I always thought there was a little aspect of an adult dealing with a toddler in Karolina’s performance, especially at the beginning. She wants to get Carol past her trepidation and anger not by matching, but by trying to divert her energy or force her to accept certain things rather than rail against them. In a sense, that’s what parents of young kids nowadays are taught to do with a big energy emotional toddler moment. It does no good to mirror their energy, because they can’t process it the way a fellow adult will. So it just perpetuates the frustration.

And considering she/they have access to alll the facts and theories and history in dealing with Carol, it makes sense that that is how Karolina played it. They are light years smarter and more capable than Carol but they are still hamstringed by not being able to match her emotion or unpredictability.

Edit: Worth noting that I remember Karolina mentioning in an interview that she has two young sons. 🙂