Star Trek Picard: Every Easter Egg & Hidden Reference From 'The Impossible Box'
8. Borgs And Kisses
After nearly falling into a pit because the Borg apparently don't believe in handrails, Picard encounters Hugh, who is probably the first person in Star Trek: Picard who's actually happy to see Jean-Luc.
As mentioned before, Hugh was the drone recovered from a crashed Borg scout ship in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "I, Borg", given a name and sent back to his people in the hopes his individuality would spread. The next time we saw Hugh in "Decent, Part II", his individuality did spread but it was like a virus that incapacitated his ship and left his fellow drones confused and vulnerable. Though Hugh wasn't particularly happy with the Enterprise crew after that, Picard and company left him and his group of former drones on a hopeful note.
In the intervening 29 years, Hugh has become a citizen of the Federation and an advocate for XBs. As Hugh puts it, "a new name can be the first step to a new identity" indicating that his experiences with Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D inspired Hugh to help others. No wonder he gave Picard that hug.