I did my usual get up at 6 am so I could watch it twice before starting my day at work. Granted, I did not sleep well, so I was tired, but I slept through the re-watch and was kind of disappointed overall. With all the pictures of the characters in awe they posted in advance, I kind of expected that they would deliver on just how amaaaazing headquarters would look. I felt let down - it did not blow my socks off. And while I am in total alignment with some of the other posters who feel like character work is more interesting than the technology, I do feel like I should have some excitement about the 32 century. Seats without supports don't completely do it for me.
I did not like what happened with Nhan, I hope that is setting up something that will play out later in the season, but I am not super convinced that will happen. Why is HQ so homo sapiens dominant, particularly since Earth is not part of it? There was an interesting conflict about what to do with the Discovery crew that came up and then was dropped as they all resumed their stations to help the Kili two minutes later.That conflict seemed vaguely interesting, and I was kind of disappointed we did not see the crew dispersal. Seems like a missed story opportunity.
Why bother to have Tig Notaro in this episode? Wouldn't it have made more sense to use her in the dinner scene in the prior episode? She kind of seemed wasted here. Aside from her "No we haven't."
The things I liked, I am not a Burnham hater for the record, but I did enjoy her doing her usual lippy thing and the Admiral being quick to put her in her place. She should be put in her place now and again, come to think Saru did this too. And while it was total fan service, I did like the shot of Voyager-J (and that it was the J like the Enterprise we saw in Enterprise was the J).
Sorry to be so butt-hurt on this one. I am really looking forward to reading everyone else' take on this episode - the things everyone notices and talks about is always interesting and I hope it will change my view on this one.