I admit this episode was an improvement, but still a lot of bad too.
I'll start with the bad, and finish with the good.
A lot of needless fan service in this episode, but it only served to further the jarring realization this is not prime universe Star Trek.
Like a lot of the show, my brain cannot pretend this dude was Harry Mudd. I didn't mind the character at all, but it wasn't Mudd, and it was unnecessary that he was. He was a good character in his own right though.
Name dropping the Trek captains felt unnecessary too, but at least it was a solid list, with Decker, Pike, Archer (who would be an admiral according to JJ Trek at this point, and somehow still alive), and others.
That Klingon monstrosity was not a D7 Battle Cruiser.
WHY THE FUCK IS STAR TREK USING THE WORD FUCK?? TWICE?!?! So edgy. Much trying too hard. Wow. Facepalm.
Captain Lorca blew up his own crew out of kindness. Like, I get it, it's supposed to be backstory, but it just continues to make characters unlikable.
Why are you using AUs to measure distance? You're not from our solar system, and it's a dumb measurement to use out in space.
I'm a bit iffy on them beaming the people out of the Klingon shuttle thingy at speed while evading fire, but I guess it might be possible.
Still some unwarranted bitchiness, but not as much.
Now for the good, for the first time-
Saru continues to be my favourite character. He was being more reasonable towards Michael this episode, and the scene at the end between the two was actually a nice character moment. That gave him some more depth. Also, I liked the story of him being in command and having to trust his instincts. His instinct with identifying the lead ship evading the others was good, because under normal circumstances, I doubt someone would have assumed that, but it made sense that he's tuned to that.
Good riddance with the space tardigrade crap. The space mushroom drive is still incredibly dumb, but having a human have to deal with this adds a much better element to that plot. Now the danger is on a real relatable person, and they really have to think about using it, and it partially explains why this is an unsustainable drive in future.
It also adds an element that the person who is taking this on is in a relationship, and with the ship's doctor to boot. I'd assumed at this point that that guy was going to be the gay one (knowing in advance there was going to be one), but this week I was thinking it might be the doctor. Turns out it's both. Anyway, that was well done and not shoehorned in there to pat themselves on the back. They're just treating it like a regular relationship. Also, both characters were more likable this week.
The Klingon stuff was bearable besides them not being Klingons.
Maybe this episode is where they started retooling it, because for the first time, there was some stuff that worked in this episode. It still has a long way to go though.