Re-watching Season 2 and I can't believe I ever thought it was "boring" compared to S1.
I think I was maybe a little too stupid when S2 originally aired to really, properly appreciate it. I remember wishing they'd just leave the farm and get back to all the cool stuff I felt like S1 had.
But upon Re-watching it for the first time in over 15 years I realized its definately one of my all-time favorite seasons specifically because of the character drama. Its really the last vestiges of the "early outbreak" when people are still trying to hold onto the values and ideals of the old world and work out how feasible that really is.
Dale's death in particular I feel is the final nail for that. Its the domino that really sets off everything else that goes drastically wrong in the final few episodes (though I think the other side is both the reveal of what happened to Sophia earlier and Shane's increasingly violent and unhinged behaviour that'd been building since S1).
I regret past me being so narrow-minded and not seeing the season for what it is so much sooner.