I thought this was pretty entertaining. It did feel a lot more like an episode with the weight and ambition of a standard standalone in a 26-episode season than one of the precious 10-episode season slots Strange New Worlds has. When you have so few episodes to work with, I think it's reasonable to expect them to shoot for the spectacular more often, and this certainly wasn't that. It was enjoyable, though, and it was good to see Pike properly in an episode after Anson cameoing in the previous three due to paternity leave.
I thought the tie-in with The Cage was neat, with the plot weaving in Pike's previous visit to Rigel VII, and beyond that, I agree with those who say this one definitely did have a TOS vibe to it. I picked up on it.
Nice standalone premise and a Strange "New-ish" World—that was fun, if again a little underwhelming considering the constraints on how much of this show we actually get.
The crew of the Enterprise being vulnerable to the radiation was a pretty big stretch when you consider that glorified tinfoil hats work on the planet itself, but it's fine. We did get the line about Spock recalibrating the shields to protect against it, at least.
The Ortega B plot stuff was alright, I guess, although I was getting slightly annoyed by "I fly the ship," at the end.
The theme of how important our memories are and how they shape our personalities was, again, fine, although it was all pretty obvious stuff. The former Starfleet officer making himself king was almost interesting, but there wasn't much to it.
This is a perfectly serviceable episode with some interesting parts, but maybe just a little light when you consider the 10-episode season count. I'd say the first episode of Season 2 was decently above average and the three after have just been OK (even though I was very critical of Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I didn't think it was awful or anything).
OK...is,well, OK, but I'm clamoring for them to find another level for the show to ascend to because, out of all nu-Trek, Strange New Worlds really has the potential to not just be good but great, but it's not quite there yet.