You really think Rick and the gang are good people still? Not sure what you're calling me cynical for.
I guess the brutality of this episode bothered me so much because it felt empty. I was thinking about that scene where Daryl's brother Merle went off and tried to kill the Governor, and ended up getting brutally murdered by him. That was horrible to watch, but it was backed by good writing. It felt necessary. Merle had betrayed the Governor, but he did so for his brother and for the group. And then Daryl finds him, but it's too late. It was heartbreaking. All that was wrapped up in the relationship of the brothers, and choosing allegiances, and choosing a right path.
Seeing Glenn get killed like that was terrible because he's been there for seven seasons, and seeing the devastation of Maggie. But the whole thing felt hollow because Rick's group were already cold-blooded murderers. So now we have one group of killers against another group. That's not an interesting story to me, and making it ultra violent doesn't change that.