That was a bit of a roller-coaster in terms of an episode. Ultimately effective, but there were multiple times in the back half where my opinion of the episode veered widely back and forth.
The beginning section which took place in the MU was honestly great. Plotwise it was a foreordained conclusion of course - everyone other than Georgiou (including the viewer) could see the second betrayal coming a mile away. But it was set up as a dramatic tragedy in miniature, harkening back to the Greeks and Shakespeare. Tragedy is not a dramatic form we get to see often in Trek because the protagonists - by nature of the structure of the series - have to win.
When we end up back on the snowy planet with Carl, I was really worried for a little bit about the two-parter. The reveal Carl was the Guardian of Forever was cheesy and entirely unnecessary. But my real concern was that Georgiou was back in the 32nd century. Having a two-parter to see her off the show into her own series is self-indulgent, but not pulling the trigger and using the two parter solely for her own character growth (with an exit to come later) would have been inexcusable. Thankfully it shifted again, with Carl being vague enough that the Section 31 show could be set anywhere from the 20th century to the 27th. I'd say that while Georgiou's goodbye with Michael was a bit overwritten and overwrought, it actually mostly felt earned this time - because the two parter succeeded in making me actually feel for Georgiou for the first time. Indeed, I wasn't sad at all for Michael, I was sad for Georgiou, who just realized that her idealized adoptive daughter never existed except in her head, and she had to leave behind someone who was actually much closer to what she really wanted.
Once we get back on the ship, it's just rote, generic Discovery - which is fine. It is interesting to me they found an excuse to put everyone recurring who couldn't appear in the MU side of the episode (Stamets cause he died in the first episode, Book, Adira, Reno, and Vance) in this short section of the episode. At first I was really confused why Michael let everyone think Georgiou was dead, and then I realized that the writers wanted an excuse for a maudlin "funeral" scene where everyone toasts how awesome she was. While the scene with Michael and Georgiou on the planet was fine, this didn't ring true to me, and felt totally unnecessary. The writers (who obviously love the character) may have sold me on the character finally, but it stretches credulity that everyone onboard sincerely misses someone who largely hurled insults at them.
Still, the flaws of the episode were relatively minor. 8/10 I would say. Back to generic Discovery next week it seems.
