Yes, I'm grateful to the Discovery PTB for giving us Rillak. I just wish the Picard writers had remembered that the neither the Federation nor Starfleet is synonymous with Earth.

IMO, you're right about nostalgia being the driving force behind the widespread praise for the third season of Picard. Sentimentalism (not to say love) can make us abandon all reasoned judgment. :-)

And I'm with you: I will not be rewatching this season.