The other issue with cross-overs that this avoids is the "lack of consequences". They are often neat little stories that ultimately serve no long term plot. But we do have a few key character notes this episode may influence.
- Chapel: This may start to put cracks in her relationship with Spock
- Una: Has recieved some measure of assurance that her path is a right one, and is ultimately glorified in the future. That's a major confidence booster for someone who has had to deal with so much hatred.
- Uhura: Again the confidence booster that she is a "big deal" from a future standpoint. As she outlined, there is also an amazing pressure to that.
- Orions: This was a small step, but an important one, leading to a future where Orions can be more than the pirates they are in this timeline. Its possible we see more of that orion crew at some point.
It also, I believe, establishes the nature of Pike's relationship with his father. While some 90s Trek shows regularly threw out character stuff like that and never thought about it again, that seems unlikely with this one (if it never gets further development it's only because these seasons are so short).
I wouldn't be shocked if this episode gets a call-back in La'an's evolving feelings about her own time travel experience as well. Seeing them seemingly get away with would-be butterfly after would-be butterfly would be a good impetus for being willing to talk to Pelia and/or Kirk. Of course the reason their constant dropping of future knowledge didn't cause any problems is probably that
their temporal journey was always part of this timeline.
Perhaps most importantly, I think even beyond the Chapel relationship this episode might be an important step in getting the show to more directly address how Ethan Peck's Spock becomes Leonard Nemoy's Spock.
But yeah, my biggest concern was whether this should have just been an episode of
Lower Decks and was being done as an episode of
Strange New Worlds for the sake of novelty. And while I think that is a little bit the case in the sense that it would have all flowed more naturally as a
Lower Decks episode, they did actually have it do character work for
Strange New Worlds, some of which probably will have lasting impacts. Despite being the emphatically episodic of the nu-Treks
SNW is not an "and that weird episode happened, let us never speak of it again" show.