I'm caught up to current, and I'm pretty pleased with the first half of this second season. The zombie apocalypse is a great backdrop for effective development of tension.
Daryl Dixon is my favorite character. I've met a lot of folks just like that character. The actor owns that role. Outside of Daryl, we're getting some nice intense character development from several others.
I think they did a better mix of zombie to drama ratio this season, although you can see some of the impacts from more episodes on a smaller budget than they got for six last year. In general, there were fewer locations and more static talking scenes. A specific example would be there being too much air time spent looking for Sophia. My wife was relieved that it was over rather than horrified at the outcome when we watched the final episode.