A 7 from me this time around. We're stepping around the plotholes for it, but props for a suspenseful and visually stunning episode with a few very good sections.
The good: stunning work on both the nebula and the holo-environment, including the 'monster'. Everyone had something to do, even if it was minor. Excellent performances by Jones, Martin Green and Cruz during the away mission segment. And for once, Osyraa felt like an actual threat and intriguing character. The hints of trouble between Adira and Gray and the moment with Stamets I also appreciated, as we haven't really dealt much with the fallout of the joining lately, or how much Adira has learned about its effects (either normally, or differently now because they are human).
The bad: Tilly in command during a crisis situation - as I suspected when she was promoted, it goes south rather quickly. This is just not working for me. She shows a few good moments when she tries to cut off Osyraa's psycho-analysis of her and when she orders Stamets to get into the spore chamber and leave the away team behind. Otherwise, we're treated with a stellar showing of incompetence on behalf of the Disco crew when they get overrun by the Chain forces in short order. Nobody on the bridge notices the ship is being boarded in engineering? Like, intruder alert, security teams, etc.? And if we can threaten with the self-distruct, then why not arm it with a delay? Discovery seems woefully unprepared for a boarding scenario. Also, Su'kal is supposedly the source of the Burn. One person, affecting the entire galaxy? "Must be evolution because of this planet". Really? Just, no. Space is big. Really, really big. Unless our dear Kelpien is suddenly a Q-level being, this is too much for me, at least without further clarification. Trek has no shortage of very powerful aliens, but rarely on this level.
On the fence: we're treated to a momentary lapse on the part of Saru because he's distracted by the fate of the other Kelpiens, and Burnham has to step in (and not Tilly!). After Burnham's failures earlier in the season, and Tilly's showing of clearly-not-ready later in the episode, I can see some parallels in a 'we might not be perfect, but we're all we've got' conclusion for all of them when it comes to the command structure. That could work for me. The move to change the away team's species was also odd. It gave Jones a chance to show what he can do without his makeup, but if the holo-program can thus apparently be ok with depicting someone as human - why the need to change Burnham and Culber? We can perhaps blame the failing holo-software, but still. Also, Discovery being captured by the chain, and Book and Adira being off-ship while it happens. I like the idea of depicting the Chain as a real threat this way, and the chance it gives the newer characters to do their part later for the rescue. We'll have to see where that goes.
I'll also comment that the entire rescue plot felt a bit rushed, especially given that we're here either a) for figuring out the reason for the Burn and/or b) to rescue a single person who's already been stranded for over a century. Neither seems to warrant barrelling straight into the nebula like that. Maybe the threat to Kaminar upped the timetable, but I don't recall that was ever stated outright.
