Star Trek Picard… is good? (Spoilers)

Well, friends, I had a whole thing planned out in my head, ready to address a bunch of issues that have come up in the still-bafflingly-going-on-Kurtzman-press-tour. But then something strange happened. Picard, episode 1 was alright! In fact, it was better than alright. It was… good? I have a bunch of nerdy complaints (STD Shuttle go away forever), but overall it was a really solid first episode that I watched more than once. Yes. Me.

Character-building? In Star Trek?!? Sorcery!

Immediate thoughts and observations:

• The use of “Blue Skies” to open the show is bad. Using the D instead of the E is an interesting thematic choice. The Data face is bad. But it was all a dream — this is good.
• A lot of the early scenes at the Chateau are good at show-don’t-tell. The exposition is reinforced with imagery and blocking and symbolism. These are good things.
• The interview scene is a great world-building moment and clever way of doing early exposition. Slimy journalists are up there with cockroaches and taxes, so glad to see that.
• The isolationist/xenophobic Federation is a really interesting idea, but I just can’t stop myself from comparing it to Babylon 5 who set it up over years of stories and subplots. Now we’re supposed to buy that the Federation — an organization that has spent 250 years practicing what…