There also is -- at least for me -- a bit of a qualify inflation that happens with the earlier episodes of a serialized story. They can defer a lot of the hard questions in ways earlier, more episodic Trek installments could not. In the building of a serialized story, I'm willing to optimistically believe the ending is going to be as satisfying as the rising action. And the episode just doesn't have to do as much on it's own to satisfy, it's much easier to make a satisfying episode of rising action than it is to make a satisfying episode of resolution.
So as I was watching them the first time, I really did just love episode 5 - 13 of season 1, and episodes 2 - 8 of this season.
When season 1 ended so incompetently and unsatisfactorily, I went from loving most of the earlier eps to merely liking them, but they'd still score high-ish. But all my scorn is really heaped on those last two episodes, just unwatchable garbage.
So... I'm, depressingly, sort of expecting something similar here.
And if that does come to pass, by season 3 I'm not willing to look at the beginning/middle of the season through rose colored glasses anymore. Since we'll know by that point that satisfying resolutions are not something this staff is capable of, there's then so much more pressure on the earliest installments to satisfy in other ways, and for me the ratings would go down even if their quality-level is otherwise comparable to the first two seasons.