Star Trek Picard: Every Major Character Ranked
3. Rios
The less said about the Irish hologram, the better.
The rest though - Rios is an absolute win when it comes to the new characters in the show. His introduction seems very tongue in cheek. Of course this swashbuckling captain would be smoking and drinking while having a piece of metal pulled out of his shoulder. Sure, why not? Let's be clear - Rios is not Riker and he's not going to be. Which is great, because there is a real character here. He is a pirate because he has to be but, as Picard states so early on, he is a Starfleet man just waiting for the right call back to duty.
He is haunted by what he has seen but that is because it hurt his moral centre. He is not a man who is ok with the murder of innocents and he will defend those where he can, when he can. It is perhaps a bit early in the show to have him portrayed as the OTT hustler in Stardust City Rag but when combined with the various holograms, it's not the most ridiculous we've seen him yet.
Santiago Cabrera has shown tremendous range already in the show, owning each scene that he is in and having an absolute blast while playing the holograms (yes ok, even the Irish one). He clearly cares for Picard and the rest of his crew and is a perfect Captain in the offing. Bring on the second season!