Of course it helped that we didn't see him for 9 months, but my gf basically started feeling sympathy for him as soon as he got abandoned (but she is a very forgiving person).
Even though I didn't trust him for one second, I still found it really interesting. Would he use the chance to start over with a new family? Or would his psycho tendencies come through again, which I kinda expected at almost any moment? I was surprised when the episode was over after what felt like 20 minutes and not with him looking at the prison as teased before, either. That has to count for something and I am curious where this is going now. I still kinda expect him to lose the new family and go completely mental, but I'd be glad to be wrong. The forced truce you described above would be most interesting.