Executives and Board Members let previous options expire or get split into oblivion so the fact that they awarded themselves new options is nothing to get excited about.
What has me wondering is where the shares came from. Employee Stock Options come from the treasury and in the later part of 2018 the treasury only had 1 share... so where did they get the shares from?
More smoke and mirrors here in my view. As you said so elegantly, the burden of explanation is with those excited.