There's some
very interesting subtext in this episode. Written and Directed by Terry Matalas.
Starfleet (The franchise) is damaged, dark and broken by several very poor decisions, and it's up to The Last Generation to set things right (yes, Ep 10 does end on a
very hopeful note). Ep 9 is
Infinity War, Ep 10 is
Endgame.
The Gen Z (Zoomers) are the ones to have their minds warped and corrupted (an interesting commentary on today's society; social media, the looming mental health crisis facing that generation). And I'm early 30s, so I'm not talking down on them, I'm just recognizing the commentary here (or commenTerry

.. lol)
The Transgender character (Ensign Esmar) is used as the face of this group, and
they take the command chair and give the fleet orders.
And then Terry gives many of the supposed '
Anti-Woke' channels on YT these episodes way in advance, and appears on their channels regularly.
In many ways, this almost comes across as the opposite approach and perspective that the Discovery
'creatives' took with their version of Star Trek.
All that being said, I still stand by this is a 20/10 episode... with the best yet to come. We haven't seen such an effective payoff like this since
"What You Leave Behind."