Wait what. This episode had 2 real moments that can even be considered moe, and it's so obvious what those scenes were, and am I supposed to operate under the belief that even one moment of moe makes an entire episode a de-evolution into moe? (and is moe itself even a de-evolution)
Ice Block has already pointed out the various revelations and plot points that the episode that repeating them is redundant. Kanata's (and Noel in a sense) seriously laid-back task for that day is contrasted to lots of events scurrying about as Ice Block has mentioned. Kanata in that one little room waiting for a phone call that ended up being pretty important in an unclear fashion in contrast to not-so good news about peace talks, an old man likely related to Rio panicking about something important and Felicia having to rush some important duties ahead. It's been hinted a few times that the events that have been happening recently is very much different to the day-to-day life the platoon has had in the past. It's too grandiose to say that Kanata had a hand in these background happenings but as part of the lead cast in a time when things seem to be picking up compared to before we can expect her to be involved in it in some way.
And yes the pacing needed some work, I'm not denying that. AFAIK this has been said to be running at 12-13, and the pace this episode used felt rather wasted in a way. Yes we got some revelations about upcoming problems but with 5 episodes left, the scale that the story implies might become a problem if the director decided to use a single episode in such a way.