No doubt that Suguha pretty much had to force herself a bit in order to get things done here. It's not like she wanted to break down last episode anyways. They can play things off as "Kirito hasn't really returned until Asuna wakes up" and leave it at that. Both of them are going to have to adjust to the realities of the situation and they will have time to do that after this is taken care of. For now it's time to get the job done.
But I have to say bringing in the Dragon Riders really is a way to call in the cavalry
. Even still the best they could do was get Kirito through the hole. To be fair it was set up to be impossible without appearing that way. Like hell Sugou wants people clearing the game or bothering his science experiment.
And Recon.....most fail self-sacrifice I've seen in a while. At least it got him out of the picture.