I think my favorite part about this episode is any amount of excessive silliness or criticism of being too fan-servicey is completely obliterated by the very next episode which deals with the trauma and horror of war head on. It didn’t feel like whiplash either, which I think speaks to the fact that even though episode 7 was silly there were still very serious emotional beats like Boimler convincing Pike to have a birthday party so he can hang out with the people that love him.

I loved Mariners line about the enterprise crew talking slowly. The difference in speed between the SNW and LD dialogue was something I noticed and this one line made it click for me. Fantastic