Episode was okay. I think the second half works better for me than the first, for most of the reasons people have already mentioned. Was honestly pretty concerned about the whole Trill parts of the episode but in the end I think that stuff worked pretty well. I do think Discovery still has this problem of feeling small--with the Trill, for example, it feels like the entire society is maybe 12 people. Seems kind of weird. I also find it weird that Saru's placid about the ship potentially becoming sentient or whatever, but on the other hand I'm also very okay with this being a relatively benign plot point and not, like, Control asserting control over the ship. Nefarious intelligence infecting the ship is a pretty well-worn trope and I'm 100% okay with not having to look over my shoulder for it here.
Stamets being a dick was kind of shitty and I'm not totally sure how I feel about this being a plot point that's likely to only cover two episodes (I presume his whole return-to-duty plotline with Jett is part of this character arc), but whatever. I am more interested in Detmer not handling things well, and I appreciate that this leads to some genuinely un-Roddenberry-like conflict in the crew. That said, the haiku thing was... weird? Like, it doesn't feel like her giving Stamets shit because that's a really fucked up way to do it, but it also feels simultaneously too on the nose AND out of left field as a manifestation of PTSD? I dunno. In general I think the discussion about the crew's mental health is a really interesting thread. I hope the writers don't drop the idea of the crew suffering serious morale/PTSD problems, but I'm 50-50 on whether they'll actually stick with it or not.
And yeah, please no more references to the 20th century, dear god. I'm not sure if they chose Buster Keaton clips because it's in the public domain or something but I had flashbacks to B'Elanna giving Paris an antique TV that only plays Saturday morning cartoons from the 60s as a present. Can't stand that shit.
