That was a frustrating finale, certainly. Good in some aspects, incomprehensible in others.
As far as first seasons go
Picard is certainly going to rank above other Star Trek counterparts (god are there lots of bad first seasons), but it can be frustrating to realize it could have been so much better without requiring too many alterations.
With further consideration I'd like to add that Picard seems to be at its best when it focuses on "quiet character drama" (e.g. the episodes Remembrance, Nepenthe).
I strongly agree with that, and action is really not what the show should - ideally - be about.
If anything, one of the many reasons why the TNG movies are so bad and unpresentative of the show is that they ramp up the action (which on by itself isn't very credible) to excessive levels, turning Picard into something that he's not (allegedly at Stewart's behest, who wanted to be more of an action hero). A similar logic applies here, but to the show itself rather than the character.
