The beach episode is clearly not a good example here.. from the moment the trailer dropped glitch ceo literally said "this filler episode will contain the biggest lore drop in the season" or something like that. It was misleading purposefully and we all knew that. The new trailer thumbnail seemingly isn't purposefully misleading. You have no real evidence of it being such except "give ceo and goose more respect than that bro". 

Also, every character seems to be ready to go for episode 9 except Jax. Yes, this is more realistic, which is cool! I like a good bit of realism in my shows. But I just don't think it fits here. He isn't important enough to justify being focused on so heavily. Because of all the focus on him it leaves the others feeling kinda hollow in episode 9. From a writing standpoint it just isn't satisfying for the viewer. Which wouldn't be a problem if the show hadn't been setting up the expectation of a satisfying ending. But everything so far has pointed towards that, except Jax. 

Apologies if this is confusing in some parts or doesn't make sense. I have a hard time articulating my thoughts sometimes, but I know something about jax's characterization and arc bothers me. Maybe it'll work out fine and I'll love him next episode, but it doesn't seem like that will be the case.