I don't get why this episode jumped the shark...
Did you want Marianne to be a generic good female? I am quite happy that she turned out to be 'evil' which we don't see so often with women in anime.
That Charles wasn't so evil? Eh, I can see why people would be upset by this, but I think it is a bit more realistic for him to be somewhat good, in a twisted way. Not many are pure evil, everyone has a little bit of good in them, and there are few that don't.
Suzaku and Lelouch teaming up? Well, in the extended preview it talks about how their alliance is centered around what Shirley said to Suzaku, forgive Lelouch, believe in him.
That the plont just got pushed forward a good amount in only 2 episodes? I can also see why this would anger people, I like a good pace also, but I don't think it was really that bad, and it really did make things seem all the more epic.
Not to mention, I think this episode had some great development from Lelouch, it really said a lot about his character to reject this false idealism that Marianne and Charles kept spouting, so I enjoyed that a lot.
And now we have yet another issue, perhaps not even Schneizel, but Lelouch losing himself to Geass. While many may be upset that he Geassed the court, it was kind of needed for now, not to mention, it wasn't an absolute order, just to acknowledge him as the new Emperor.