If I had to grade the episode, which I don't really do the numbers anymore, but if I did, it would be an 11. Of course, I'm taking one point away because it's a cliffhanger. So it would be a 10.
A few points:
* The demarcation line is a political maneuver, not a true to space boundary. In essence, it was "you stay on this side of the line, regardless of where it goes, or we'll consider it an act of war." Remember, they informed Starfleet about it first, who informed the Enterprise. The Gorn knew exactly what they were doing.
* Chapel and Spock leave the bridge before the saucer enters the atmosphere, so there isn't much gravity to counter. The rockets are doing the work of propelling and guiding the saucer down.
* SCOTTY! I was completely caught by surprise. What a welcome, welcome surprise! I also love that Pelia considers him one of her best students while having some of the worst grades. She likes it when people think outside of the box, she just wants them to follow it up with the goods. Scotty probably goes off in a dozen different directions with new ideas, and it frustrates her.
* I don't know where people get the idea you turn your brain off for this, my brain was moving a thousand miles a second trying to make connections, backing it up with canon (as I know it), formulating new plot theories, and extrapolating what might happen to the characters based on the data I had at the time. Yes, some of them have plot armor because of future events, but there are characters I like very much who don't have that plot armor, like La'an, and Ortegas, with La'an my greatest concern because Boimler didn't even acknowledge her like he did so many others in "Those Old Scientists."
So now we have to wait who knows how long for the conclusion of this cliffhanger. I want to say they stuck the landing, but they're still in the air! This was a fantastic episode, though, and this was definitely a fantastic season. If they cancel this, I swear to Gort I will travel to Paramount studios and take a dump in their flower garden.