Again, the biggest single frustration I have with the episode (and the season as a whole) is while it works just fine as a coda to TNG, it actively undermines everything regarding Seasons 1/2.
- Soji? Doesn't mean shit to Picard, or Data it seems. Not even mentioned.
- Elnor? Possibly dead, they don't care.
- Q's "death"? Undone by the mid-credits scene
- Agnes's "reformation" of the Borg? Meant nothing.
- Season 2's whole arc about getting Picard to be open to a relationship? Didn't amount to shit, since Laris was written out after 15 minutes.
- Riker's grief regarding Thad goes from something mostly dealt with to a fresh, open wound. They actively undermine everything in Nepenthe.
- The death of the "other Data" in Season 1 is pushed aside as being meaningless with little fanfare.
As I said, Raffi's arc was the only thing that got payoff.
Do I think this is a better season than 1 or 2? Yes, overall. But I feel like one of the basic rules of serialized TV is that the decisions characters made in the prior seasons have to mean something in order for the ultimate payoff to be worthwhile. As flawed as the previous seasons were, Season 3 actively makes them worse, because the entire emotional cores of both seasons are rendered totally meaningless by the choices that Matalas made here.