Weird GRE negative roots

Hi!
I came across this post on reddit, and sort of understand why x=-2 isn’t a solution- but how does it work when factoring, but not when plugging back in (conceptually)? Any recommendations on catching this in the real exam? I remember on some of your videos not to worry about negative roots, but seems important on this one.

The question is flawed. GRE does not like negative inside roots esp for factors of 2. The correct ans is indeed C