I've watched the show here and there. Before I go into any critiques let it be clear that I'm not a fan of excessive retcon. Never have been. And this show is excessive retcon.
Overall the show has good pacing and is solid action, however it suffers from the same problem as much Nu Trek: overreliance on the past and trying to compete with superhero franchises.
-Episode one of season two was "fun" in the most general way, however they "stole the Enterprise" again which as a trope is getting old. They used super soldier serum instead of smarts to beat a stronger enemy, as
@Lshap said Spock is played as a cross between Edward Norton's Hulk and Zachary Quinto's Spock.
-The "comedy" didn't hit. I don't know about everyone but Captain's having a catchphrase for Warp Speed or in general, this is Star Trek not 1998 WWF. Waste of time. There was also about 3 minutes wasted combined at the beginning for the whole "ladies put neckbeards in place" and the catchphrase. Hangover jokes in Star Trek have been overused.
-Carol Kane is fine. The issue is they've done the whole "older alien with more experience who looks like a human and is going to put all these young people in their place" many times before.
-Episode 2 is basically the writers taking the Data and Bashear legal issues and splicing it into one.
-Uhura who they're overall doing a good job with character development wise is an Ensign already yet is only a Lt. by the time Kirk takes over? Seems a little inconsistent.
-The show is supposed to be called Strange New Worlds. How about they explore and not madlib previous Star Trek plots?