Also, I'm starting to think that the writers don't really get who Picard is for the most part. Some definite exceptions, but there's a number of aspects about the character that seem pretty off.
More so than the movies where he kept flipping out and turning into John McClain?
Well, that didn't bother me quite as much because he was still (minus Nemesis to some degree) the same guy, just needing to adapt to a new situation. It's also why I don't think it suits movies well. Movies need to make it action heavy, which tends to be a bit not-trecky. But even in First Contact and that other one about the dudes who get tons of face lifts and stuff, he was still the same character. He was just that character in situations that required a lot more action. And given that Starfleet is (at least partial) military, that didn't bother me.
This Picard isn't entirely different than the Picard we know, but I feel like the writers read a wiki article on him and missed a few important things. Picard is not comfortable around kids. Picard is largely very formal and proper. This Picard is just having a ball playing with kids with no discomfort at all, and is extremely silly and laid back much of the time. I get that characters change after 20 years, but you kind of have to justify some of it. You can't just change tons of stuff and be like "well that just happens." It's bad writing.
That moment when Picard got very stern with the sometimes British Romulan ninja kid was when I was like "Oh yea, THAT'S Picard" and made me realize how not-Picard he had been at times.
Also, unrelated to the character, but watching the show....is this just a pure capitalist world now? I keep getting hints that the federation has essentially gone (to some degree) capitalist or something. I dunno. It just feels so antithetical to what Star Trek was.
I will say, however, I am enjoying the expansion on the Romulans. After hating what they did with the Klingons in the JJ verse, I like making the Romulans a much more dynamic and diverse peoples, and not just identical soldier/spies.