Episode Two was a notable step down from the first episode, still preferable to Discovery but plagued by many of the same issues in a less ostentatious manner. I liked the calmer pace of the first episode compared to Disco. Here it begins to drag, with a surfeit of superfluous scenes, such as Picard and Laris investigating Dhaj's flat for the sole purpose of determining that Soji is not on Earth, which we already knew. The scenes with Soji and Narek on the Borg cube go on too long for what little they reveal, most of which could have been surmised by the ending of the last episode.
Picard getting shut down by the Admiral was terrific, setting the stakes very effectively and laying out how starkly Picard's decision set him apart from the rest of Starfleet. The Zhat Vash is unnecessary and deeply stupid: the Romulans don't need a Section 31 - less of that generally, please - as little was known of the Tal Shiar already. Zhat Vash's driving purpose is apparently a hatred of artificial life 'going back thousands upon thousands of years'. Even (questionably) expanding the definition of artificial life to include most forms of computing, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that the Romulans would have had such advanced technology so long ago - certainly advanced enough to justify being hated - when they're roughly at Federation level in the here and now (aka: late 24th century).
The little incoherences which nagged in the first episode continue here. Even taking into account how much remains to be revealed, the attack on Mars, Picard's Romulan rescue effort and his search for Soji continue to feel connected only in the clunkiest way: they're supposed to be the series' framework, but is unnecessarily complicated and patched together. The fact that the Romulans look so much like Vulcans without the forehead ridges is very annoying, and the way the Romulan actors play their parts in a naturalistic, 'human' way is even moreso. I like Laris a lot (convenient she just happens to be fully in on the hot goss about the super, ultra secret Zhat Vash, though) but she should be an Irish human lady. Her 'feck' was very amusing, but I could very much have done without the Admiral's full-on 'fuck'. To semi-paraphrase Oscar Wilde, Trek should be looking at the stars, not lying in the gutter. Profanity only diminishes this series and comes across as an immature attempt to appear tough and serious. That's what themes and ideas are for. Additionally, why was Laris' forensic scanner outlawed by the Federation? Presumably for being too idiotically convenient a plot device. I laughed at how the super cunning, computer-hating Zhat Vash conveniently didn't destroy the data on Dhaj's computer (or the computer itself), just made it a bit more obnoxious to find.
Anyway, despite my whining, I didn't hate the episode, but aside from the argument between Picard and the Admiral - and the potentially interesting suggestion that the once supreme diplomat Picard might be losing his faculties - mostly just sat through it, absorbing its minor revelations with no great engagement (hurr hurr) and consequently taking greater notice of the narrative discontinuities which might have been easier to ignore had it all been more interesting. As pleased as I am that Picard is not embracing Discovery's whiplash-inducing pacing and visual overload, the pace here slipped from 'considered' to 'lethargic'. The first episode was fine, but ultimately did little to assuage my long-term doubts about the coherence and integrity of the storytelling. Bits and pieces here work, but my doubts are now slightly reinforced.