A lot of viewers may not personally like Captain Shaw’s gruff demeanor. Not only is he rude to Picard and Riker, but so far, he appears to treat Seven of Nine with a bit of disdain. But there are reasons for his behavior. Most instances where we see him being less-than-nice toward Seven have to do with her insubordination in taking the ship off course and helping Picard and Riker commandeer a shuttle. There remain issues of his insisting that Seven go by her human name (Annika Hansen) rather than her Borg designation and his outright disgusted remark about “former ex-borgs.” But I think we’ll see the genesis of that particular prejudice played out in further episodes.

It comes down to the fact that Shaw runs his ship differently, with a different personality than Trek fans are accustomed to. This will put off many viewers by design. Think back to the classic Next Generation two-parter “The Chain of Command,” when Captain Edward Jellico took over command from the Enterprise-D from Picard, tasked with a secret mission into Cardassian space. In those episodes, Jellico completely reordered the Enterprise in a manner reminiscent of how Shaw commands the Titan. It’s a very no-nonsense, get-it-done, follow-your-orders style. And the crew hated every minute of being under the command of Jellico.

The trick about Jellico is that while some view him as a “bad captain”, he was right about everything. If you go back and watch that story, you’ll find that Jellico was vindicated in every decision he made and ended up rescuing Picard by his wits. Something similar is happening with Captain Shaw right now in Picard. Rewatch the first two episodes of Picard season three and try to find a spot when he’s factually wrong about something. He isn’t. Not to say he’ll never be, but I have a feeling we’ll be well into the latter half of the season before he makes a mistake—while also being kind of a jerk to people.

However, for all his gruffness, he is still open to advice and will change his course of action. For example, in the second episode of Picard season three, Shaw decides to keep the Titan inside Federation space when he knows that Picard and Riker are in trouble. It makes perfect sense that he would act that way. He knew that his ship would be outgunned if he intervened and weighed the lives of 500 crewmen against just Riker and Picard. But when it came down to the final decision to intervene, Shaw showed that he was open to taking Seven’s advice (even though she had just helped Riker and Picard in their plot) and decided to go save Picard and Riker.

Trekkies can debate whether or not Shaw makes the morally correct call here. Some will come down on Shaw’s side, citing that Picard and Riker were trying to trick him all along, and now a dangerous situation is unfolding like he suspected it might. Others can say that leaving two people to surely die goes against the principles of Starfleet. But, the beauty is that both sides have a solid footing to stand on, a good reason for taking their positions—Captain Shaw as a character represents that.

A similar situation played out near the end of the episode when Shaw had to make a critical decision had to be made to hand over Jack Crusher to the bad guys or try to make a getaway. Throughout the episode, Shaw is adamant that he intends to give Jack to the bounty hunters. But when Picard revealed that Jack was his son at the last moment, Shaw understood and decided to risk his ship and crew to save him. So, as gruff as he is, he’s not intransigent—a sign of a good captain.

This may or may not have something to do with Shaw’s character in the show. But there’s just something about a man who commands a starship like the Titan-A that commands respect. It’s a gorgeous ship inside and out. And hands down, my favorite starship Star Trek Universe has put on screen since Discovery premiered in 2017.

However, this Titan looks much different than the Lower Decks version. The refit attached a more extensive stardrive section onto the Titan’s existing saucer, rechristening it as a “Neo Constitution class” ship (Titan was formerly a Luna class vessel). And true to its class name, the Titan-A has the distinct look and feel of the 1980s Enterprise and Enterprise-A (refit Constitution class, try to keep up) featured in the original films. Which, in turn, were based on the Constitution class vessels of the original Star Trek TV show.

What results is a 2020s version of the original 1960s starship Enterprise, with all the weight, nostalgia, gravitas, and responsibility that brings. And for people like me, you can’t help but look at that ship, think about the kind of person it would take to command such a vessel, and admire the person sitting in the captain’s chair.

It’s clear after just two episodes that Captain Liam Shaw is here to stay. The showrunner and writers identified him as one of the central characters in the plot of the final season of Star Trek: Picard and paid much thought and work to making him a fully realized character.

In the hands of lesser Trek writers, this character may have turned out to be as bland as a piece of bread like Enterprise-B commander John Harriman in Star Trek: Generations or the f-bomb-dropping Admiral Clancy from Picard season one. Instead, we have a complicated, flawed, and believable foil to join us on this adventure.

Of course, I couldn’t let this article pass without praising the stunningly excellent performance of actor Todd Stashwick. We’re only two episodes in, and he’s delivered a show for the Trek ages. He’s one of those character actors that pop up on TV shows from time to time, but I never knew his name. But I sure do now, and I’ll probably never forget it.