Someone had noted that the actress playing Lt. Tyler was the same who played Teleya in that episode last season, but I didn't think much of it, since it's a Trek thing to re-use and re-cast guest actors. And I'd actually forgotten about it. Now we know why.
Pretty good episode. I bought it, pretty much all of it. Her persona as Tyler, her reasons for doing what she did, and the moments of doubt that Mercer managed to provoke. His attack on religion wasn't as vehement or obnoxious as it could have been, and that's good. It was more of a "Okay, but do you even think about this stuff, or do you literally just do it?" than outright condemning. Even the ending played well, because it's still ambiguous. Did he plant the seeds of some future relations between Krill and Union, or was she right when she said it wouldn't change a thing? That the Krill believe in manifest destiny and they've heard the some arguments from other species they've wiped out, including some much more advanced than the Union and the puny humans who run it?
Malloy's side story was funny enough. I'm not a huge fan of the character, but it was okay.