Oh I'm caught up now TIS, last year when they had the marathons me and my wife was living with my parents then and my old man watched the whole thing and I went from "this zombie crap is stupid" to "hey when does the new season start". Last year was my first year to watch every episode when it first aired and not a re-run. Now I love it because as you said it is more about the characters an surviving than it is the walkers. Now I love it.