That episode didn't really do it for me.
First, I'll say on the good side, the actress they cast as Burnham's mother was great. Her vocal cadence was down cold. Also, the plot was somewhat more coherent and straightforward than last week, and the action bits were well done.
That said, this was fundamentally a hollow episode. The first 2/3rds of it was largely a visit by the exposition fairy once again, while the last 1/3 featured that cliche "ticking time bomb" crisis which also happens slow enough to have a touching emotional goodbye complete with hesitation. Perhaps the single worst thing however is that unlike last episode, there really are very few great character moments. Mama Burnham in particular was a waste of a character, as she's literally portrayed as a vehicle for exposition - nothing less and nothing more - until the last few minutes. Everyone in the episode though is basically just getting pulled around like marionettes due to the needs of the plot.
