Oh so much to love and yet…
So there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned horde of flesh-eating zombies grr, arg, nrring their way towards our heroes to create a bit of tension and drama. Rick and Carl in the barn. Hershel determinedly defending his home to the last shell. Andrea being left behind and her epic fight to stay alive. Great stuff.
Then Andrea is saved by some hooded, ninja chick leading around two armless zombies! WTF? I mean, very cool visual but how come the armless zombies are acting like well-trained retrievers? No grr, arg, nrring at all.
However, what bugged me, what really got to me, was the way poor Rick was treated. Lori being, what, angry, ANGRY, upon learning about Shane? Shocked, I could see. Sad, I could see. But angry? At Rick? Made no sense.
Then, for some reason, most the group (except Hershel) turned on poor old Rick after he revealed a wonderfully cool secret that CDC dude told him way, way back. They are all infected. Now, did they remember all the things Rick has done? No. Did goofy Glenn shrug it off? No. If it was me, Rick shooting those guys in the bar would pretty much earned him a pass on the whole secret revelation thing. If it was me, Rick nutting up and shooting that little zombie girl earned him a little respect. Rick holding them together and keeping them all alive, hell, that earned him the right to shoot all the whiners here and now.
The only character who would have, should have, had a problem with that whole secret thing was Dale and he’s dead. Maybe that’s for the best. He would have hated how the writers let the plot lead the characters instead of the other way around.
But again, they have left us wondering what will happen next. Andrea and her new ninja buddy. The looming prison not far away. The shattered group with no plan and no hope.
I will still tune in to see what happens.
About A Stepdad 
Hmmm. I disagree with you about the secret Rick withheld from the group. I see that as an unforgivable betrayal. Its not a bartering system where you get so many free passes to be an ass based on the good deeds you have done.
The reason the group trusted Rick was that he was trustworthy. He made decisions based on everyone having the same information and everyone being able to voice their opinions. He drew on the strengths of each member of the group. By withholding information from them he was making decisions for them, not with them. By withholding information from them he reveals that he didn’t trust them, and that he was going to control them instead of convince them or lead them.
As for Lori, my take on it was that her expectations of Rick are just too impossibly high. She expected him to find a better solution. Was it unfair of her? Of course. But that is who she is. I never saw Lori as one of the “good guys”. She’s volatile and weak and can’t see past her own nose.