I find it interesting that Picard became so intensely involved with the Romulans in his later life. While one could assume it is just an example of a retired military officer desiring to make his legacy one of peace, another thought occurred to me while watching a rerun of “Unification” just now on Pluto.

Suppose his diplomatic aims with this specific race are a remnant of his deep mind meld with Spock. We know that reunification was a goal of Spock’s. We also know that Picard had an extremely unguarded mind meld with Sarek, who never melded with Spock. And finally we know that at the end of “Unification,” Picard offers Spock the chance to meld with him as a conduit to connecting with the now deceased Sarek. Earlier in the episode, Sarek’s spouse does acknowledge that post-meld Picard is a part of Sarek and Sarek a part of Picard.

So if Picard and Sarek melded so deeply as to leave a significant part of themselves in each other; if Spock in melding with Picard also let’s his guard down sufficiently to truly connect to that remnant of Sarek and even break into tears, then is it not possible that Spock’s view on the Romulans is a direct influence on the direction Picard’s career took later in life?

There is evidence of the meld’s effect on Picard elsewhere in the series, when we see him have greater success than we’ve seen any other human have when using a Vulcan Neck Pinch (“Starship Mine”).