First, I am sorry, since you mention you have not seen last week's episode, my previous post had some points that are spoilerish. If you have new thoughts once you are caught up, please share.
Star Trek is my most beholden pop culture property. The values, the continuity, the sense of exploration, etc are very important to me, and Picard, as with Discovery, feels like a wrong approach. I suppose these shows if taken at a purely entertainment view could come across as entertaining. To me however, it is disappointing, even...well 'heart-breaking' seems a bit much, but maybe it conveys my point.
That there are also writing, directing, and acting issues compounds my frustration. As for writing, you felt the changes to the Picard character felt true. I would say it feels like the writers are writing for Sir Patrick Stewart, or the old Charles Xavier from Logan. The visit with Riker had two moments that I found questionable: Picard uses the phrase "ass deep in Romulans". That is something he would never say. Another, while I forget the exact wording, has Riker needling Picard for always causing trouble, which is not something Picard does. Nitpicks, perhaps. But if they don't want to write true to the characters, then this might as well be Random Space Streaming Show.
But let us see if the finale can pull it off. Though ______ introduced in episode 9 will probably turn out to be ____ and that will likely make me throw a brick through my tv. (There will go my coronavirus money :)