A massive misstep for the production.
Instead of focusing on the premise of the show it appears to have been hijacked to make a bunch of social statements (no matter how worthy), and it derails the series possibly catastrophically.
The entertainment is ejected from a quality cast and set up and we're left with the equivalent of a gate crashing cat lady neighbour ranting about animal rights at our party. Unwelcome, and a conversation none of us need or want to be lectured on.
So, fire the Writer and Director of this episode and do your best to repair the damage to a previously promising series or you're all going to be cancelled and unemployed. It's up to you whether you let this be a planet killer event or an embarrassing misstep that we all agree to forget about.