Season 1, Episode 7 of Picard is probably the strongest episode yet.
I think almost everything between Picard, Troi, Riker, and everyone else on the planet worked well. And, since this came up earlier, they did showcase some of Picard's flaws. I like this idea of him stepping back up into the mantle of Captain Jean Luc Picard. Sometimes there are times in our lives where we don't live, and then something (even if we don't know what it is) shakes us out of that, and we feel alive again. I found those moments where that was alluded to extremely satisfying.
I also like that Soji still has a really hard time trusting Picard at the end, even after everything everyone has said to her.
Was this planet supposed to remind us of Kirk's retreat inside the Nexus in Generations?
Something I'm getting tired of: scenes where Allyson Pill is trying to consider her secret about what happened to Bruce Maddox. I will see that Alisson Pill is a phenomenal actress and that
she helps make these scenes semi-tolerable.
Can Romulans mind-meld? I'm inclined to think not and that it's something that they have to follow Vulcan philosophy to get. I always assumed the Vulcan officer who had her kill Maddox was actually a Romulan. I suppose in this case, the mind-meld thing may be complete bullshit made possible by futuristic sunglasses, but if so, shouldn't Alison Pill know better than to fall for that?
The stuff aboard the Borg Cube was getting a little tedious as well; I hope that with the death of Hugh, Romulan Legolas can sustain my interest in these scenes.
A good thing about this show: even though it has a lot of references, callbacks, and old characters (even obscure ones) reuniting, none of it seems like fanservice to me.