Its more an issue of trying to do too much. You can only blend plot development and the light content so much. It isn't even limited to comedy, the whole depression episode was kind of nice but did they really need to spend a whole episode on it? Personally, I enjoyed the start, episodes 1 and 2 were A-grade. To me though, R2 didn't hit the ground running until the Lelouch's "behold a million zeroes!" trick. Once they got to China, things went from low B range to A level. 12 was mostly a waste, but at least it seems to have ended the Ashford angle for good. And I did like how they sent off Milly at the end. R2's first half demonstrated that there really wasn't room for both Ashford and the rebellion anymore.