpha's hands. The fact that first Alpha had the Lydia tattoo but then Frank did. Frank shaved his beard but then it was back again. All hints.

 

If you watch close, while one hand is over his mouth, her other forearm is on his throat. The crack was, I assume, his larynx.

 

That scene certainly was a bit wtf'y

I can believe that someone pumped up on adrenaline, and tired of being abused as she was... Put just a little too much pressure on this one individual she considered to be the supreme idiot of the day, and ooops! But then once it happened it also dawned on her that it wasn't too terribly difficult and I could see then she was a natural born killer.

 

I thought I saw Alpha's other arm pushing down hard on the guys neck choking him out/ crushing his windpipe.

Once he died when she removed her hand from his mouth you could kind of see it.

Edit: someone beat me to it

 

How come that guy was not putting up a fight when he was pressed down on the floor by Alpha? I suppose his windpipe was crushed right at the moment he fell?

Anyway, I think it was 'day 23' or something and so it was only a few weeks into ZA and Alpha has already 'degenerated' into a killer? Or, more likely, she was already an aggressive (and perhaps violent?) woman even before the ZA?
And, I think she was the 'dominant' person of her marriage. For one thing, she was able to 'force' her husband to grow a beard. He did not like it but grew it as she was the one liking it. Or, was this part an imagination of Lydia?
(I wonder if Alpha would fall for Aaron if she loves a beard or if Alpha would hate Aaron as his beard reminded her of her husband?)

 

It would appear that the beard thing was actually part of the false narrative that Alpha told to Lydia. Frank never shaved his beard, in reality. It was Alpha who shaved her hair.

 

Maybe it is just Lydia having a messed up mind. I mean, she loves her dad and so she is 'subconsciously' projecting her memory of her dad (eg his tattoo on his upper arm) onto her mom, and also justifying her mom's head shaving by imagining her dad's beard shaving off. So, to a certain degree, she is trying to accept her mom (and her behaviour) by creating an equivalent act of her dad.
I wonder if Lydia's mind is as screwed up as Lizzie's.

 

This is very helpful. What should have been clues to me, confused me. Now that I understand we were watching Lydia's memories untangling, that was an excellent sequence.

Re Carol shaving her head, you guys have always said it was because of Ed, but this is the first time I have heard it stated on the show. I like that they acknowledged it, both for myself and for all of the people out there watching TWD without the benefit of chatting with all of you smart people.

 

We do see that at this point it is day 43. Not a huge difference in terms of days, but living in close quarters, under that type of pressure I would think that the string that tethers most of us to our humanistic nature would be strained. Put a person who is more than likely violent or aggressive by nature in that same scenario, it would not take much to tip the scales

 

I like the nod to "23 Days later" used in the episode.

 

I agree with Neuro, I don't believe any of the memories are real until the last one when psychopath Alpha appears.

 

oh did i miss it? what was it?

 

Not sure what is meant by the "23 days later" comment. Wasn't it showing 23 days and then 43 days?

 

The sign said "23 Days" in the basement. I can't imagine they chose that randomly.

 

I don't recall 43 days but I surely saw 23 days. I can't imagine that was a random number they chose and it triggered my brain immediately. Though I suppose it could be a coincidence.

 

But the movie is called 28 Days Later.

 

First we saw 23 days and then later in the episode it was at 43 days

Isn't the movie called 28 Days Later?