As mentioned previously, Picard's former career comes into play, but doesn't overwhelm the episode. As we know from previews, other characters from previous Trek shows will be making an appearance as the show goes on, and I'm not sure this is a good thing. This Picard show is completely different in tone and purpose than the old shows, and it's probably for the best if there aren't too many incursions of the old into the new once the foundation has been laid, because it just causes problems. Even the inclusion of Data in Remembrance required some awkward retconning of Picard's character traits (as well as an odd-looking de-aging of Data's physical ones). As anyone who watched T.N.G. knows, Captain Picard was a bit of a cold fish who wasn't chummy with any of his crew, Data included. Now in this new show, he's haunted by memories of Data and sentimental over him to the point of pledging undying loyalty to a girl that he just met because she may have a tenuous connection to his former crewman. It's a bit odd, and I think it would be best if the show made as clean a break as possible with T.N.G. characters to avoid the inevitable comparisons.
To sum up, the Picard premiere isn't perfect by any means, but it shows signs of possibly being a half decent sci fi show if it slows down, avoids getting mired in T.N.G. past, and refrains from lecturing its audience. As mentioned in part one of this review, the episode for the most part wasn't preachy except for the scene where Picard is interviewed, which was worryingly on the nose. Trek was always at its best when it explored complex moral and ethical issues by acknowledging that they were complex. It was frequently at its worst when it was smugly and self-righteously pontificating on various issues, setting up straw men to lazily knock down. The writers of Picard would be wise to eschew this and let viewers draw their own conclusions rather than telling them what they should think.
Finally, whatever else may be said of the first episode of Picard, it was far better than the first episode of T.N.G... Encounter At Farpoint was dreck.