Despite my ignorance of the books, I must say that my major disappointment in this series has been the predictability of the narrative as it unfolds--until this most recent episode, wherein, IMHO, the audience
finally receives a greater sense of character development amongst the other refugees (by "other" I mean other than, e.g., Shane, Lori, Rick, et al.) when the zombie threat finally reaches the refugee camp. Until the "Vatos" episode, it seemed to me that "The Walking Dead" was willing to replace
surprise with
shock/gore, and I simply kept watching because A. "The Walking Dead" airs immediately after "Boardwalk Empire" (

) and B. I wanted to keep hope
alive (as opposed to allowing it to become
zombified) that the series would take a good turn (I should note that the zombie horror genre is typically not my cup of tea, and I've lost numerous points with my wife for repeatedly tuning in.). With the unexpected addition of Jim's apparent (or coincidental) clairvoyance and the gang-defended nursing home, I feel my patience has been somewhat rewarded.
To respond to Jey, I can add that, having some personal experience working with urban youth, you may find this state of affairs--i.e., being largely misunderstood and feared--is often the case in so-called RL. You may be right, however, that the series took a somewhat ham-fisted approach to introducing this twist.