After the sort-of soft reboot of "Brother" and the more or less bottle episode "New Eden," this episode carries over several themes and characters from the first season, reintroducing the Klingons, the Klingon-turned-human Voq/Ash Tyler, and the new Klingon chancellor, L'Rell. (And a most welcome appearance by Michelle Yeoh, whose former Mirror Emperor Georgiou is now fully ensconced in the black ops Section 31.)
This story has a general theme of consequences, both for Michael Burnham, Ash Tyler, L'Rell, Amanda, and Sylvia Tilly. I thought it had a nice balancing act between the Season 1 and Season 2 characters and storylines, while setting things up for further revelations. We still haven't seen the adult Spock, but we learn more about his and Michael's childhood, and the discovery that he saw the so-called Red Angel even as a child. (I still think it'll--or they'll, as there seems to be more than one-- turn out to be nasty mofos.) The Klingons seem to be a bit better imagined and portrayed here, with not quite the harsh edges of the first season.
And yay! Michelle Yeoh. I will always be down for seeing her. (And did she admit the Mirror Emperor had a child? That's what I thought she said while talking to L'Rell.) Obviously they're setting things up for her spin-off show, and I can't wait.
The effects and sets are as gorgeous as ever, and there were several long and interesting tracking shots in this episode. If they can more fully integrate the first and second season storylines and themes, I think the show will benefit. It definitely needs its own point of view within the overall Trek universe, and this ep seems to be taking steps in that direction.
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