For me, the stakes were Spock/Michael and for a brief moment, Michael's mum.
I mean we also knew the Klingons weren't going to win the war.
I thought the episode was ok, I just hated the 'bug' being left on that crate even before Georgiou twigged she'd been played, and Starfleet's stubborn refusal to actually listen to the person trying to help them even when they completely fail to protect them.