I think this was on par with DS9’s Dominion War episodes, showing how the Federation ideals clash with the real world. It will certainly be controversial for being so “un-Trek”. There’s no happy ending, there’s just the sinking feeling that a war never really ends in the heads of those that were affected by it.
The acting was stellar all around, particularly M’Benga and Chapel. [Edit: and Ortegas! Finally she got some material to work with that weren’t funny one-liners, and she made the most of it.] And that final scene with M’Benga and Pike just demands a continuation in the future.
It was certainly an impressive, thought-provoking episode but if you’d ask me to rate this episode on a scale of 1 to 10 I’d have no idea where to put it. I’m still sitting here trying to wrap my head around what I just saw. I guess that’s war for you. It doesn’t make sense.