I thought the episode was really damn good. Easily the best of the series. I can see as it ages, it could be right up there with the best Trek episodes.
The whole theme of the episode is trauma and Picard is trauma and the effects of suffering trauma.
Many Trekkies bemoaned the fact that the characters in TOS and TNG never seemed to suffer with the psychological effects of suffering trauma. Sure they endured trauma: Tasha being killed, Geordi being abducted multiple times and tortured, Picard being assimilated and tortured by Cardassians, Troi having been telepathically raped multiple time, etc. They mentioned these events in subsequent episodes, but they never really explored the PTSD. DS9 did better. Kira's involvement with the resistance, Sisko's burden of command, Nog getting his leg blown off, O'Brien's role in the Cardassian War.
Janeway used Starfleet ideals to save the Ocampa from the Caretaker. That stranded her crew in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway's idealism slowly eroded as the series progressed. While she preached these ideals to Seven, Seven witnessed Janeway compromise her ideals as she got more desperate to get Voyager home.
Now if my son was being dissected and then asked me to kill him, I would never be the same. Seven's reaction to this trauma is to become a vigilante. Her version of bringing "order to chaos." She saw the opportunity to find the person who was responsible for Icheb's suffering. If it wasn't for the law, how many people would kill the perpetrator in revenge; to sate the need for vengeance? I think it would be more than half.
Picard is pleading to her to take the high road. But faced with that trauma and lawlessness, it was the perfect opportunity to lash out.
And Picard, the series, is allegory, for where as we, as a society, are right now. There are millions out there dealing with the sum of the trauma they've experienced throughout their lives. Some trauma is rooted in senseless death. Some is financial. Some feeling mortality. Some political.
I can see why Stewart found reviving Jean Luc Picard as intriguing.
Starfleet and Federation worlds are reeling from the Borg invasions and the Dominon War. Raffi lost her career and turned to drugs and isolation. Aggie lost her research. Rios watched his captain brutally killed. Picard lost Dahj and Data.
And you are left with a choice: to continue to live optimistically or to live pessimistically. The former being more difficult to do. Picard chooses to live optimistically but the others are reeling. I hope it ends with optimism winning out.
One vibe you got from DS9 was that the outer edges of the Federation was very different than "paradise." The Ferengi, the Orion Syndicate, etc. Freecloud is not a Federation world. It's nice to see a different "vacation" spot other than Risa.
I liked the interactive holographic ads. It also presented an opportunity to let the actors have fun. For those who said that it was dumb, remember TNG dressed everyone up as Robin Hood characters. DS9 had everyone dress up in 1940's garb multiple times and in baseball uniforms. Quark crossdressed for an episode.
I think everybody knew that Aggie was going to kill Maddox as soon as he was moved to sickbay.
Now the bad parts. I could have done without the eye extracting scene. I think Roddenberry would have had a coronary if he saw the gore on display. I think just seeing the tools and then blood curdling screams would have been enough. The phaser should have vaporized Bjayzi, not make her explode into a million pieces. I can't recall exactly what she said, was that Aggie used some slang that is very now right before everyone beamed down.
Frakes did a great job once again.