It was a lot better episode, maybe because they simplified quite a bit and didn't have 30 minutes of Klingon's whining.
They've made a concerted effort to make Stamets more likable, and they did a pretty good job of that with the F-Bombs and the Portabello line.
The revelation that Lorca was ruthless enough to kill his own crew to save them from the Klingons didn't resonate in the right way with me. Instead of making me think that this guy is some kind of heroic warrior captain, he didn't fight the ship. Wouldn't the writing have been better if he had been willing to sacrifice his crew by fighting to the last man against insurmountable odds.
I like Mudd, its a different Mudd then the cowardly business man Mudd from the original series. This guy was conniving an weak and souless. I loved his speech about the Federation. Especially the whole "There are a lot more of us down there, then there are up here" then bitterly ending it with "We're sick of getting stuck in your crossfire"
Odd that Michael completely disobeyed a lawful command from the acting Captain and he didn't shoot her out an airlock. Instead he gave her a time out. BTW I'm just not diffing Saru.
the whole spore drive Tardagrade switching DNA thing was overly colluded and the whole thing felt like one big nerd joke with the result being a couple of F-Bombs.
The ending was interested with the