By Jesse Miller, MoreHorror.com

The first season of The Walking Dead – consisting of only six episodes – established a haunting post apocalyptic world with some beautifully done human drama – but all that was merely just the shape of things to come for this band of survivors, a tasty entrée and just a set up of these characters and their personal demons to be tackled in the main course and expanded second season.

In season one, we were introduced to each of the members of the group and their struggles and The Walking Dead: Season 2 takes it that step further and further examines this group, these strangers thrown together, as they begin to fall apart and struggle to hang on that humanity in midst of the unfolding horror and their own personal demons – and it is brutal, brutal stuff to watch.

If you were one of the people that had second thoughts to this series because of showrunner Frank Darabont’s controversial departure due to a reduced budget on the show, amongst other reasons, well then I’m here to try and quell those hesitations – this is jam packed full of some absorbing human drama and character interactions and it still packs one hell of a punch when it comes down to the startling moments of gore (which looks mightily impressive even due to a reduced budget) and the sheer intensity of the unfolding events.

Some might see it as not having Darabont’s fingerprints all over the season – I myself cannot tell - but the quality here is still excellent.

Now, I paid attention to the the negative thoughts from audiences that range anywhere from “the show moves too slowly” to “there aren’t enough zombies” and I wanted to weigh in on where I stand – yes, the show does have the habit of ramping up the intensity and then dialling down the notch for a slow burn, which might be jarring or aggravating to some, but I found this to be engrossing stuff and even though the pace may move slowly, there’s still tense and riveting character interactions to see and character development to be had.

As for the lack of zombie action, The Walking Dead has always been first and foremost a drama, with zombies taking a backseat to these characters, their relationships and the struggle to retain that humanity.
So with that in mind, I don’t mind if I come across some soapy or cheesy scene because more often than not, it’s engaging stuff.

However, for all the terrific writing and character development on display here, there are some hiccups and, frankly, silly character moments or silly moments here or there that are a little baffling – it happens in a scene here or a decision there or an argument feeling silly and out of place- unfortunately I can’t really go into details here because to do so, I’d have to raise some huge spoilers which really have been building since the first episode of this season – but fortunately these moments don’t really derail an otherwise stellar season.

Speaking of stellar, I don’t think there is not a single terrible performance here to find from the cast, as everyone on offer here turns in an outstanding performance – I’d like to cite Jon Bernthal’s outstanding portrayal of the antagonistic Shane, on the verge of insanity, Jefferey DeMunn’s touching portrayal as Dale and Andrew Lincoln’s portrayal as the ever-stoic Rick, who is starting to buckle under the weight of the enormous effort of keeping everyone safe and acting civil amongst all the problems.
There are also some damn fine and beautifully acted performances from the entire cast, including the new and solid additions such as Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene, the farm owner the group encounters.

If I had one complaint about the cast here, it’s that the actor IronE Singleton, who plays T-Dog, feels underused here and isn’t really given all that much to do and is, more often than not, reduced to standing in the background and reacting to the turn of events around him.

How are the zombie make up, effects and gore? Well, they are quite detailed, spectacularly gory and shocking and any gorehounds will not be disappointed when these effects appear on screen as they are often brutal and quite gory – as a zombie effects and subsequent death should very well be.

What deserves even more praise here is the fact that The Walking Dead challenges the audiences’ morality with its plots and characters, which has started several discussions I’ve been involved in about what’s right there and what’s wrong and for something to spark conversations such as these is masterful storytelling in my books.

For the most part, The Walking Dead’s second season is brilliant, thrilling and nerve-racking entertainment that left a knot in my stomach that I really haven’t experienced in a horror-thriller for quite some time now and it did not let up, leading to an explosive wrap up of plots that leads to one hell of a finale that hints at a darker season three.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season will be released on August 28th on DVD and Blu-Ray.