You're not too far off the mark.

One primary difference between primal and other clients is primal uses a aggregator relay that pulls in information from other relays so you can view it. They can and have in the past censored people. And if that's how you want to experience nostr, a slightly more curated view of things, then that's totally fine. But the way most clients work Is they directly pull from the relays that you connect to. It's a little bit more raw, but The beauty of nostrils being able to choose your experience.

More than happy to try and explain some of the technical stuff if you have questions.