Things I liked about it was (1) the new characters didn't just feel like "ringers," they actually seemed to have some personality in comparison to some of the other redshirts this season [and I think when and if they bite it, I am actually going to care a bit], (2) I was on edge the whole episode wondering when and if he was going to revert to his established self, and (3) now I'm left wrestling with whether redemption is possible. I felt like he and some other characters had become more cliche, and he felt much more real in this episode than I've experienced him in the past.
But it disturbs me, that miasma of the grays of character that I was left with at the end. And even if such change is possible and maintainable, well, now that casts other characters with a viable grudge as the less-forgiving and potentially "more evil" depending on their responses.
One analogy that rises to mind would be what might have happened if, after his "conversion to Christianity," Jeffrey Dahmer was released to become a member of a church. Would he have ever been trusted or accepted, and especially if they had known some of his victims or even were family members? If awful people can become good, what does that say about the good people (is there really much difference there? is there truly separation?), what does that say about the justification good people feel to exclude bad people or mete out justice, and what does it say about a God who can forgive people who have performed horrendous acts, a God who can forgive the perpetrators of concentration camps, serial crimes, etc?
I found it an unsettling episode in light of questions like that. I just wonder if they'll push it harder or they'll just have him revert back to the bad self so we don't have to wrestle with the questions.