I can see where that writer is coming from, but I think that a lot of what is interesting about the show is that Phil remains a slave to his idiotic impulses despite having a couple of years that could've been used for serious introspection. He was probably a boor before the virus and remains so, and it's his perspective that we see the show through, especially since the first 15 minutes of the show is just him, and he seems like a fun, party guy. Carol seems like the shrew at first because of this POV we've grown acclimated to, but towards the end of the second episode we start to see that Phil is just as bad at interaction as she is.