I think that's an element of it, but this season seems to have struck a better balance than last season did in terms of still having the over-arcing story (Red Angel/Red Bursts/Spock etc...) going on, but also telling stronger individual stories in each episode.
The thing with Star Trek is that there is an element of the fanbase which will always react negatively to anything new and complain that it "isn't proper Star Trek", especially when it's something like Discovery where there is an overlap with characters we've seen before such as Pike and Spock.
Much as I am enjoying Discovery, what I'm really looking forward to is Patrick Stewart playing Picard again in a whole new show later this year.
I just finished Eden last night and I thought that was excellent - I hope the rest is like that - from what you said it is.
It’s the same with Star Wars, just enjoy it!