1706 - The Walking Dead: season two (part II)

Here's a show that gets endlessly loved and yet ripped upon at the same time.  If you don't know what this series is about you're probably living under a zombie, but feel free to click the tags below.  Otherwise I'll assume those reading know the score.
The first half of this season had issues, I think.  It was just slow and it spent too much time stalling.  That same first half ended with what I honestly believe to be one of the best executed sequences in television history.  And I think that's what's frustrating about this show, when it's bad it's mediocre, but when it's good it's absolutely phenomenal!  And for the fans of the comic series, you know just how much material these people have to draw upon and how much story is left to come up.

SPOILERS BELOW

I was pretty damn surprised that they did some of the things that they did in this second half of the season - sometimes in a good way.  I knew Shane had to go, but was shocked that Dale did as well.  I FUCKING LOVED the reveal of Michoinne (don't know how to spell her name) at the end of this season, as well as the nod to the prison. In the comic series they spend more time at the prison than anywhere so far, so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.  If they do it properly they can easily get two seasons out of it given how much happens in and around it. 
I think this show could benefit from some more characterization that isn't merely speecifying.  I think that Rick's declaration in the final scene was a great one and a strong choice for moving forward. 
As flawed as it was I kept coming back, and I think the back-half of this season was a vast improvement upon what had come before.  I think they've finally hit their grove.  It's a long wait till fall...