I added my responses above.
I'm firmly of the opinion that you can't have big, powerful scenes if there aren't smaller, mundane scenes between them to make the big ones stand out. Perhaps I just have a higher tolerance for filler?
I'm sorry if I made fun of you a bit, but I was amused by the idea that you had found all these reasons of interest in a moment of filling a fairly transitional chapter.
but
you are absolutely right, all these small everyday moments serve to create that bond that then give meaning and drama to the important moments in history. so in fact there are no useless moments when we see the characters interact with each other.
however there are 2 and a half points on which I do not agree with you anyway.
I start from the half point because it is the most subjective one. the day after interactions with Bella are among the best, they are both tender and fun (not just the caress on the hand, but also the jokes between the shelves, the gag of Derek's phone call ..). but until proven otherwise, for me nothing about Bella is significant. the dramatic scene of chapter 3 had no consequences. the fact that all DIKs (including mole) know she had sex with MC I doubt it will have any consequences. Bella continues to oscillate between a nympho, a desperate wife close to collapse and a girl who is falling in love. everything about her is transitory.
the other point I disagree on is the matter of routine with Maya and Josy. up to that point we have already seen them attend college courses together and have lunch together. and they are both much more successful moments than the studio, which is really boring, even the part with Josy is a hidden tutorial. so it's the third example of their new routine, but it's the worst, least fun and most boring.
(a little digression, I would have liked it very much if the friendship path had had some exclusive scenes, even just some more dialogue, instead it is clearly the path of the unlucky and the losers)
the last point I disagree with you on is the ankwardness among 4. that is basically a wrong scene. I repeat myself: the only two who should be strongly uncomfortable with each other are Jill and Josy who are fully aware that they both feel, or have felt something for MC, and instead they are the 2 most serene and get along very well (probably for some need for a plot to be discovered), we don't know if Maya is aware of it, but having never mentioned the fact, she may not be.
furthermore the fact that the scene is identical even though MC has no interest in Jill makes it even more wrong and a filler by definition, which has the only function of being the nth warning to MC about the risk of being discovered (like the chat with Derek, the reflections with Jill's photo etc which are still much better scenes). so it's a scene that has a (redundant) function but makes little sense.
p.s. I will not fall into your easy taunts on KRJ, no ass, more cows