I enjoyed the episode. I gave it a 9. I think it really worked as a season premiere. It did the two things you want in a premiere: it teased us about the "mystery box" of the season and it got our main characters off to the adventure.
I really liked the Picard-Laris scene. I think it might be the best Laris scene of the entire series. I like how supportive and loving she was. She easily could have been upset or even jealous that Picard is going to run off to save an old flame. But she immediately understood and supported Picard. It was also nice to see that theme of past vs future. We've all been there where we are getting ready to move and we have to decide what to keep and what to throw away. I appreciated Picard insisting he was ready to move on while Laris was saying it's ok to hold on to the past. I feel this theme is going to be important this season.
I also noticed the strong parallels with Wrath of Khan. Both WoK and Picard S3E1 involve an old retired admiral doing an inspection of a new ship and then going off to answer a distress call. Both feature a doctor who was an old flame of the old retired captain. And I suspect the young guy is Crusher's son and assistant will be Picard's estranged son, another parallel with Wrath of Khan. And both feature an old nemesis coming back for revenge. Matalas purposely even reused the same opening with "In the 25th century".
I can also see why RMB compared this season to a Tom Clancy novel. The scenes with Raffi were a lot like a Clancy novel, where some CIA agent is undercover and following clues that will point to some big national security threat. The scene of the Starfleet building collapsing was shocking and a very effective way to hint at the seriousness of the threat.
Overall, I feel like Matalas did a good job of taking what he had to work with from S1 and S2 and putting his own touch to it. There was definitely a cinematic feel to it. And it felt like a TOS movie ala Wrath of Khan, Search of Spock or Undiscovered Country. And for one, like the "fan service". It connects us to past Trek that we love. Having the TNG theme play during the space dock scene was very nice. I also really like seeing a more naval and professional starfleet crew with the formal inspection, the crew at attention, the bridge crew really focused on their task. That also harkens back to the Nick Meyer's take on Starfleet that we saw in Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country.
I hope the mystery box will pay off and I hope the pacing and quality continue. If so, we could indeed get a really good season. Our TNG characters deserve a proper send-off.
