When I say it is much better, it is like from 1st gear into 2nd (may be 3rd at times)...still not impressed yet, nowhere near on the level of season 1. I am just less bored by it and scenes actually have meaning. i.e. the nudity this time was for a purpose, the chat between Sam (woot I remember his name!) and the girl ended with something taken place (and why he didn't pick up the knife after!?).
There are still lots of room for improvement, although I am not sure whether it is better because they set it up using 7 hours of television, or whether it feels better because the previous 7 hours has been utter turd so any improvement, however marginal and now magnified because of the boredom one has to endure from the previous 7 hours.