I don't have any complaints about the show handing an episode to Rick-Michonne-Carl-Morgan and then doing an episode focused on the main players at Woodbury. It worked extremely well.
I'm not sure how anyone could reasonably hate the return to Rick's hometown. All of those characters were elevated BIG TIME. Rick showed that he could function and have perspective on his condition, Carl continues to mature as a child soldier and an older brother, Morgan stole the episode with his cunning and his crazy, and Michonne finally became a character!
Episode 14, Andrea made a comeback. It was probably, almost assuredly for my money, the best episode for the Governor. He finally took on a level of menace and villainy that shooting Axel in the head could never give him. He's a scary guy now. Milton, well, this was an okay episode for Milty. As someone else mentioned, he has battered woman syndrome for the Governor. Tyreese continues to build as a character that's going to make a big move, the right move, at the right time. And that angry old white dude in his party took on another dimension, now we have some insight into why he's been a conniving prick.
So yeah, I think the episodes that have focused on a handful of characters has done great service to those characters. It will make everything matter all the more when everyone meets up in these last two episodes.