Exactly, actually alien aliens have been pretty rare in Trek. Usually they’re stand ins for some human culture or ideology. Even the horta had pretty familiar and understandable motivations. These gorn are pequenino tier alienness.
Hysperia operates its technology and society with a sort of ren faire aesthetic, calling the fusion reactor a dragonsbreath flame for example. They know what’s really going on though, it’s just a very elaborate cosplay.
The big one is Chapel and Spock. She goes straight from pursuing him to leaving him without much of any actual relationship in between. Pelia doesn’t get to do much as the chief engineer, and Ortegas barely gets any screen time at all.