OK, here we go. I will post the Wikipedia synopsis for the episode for quick reference, and try and fill in what they leave out of that EXTREMELY biased and marketing-based Wiki article.
This synopsis leaves out the opening scenes, which has Captain Georgiou and Michael Burnham (First Officer) in a desert on a planet where they are going to punch a hole with a phaser into the water table to revive a well. They are in the process of saving a species on the planet. There is banter about violating "General Order One" (not the Prime Directive), and how they can minimize contact by not being seen. There is a storm brewing, and we see the sands whirling above them. All very Star Wars looking. They start talking about how the ship will not be able to see them, and how sensors will not work, and becoming stranded (jokingly). Georgio tells Michael how she should know better after serving as her Number One for 7 years.
NOTE: Michael Burnham's dialogue is peppered with Vulcan-like quick mathematical calculations and unfailing logic a-la-Spock. It comes off weird and does not suit her.
They have walked out a Starfleet chevron in the sand, and the Shenzhou somehow sees it and bursts through the clouds impressively (like they did in Axanar). It looks cool, and has cool retrorockets underneath so the ship can hover. But it does not look like something you should see in this timeline...which is supposedly 10 years before Kirk and Spock. So, the two get beamed up and immediately you are in a WTF chamber which is supposed to be a transporter room with giant wagon wheels on the wall which you see are supposed to be devices. This made me frown a bit, and then we get to see the interior of the ship which is dark and gray, with blue and red lights as accents (a tie to Star Trek). There are random bright white lights here and there, and lensflares GALORE. The show is very fond of slanted "Dutch Angles", as well as panning and tilting Dutch Angles. The technique makes every single scene appear to be moving, even when the actors are standing still and the scene is utterly devoid of meaning. Nothing we see so far looks familiar, and the uniforms are all a navy blue with gold or silver metallic piping, impossibly slim fit, and no immediately identifiable rank insignia...oh wait, there it is...on the metallic Starfleet badge as dots. This means you do not know who you are going to be addressing in rank, until you are about two feet away. Mkay.
Nothing about this show feels like Star Trek so far.
(WILL CONTINUE SHORTLY TODAY AS AN EDIT 4/1/2018)
. Not sure how to tackle posting the reviews. Piece by piece as edits? I suppose that will have to be the route, since there is no way I can sit through these for a solid 43min (that is the length of the episode, so in markets where there are commercials, viewers will get 20min of commercials +/- 5 min.
I can't seem to watch more than about 15min of any of these episodes before needing a break of about an hour to finish. At that rate, each episode would take about 4 hours to complete.