I sort of agree on one thing:
The Carol scene didn't seem completely necessary. (Aside: I would have thought Benjamin would have mentioned to Carol that all her friends were here. It was clear they were from the same group as Morgan, and by extension Carol. It's possible Morgan asked him not to, but the meeting was coincidental. I had actually assumed that was the entire point of the scene.) However, it was used towards Ezekiel's deliberation, since Benjamin connects it to the decision.
They could have shown more with Ezekiel, but they showed two close counsel's (Morgan, who he has taken quite a trust to), and Benjamin with opposing views. We can assume he thought this over. I guess they could have shown a scene of him not sleeping all night or something. For me I was okay enough putting pieces together. Though, I expected him to decide to join them. (After all, in the comics he had basically already decided and was just waiting for it to become possible.) I'm guessing it's going to come down to a death (Benjamin, Morgan, or Richard) to sway him, or Richard will preempt and force his hand.
Overall I really liked this episode. More of the slow character and plot stuff that I prefer.
As for Negan, I think he made one of his best contributions to the show so far, with the radio voiceover. "Things will not be the same now that he's dead. Without Fat Joey, Skinny Joey is just … Joey. So it's a goddamn tragedy." And "Just the other day we were joking about oral sex with Lucille." Seriously some of my favorite Negan lines so far.
Regarding some differences in show development vs comics, the changes seem more realistic. In the comics, Alexandria had the arms (Negan comes to Alexandria for supplies and doesn't take a single weapon?), just not the numbers. Hilltop people were still influenced by Gregory rather than Maggie at this point (side note: Will we get 'I believe in Rick Grimes' speech?), and The Kingdom was not presented as significant of an army as it is in the show. So in the comics, Rick gets Ezekial for an immediate attack, but not the Hilltop, who end up coming in to save them at a pivotal moment. There is also this new group (and possibly the shore group). I think the show might have Rick initiating an attack with the new group, the Hilltop 'rebels', and the Kingdom may join in the manner that Hilltop does in the comics. In any case, I think it's likely that a death is going to be what pushes Ezekial to join Rick. It could also be the violence/potential fight we see coming in the preview for next episode, but I think that may be more building up.
Also, every seen with Ezekial is like my favorite thing ever.