Wow, I had a really tough time with this episode, really surprised to see so many people here who loved it. Probably one of the weakest for the season for me. Though there was actually a ton of stuff in it that I really liked too. Weird.
The funeral at the beginning was very odd. Why are we supposed to care about a background non-character? Emotionally, it felt extremely unearned. The crew might as well have broken their favorite chair in the mess hall for all I cared about Airiam as a character. On the other hand, I'd really like to imagine that they have the exact same funeral for Redshirt #37 whenever he bites the dust. From an in-universe point of view, of course you'd care about someone that you served on board with for the past year. And even if they were from a section you didn't work with, you'd still want a service like that to support your fellow crew. But for us viewers watching in tv land, who the hell cares about Airiam.
The initial Red Angel info-dump was awful. (Though I was completely okay with it being Michael, because she made sense in the context of the show.) They managed to make Tilly annoying again. (It's a very fine line between charming and annoying, and I've noticed that missed that line a few times this season. Do better with her, writers!) Freaking time crystals. Good grief, that's awful. And then the braindead revelation that Section 31 has known exactly what the Red Angel was all along, because Burnham's parents invented in 20 years ago. Dangit, that's some truly horrible writing.
Tough call on the punches between Michael and Leland. On one hand, Leland was just one guy doing his job, seemingly properly, so he certainly doesn't deserve blame. But I can certainly understand Michael being pissed that she was allowed to believe she was to blame for her parent's deaths. Though you can't expect Leland to reveal state secrets just to make her feel better, it's not like telling her would have brought her parents back to life. And her parents obviously kept the truth from her too, so yeah, pretty unfair to blame Leland. Though one can understand her emotions in that moment, realizing her guilt for the past 20 years was unfounded. Now I guess she can just go back to feeling guilty for all the people that got killed in her Klingon war?
I loved all the parts of the episode with Culber. The conversation between the Empress, Stamets, Papi, and Tilly was great. I see that it didn't work for everybody, but I enjoyed the heck out of it. Defcon level fun! Also really liked the talk between Culber and Admiral Cornwell. Basically, I'm really liking the current Culber story and the idea of him trying to figure out how he fits with memories that aren't exactly him.
Unfortunately, my hate levels for Ash Tyler in this episode were through the roof. Do something with him or kill him off. Having him just mope around week after week is unbearable. So lets just say that I hated the scenes with him and Michael and leave it at that.
I loved the scenes with Spock and Michael on the other hand. This actually feels like the Spock I know, and I strongly approved of the way they criticized each other and still comforted each other in this episode. If we're not going to get a Spock/Pike show, I would gladly take more of this interaction between Michael and Spock.
The big plan to capture the Red Angel was mind-bogglingly stupid. Numerous reasons it could have failed, though a big thumbs up to Spock for recognizing the flaws in having safety backups, and taking matters into his own hands. And yeah, I noticed Spock's butt too. Were those scenes intentionally shot to feature it, or was that an accident?
I was definitely aware of the possibility that Michael might not be in the suit (especially as we were told she was the occupant early on in the episode in a way that left room for a twist), so when the Red Angel fell out of her suit, I, like others on this thread I see, spent a second or two trying to figure out whether that was an old Michael or Georgiou. A bit anti-climatic when you realize it's someone we've never seen before, so that was a bummer. I was definitely expecting a known face. However if the show makes me care more about that revelation in the coming episodes, that twist can certainly be forgiven.
Just went back and rewatched the Leland scene at the very end again. On first watch, I assumed he was dead, but now on closer watch, he's clearly still twitching, and an ominous blue light can be seen spreading from his eye. Therefore mind-control, and the eye will likely self-heal, so no pirate eyepatch needed.
Really conflicted feelings about this episode. Parts of it were great, especially Spock and Culber, but they made Tilly bad, and Ash and the time crystal explanation were just awful. Hopefully next week makes up for this, and will be another good one. This season has been mostly good, though they haven't all been wonderful. If it's true that the showrunner shake-up has caused a lot of these problems, well, while understandable, it doesn't magically make this episode any better. But if the final destination of the journey is worth it, then some bumps on the road along the way will be quickly forgotten.