Well, that was an episode, for sure.
I'll admit that I perhaps didn't have the best viewing experience, as I had to catch this one on my phone, which may color my response, but consider be firmly underwhelmed. My main issues with the episode boil down to two elements, both of which suggest the script needed a lot more doctoring. First, this is a plot-heavy episode, and it's rife with plot contrivances. Secondly, the dialogue is very stilted and expository.
The episode immediately got off on the wrong foot, by having Moll and L'ak caught offscreen by the Federation. While this does provide a welcome chance for Nhan to come back into the show, it means the "escape" at the end of the last episode - something which already stretched credulity - meant absolutely nothing. They should have, at minimum, had a teaser before they got recaptured if they went down the cliffhanger route. This would have been helpful, because so much hinges on the Moll/L'ak romance, and I still feel this is too underbaked - more show than tell.
Contrivances keep piling up. Moll is kept next to L'ak, because reasons. Starfleet still knows nothing about Breen physiology after 800 years, because reasons. L'ak accidentally kills himself, becaus reasons. Michael manages to completely flip Admiral Vance's plans with a two-minute discussion. The Breen Primarch is bamboozled with the flimsiest of bluffs (must have rolled a 20 on that charisma check). A ticking clock is used - twice. All of this would be fine if the dialogue flowed naturally and the characters felt believable, but the seams of the script show a bit too much here, meaning I can never quite suspend disbelief enough to be engrossed. The highlight of this was the friction Rayner had Michael and the others, but even here, it felt like he regressed a bit for the needs of the plot.
The b-plot involving the next clue was eye-rolling as well, because there's somehow a handwritten book (which is fine) which Zora knows about, but which somehow, in the 32nd century, does not have a digital copy stashed away, except at a super-secret roving base (the idea of hiding knowledge seems so contrary to everything involving a digital age civilization). That said, I give this one more leeway because the scene with Reno was legitimately great.
Then there's the ending, which was a weird letdown, because somehow despite the status quo being upset, and the stakes purportedly being raised, everything is pretty much the same. Moll may be on the Primarch's ship now, due to some vague handwavy idea that the Progenitor tech will allow for L'ak's resurrection (did they even take his body?), but Discovery still has four out of five key bits, and AFAIK Moll didn't get a chance to steal Discovery's data to help the Breen solve the next clue. And we're back to episodic key-hunting next week! I'm sure the show will find a way to get the Primarch involved, but I'm really at a loss, aside from the ship just showing up again at Federation HQ to try and steal it in the final episode, to see how it happens. So in the macro sense, nothing has changed. Before, Moll and L'ak planned to sell the tech to the Primarch to lift the Erigah, and now, Moll is just going to help the Primarch to try and get it. Big deal.
