Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 5 - "Fly Me To The Moon"
In Kirk died from his Star Trek Generations battle with Soran and Picard buried his fellow Captain of the Enterprise on Veridian III. But his brief but fateful mission with Kirk must have affected and inspired Picard in key ways.
Star Trek: Picard season 2 is set in 2401, a full 30 years after Kirk's death in 2371 as seen in Star Trek Generations. After Picard met Kirk, he remained as Captain of the USS Enterprise-E for another 14 years before he was promoted to iral (and subsequently quit Starfleet in protest) in 2385. However, in Star Trek: Picard season 2, Picard displays surprising expertise about Kirk and the voyages of his Starship Enterprise in the 23rd century. Jean-Luc references "Kirk's Enterprise" several times in Star Trek: Picard season 2; he knew how the 23rd-century Enterprise used a slingshot effect around the sun to time travel. After Picard met Tallinn (Orla Brady), a 21st-century Supervisor, he immediately recognized her role as similar to Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), who Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) met in 1968 in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Assignment: Earth." Now, Picard was a fellow Captain of the Enterprise but the amount of deep-cut information he possesses about Captain Kirk's history seems out of the ordinary.
It's quite possible that the experience of meeting James T. Kirk was a more significant event in Jean-Luc Picard's life and career than Star Trek Generations initially lets on. When Kirk decided not to argue with the Captain of the Enterprise and ed Picard's campaign to stop Soran, he advised Jean-Luc not to let "anything" talk him out of giving up the Captain's chair because as long as he's on the Enterprise, he "can make a difference." Judging by how long Picard remained as Captain of the Enterprise, he took Kirk's words to heart. But after witnessing Kirk's death, it's likely that Picard, who loves history, delved into researching Kirk's life and career. Picard would have had ample time during his forced retirement from 2385 to 2399 to learn all about Kirk's Enterprise, and indeed, Jean-Luc wrote history books about Starfleet during that period.
The amount of exposition about "Kirk's Enterprise" Jean-Luc cites in Star Trek: Picard season 2 could be more than just storytelling convenience. It hints at the greater significance fighting alongside and burying Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations actually had on Picard. In fact, Picard was already intimately acquainted with Spock, Kirk's dearest friend. Jean-Luc mind-melded with both Spock and his father, Sarek (Mark Lenard), in Star Trek.
If Captain Picard wasn't already knowledgable about Captain Kirk prior to Star Trek Generations, he certainly had many avenues to learn all about his 23rd-century predecessor following Kirk's death, especially after Picard's retirement. In Star Trek: Picard season 2, iral Picard returned to Starfleet as the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy. This would have opened up another opportunity for Picard to delve into Kirk's history and use it as a basis to help instruct the next generation of Starfleet Cadets. James T. Kirk's importance to Starfleet can't be overstated, and Star Trek: Picard season 2 is finally giving the legendary Captain his proper due through Jean-Luc's personal expertise after Star Trek on Paramount+'s series had largely ignored Kirk's legacy up til now.
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.