For me it's not a bad episode it's just that they had a lot to set up for the finale and not a lot of time to do it. They had to wrap up the hexside characters, establish what happened on the boiling isles post collector, finish the character arcs of amity willow hunter and gus, introduce kikimura as a villain, show how belos gets into a position to manipulate the collector, introduce stringbean, finish Camilla and Luz's conflict around the boiling isles, and establish more of the collector's backstory. It means you're rushing from plot point to plot point in a way that gives a bit of tonal whiplash. You cut from belos slowly dying in the woods haunted by visions of his dead brother to hexside shenanigans and it feels tonally off. I understand it's not the crew's fault and I think they made the best product they could with the time they had without cutting into the finale