At least on MAL, I see some of the more major complaints are the animation issues. Considering it's from A-1, people probably expected better animation and rightfully so. Not only that, didn't Qualidea Code received quite a bit of hype before it actually aired? To see the animation the way it actually is, is kind of disappointing.
Anyway, I do really appreciate seeing Suzuku the way he was this episode. It really showed the emotions he went from shocked, to extreme sadness, angst, and finally fury. It did bothered me that a few commenters (not here) were calling him names because he was raging this episode. I think it's a normal emotion if you encountered the enemies that killed the one you care the most in the world and you could not do a think about it. Is it not?
About Maihime's probable death, to be honest, I'm not sure. It may have been just me but Canaria's death was a surprise to me since I thought she got past the so called "death flags" after she was hurt singing for Suzuku only for her to die that very same episode that she recovered in. In addition, the atmosphere of the show have been relatively light so I did not think about the deaths of the main cast really possible. The next episode after that, "death flags" seems to have been lifted for Hotaru but then this episode where it's all over the place for Maihime since we now get to know more about her backstory. If she does die, it really does match up with how the 2 team were split up up initially (Suzuku, Hotaru, and Kasumi. Maihime, Asuha, and Canaria). However if she does not, then it's not really surprising either. Basically for me, I'm not sure which path they are going to take. Who knows, they might even make it so Maihime gets knocked out in a coma instead of death. Then the next question is what they planned on doing with Asuha and Kasumi because they could just twist things around again.
Either way, I wish to be able to see more smiling Maihime.