WHY WE LIKE IT: Science besties!
WHY WE DON'T: Mariner's subplot.
REVIEW: T'Lyn is such a pure soul. She doesn't emote, but seeks real and lasting friendships with the original cast, and it's when they superimpose their own emotional contexts that her attempts become gauche and counterproductive. She's kind of the anti-T'Pol - something the Enterprise references highlight in this episode - and isn't even as snooty as Spock. Vulcan resentment of humans should be categorized as an emotion, and T'Lyn has resolved that feeling well. I think it's a great idea to have her and Tendi promoted to co-Senior Science Officer at the end, even though they hardly collaborated on the episode's mission.
Star Trek has done the time dilation bit (as has The Orville) and the episode, of course, acknowledges that. The one second:one week ratio on the planet means the "Girls Trip" should have lasted a few weeks at most as the boys pressed a few buttons in sequence. But a silly screw-up on their end means the three female officers are stuck on a pre-industrial world for a year. Tendi and T'Lyn science it up, the former with the help of Data's head from a purple universe (Brent Spiner thus adds yet another Star Trek credit to his CV). There's a cliched lurker called Snell who calls them out for witchcraft and goes "Nyaaaah" a lot - kind of annoyingly one-note - and a good plan to get out of that without breaking the Prime Directive.
What drags the episode down is Mariner's role in all this. The focus on the science besties means she gets benched, almost literally. She decides to pull an "Inner Light", make friends with locals and learn to pay the flute, but she's quickly arrested for her attempts and spends months in jail. The convicts become her "community", but we just don't see enough of that to make it mean anything. I liked how she dealt with Snell before then, so perhaps having her deal with him more directly throughout would have been better.
LESSON: A year together can build or destroy a relationship.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: A great T'Lyn episode, pretty good for Tendi (she goes over to the dark side), and not very good at all for the rest.
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