This is an excellent question! And the photo is also a good example to discuss this.
And if you’ll allow me, I’ll be happy to “misuse” your article to briefly address that:
The important point is:
Maybe you already guess what I’m referring to - the processing was not a straight-line process.
That means, I was impressed by the photo but not sure what I wanted to do.
How could I emphasize or reinforce the majestic nature of this scene?
I knew that some elements play a very big role - the mountain itself (its size, steepness and constitution), how it was lit (the peak in evening light, lit like a monument), the color contrasts (warm sunlight versus cold background) etc… - but I didn’t know how best to combine them.
Then there are the questions like: are the details more important than the global impression and if so, which ones? How far should I consider the “realism” of the scene, and how far should I emphasize what appeals to me emotionally, etc.?
So I went on my way and proceeded according to my own scheme - first I lightened everything until I was able to see all parts. And since we are dealing with a very large dynamic range, I used filmic to compress this dynamic range until I had all the details in the shadows as well as in the highlights without overexposure. So, in the first step it was important for me to get this overview.
And then, without getting too much into the details here, I tried different things - playing with colors, highlighting details in shadows, playing with texture in the area exposed by the sun, and so on.
And then in the process I realized again and again that I was missing the three-dimensionality of the scene. And only when I darkened it as you saw above, I had this “wow!” moment.
So, in effect, I was more or less back to a relatively simple solution. And…
…in fact that would be a much better and effective way. 
That means, now that I know that in this case the low-key is the solution, I would have done it the same way or similar.
But if you take into account this “creative” process that I described above, then the question of the effectiveness of the editing becomes more relative.
On the one hand, I took many steps that were unnecessary in terms of the final result, but on the other hand, filmic gave me the necessary flexibility to try different ways to find the right result in the first place. And that is, in my experience, much more difficult task than simplifying the steps. In fact, I think that’s where a lot of people fail, because they don’t know exactly what they want to end up with and they hope the tool will do the job. And as with any good craftsmanship, you need a lot of experience for that.
