Holy moly. This ep could be a turning point for more than a few characters.
I liked that CMO Benga could not move past his hate, while the Klingon did.
The Klingon had let go of his history and chose life: the doctor, chartered with saving lives, clung to his past and chose to take a life. And on a starfleet vessel, and a diplomat at that! Very interesting.
War does change people, however those changed people can change (for the better) again.
We did not get that line of hope here. Here, we got that death breeds pain which fosters more death.
What we witnessed were two warriors colliding on their redemption arc, with one (Klingon) further along than the other (benga). A dark passenger rides with the CMO…and that’s not great (for him, great for us in the audience).
The episode could be a turning point for CMO Benga and Capt Pike. Ultimately, he is responsible for the death of a Klingon ambassador on his ship.
I'm not sure that the Klingon had really let his history go.
He commanded indiscriminate killing of non combatants in fear has he lost ground. He ran from the battle and took the title of Butcher of J'Gal to hide from his actions, and his front of wisdom was just another way he could hide to preserve his life.
Fear of being exposed as a fraud caused him to lash out against Benga. He died without honor as the coward he is and was.