Glad that episode was a bit better for you.
I actually think if the last two episodes were done differently or like... the whole thing with Charles wasnt so outlandish the whole thing would feel better. Like this was a good episode, WAY more similar to the earlier episodes. But its kind of been like... tainted?
I think they got too many plot lines right at the end if the removed even one of them it would flow better and be more coherent.
I actually have a feeling the author did have everything planned out, but then was like "Oh shit we don't have many episodes left. Lets uh... kill Charles quickly and make Lelouch the emperor so I can set the stage for the ending I want". Like I feel the whole Charles and Marianne stuff was important to the author, but was less important to the overall narrative they were trying to sell. So they rushed the hell out of it and it ended up being kind of awkward and feel bad.