I didn't. They definitely looked nicer and the stories were a bit more "mature" but that was overshadowed by "THIS I COMMAND!" every 3 minutes reminding me why I hated Serpentard as much as I do.
Serpentor was cool in an 80's cartoon cult leader sort of way. He'd also have quite the presence as a high end 12 inch figure (hint hint SSC.) Regardless, he certainly didn't factor into every episode, often times when he did show up it was just to shout his aforementioned "commands" from his chair while the rest of the Cobras did all the work.
The "mature" themes, often times borrowed from R-rated films or horror stories (I believe the episode where a woman loses her entire face and flails about in a panic was inspired from an old Twilight Zone IIRC), were virtually non-extistent in Season 1.
Its also nice that they finally included enemy troops the Joes could "kill", and featured other "deaths" through computer simulations, dreams, etc.