I am blogging my past TV reviews from Facebook; this was my (probably too kind) assessment of “The Walking Dead’s” problematic second season.  (I have since actually suggested to newcomers to the show that they skip this season entirely.)

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I want to love “The Walking Dead’.” I really do. It actually IS a very good show, and it brings one of my favorite horror subgenres into the mainstream. When I was in high school and college, fans of post-apocalyptic zombie horror were a relatively small group. Even if you liked horror films, most people leaned toward different kinds of movies. And the books and films that zombie fans enjoyed sort of petered out after the 1980’s. It just wasn’t a big thing.

And “The Walking Dead” has a lot going for it. (Through Netflix streaming, I was just able to catch up on the second season.) Can anyone name a show on cable television today that has more pathos? This show pushes the boundaries. I’ve often been surprised at what gets past the censors.

It’s got an expansive scope, a great basic story, and one extremely interesting character. (I don’t even need to say who it is – he started out as a supporting character and a plot device for creating tension within the group, and his popularity has soared past any other character.) This show probably also has the greatest makeup special effects of any television show I’ve ever seen. Yes, “The X-Files” occasionally gave us great monsters like “Flukeman,” but that was only for a single episode. “The Walking Dead” gives us visually terrifying adversaries every time we tune in.

But this show is also problematic. The pacing problems are enormous. Let’s look at the structure of every episode. It begins with an enjoyable pre-credit “hook” – something to reel us in. It usually ends with a bit of a cliffhanger – a brief action segment or dramatic event that’s a hell of a lot of fun. But between those two things … ugh. Sometimes the show seems like a boring soap opera that is bookended by brief zombie horror sequences. Really. What does it say about a show if you sometimes just fast-forward through all the conversations just to get to “the good parts?”

Oh well. I still like it a hell of a lot. This show always keeps me coming back, and I’m eagerly awaiting Season 3 on October 14. I’d give the second season an 8 out of 10.