[Spoilers ahead ... ]

That was a quite a good Kiss between Spock and Chapel.  Never mind that it was planned and feigned to fool Captain Angel.  Spock and Chapel clearly both enjoyed it.  They got a lot out of it.

Now, if you compare that with the way Spock and T'Pring later kiss, well, that was pale in comparison. I suppose that could be explained as when Spock was kissing Chapel, he was kissing with his human side, whereas when Spock was kissing T'Pring, he was Vulcan.  That would be the logical explanation.  But since I'm only human, I found Spock and Chapel much more powerful than Spock and T'Pring.

Of course, Chapel has to tell Spock the kiss didn't really affect her.  But we saw her face after the kiss, and she clearly was affected.  But she knows and we know and very likely Spock knows she's lying -- Spock knows because he's likely feeling the same way -- so we're left with a simmering erotic attraction and that's a fine place to be.

Meanwhile, Captain Angel is a clever character (good job Jesse James Keitel), and I hope and assume we'll be seeing her again.  She and Spock's half-brother have the makings of important long term characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him, too.

About the only thing that I thought was dumb in 1.7 was the successful mutiny that Pike instigates on the pirate ship over ... food?  Look, eating is certainly important, but it just didn't work in that context, and the whole segment was another example of why humor isn't Strange New Worlds' strong suit.

But the kiss made this a highly memorable and important episode, and I'm looking forward to next week.

See also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.1-1.2: Great Characters, Actors, Stories ... 1.3: "Instead of terraforming planets, we modify ourselves ..." ... 1.4: The Gorn and the Wub ... 1.5 Going to the Chapel ... 1.6: Two Stories