I'm sure I read in one of DPC's Q&A things he does occasionally that the Interlude was him taking a break from BAD. Didn't he say he wanted to write new characters in a new location to get some distance and 're-charge' himself?
I personally quite liked the Interlude. Zoey had been painted in a bad light by MC telling Bella his version of events (Ep 3 I think) and now we got to see her side, and as with everything, the truth is somewhere in between.
I also think Interlude(IL) gets more hate that it deserves because of Ep 9. A lot (most?) of people, including myself, were disappointed by the lack of story and plot development in Ep 9, and were annoyed almost the entire Ep was one party over a single night. I think a lot of people throw shade at IL because 'if he hadn't done that, Ep 9 would have been bigger and better' which just isn't true. The Halloween party was going to be the Halloween party, irrespective of IL.
Personally I think the Episode 9 should have been called 'Interlude', because that's what it was. An Interlude from the main story, spending one night getting pissed/fucked, where the plot took a back seat.
When Season 3 is complete, and we get a chance to play the whole thing through without having to wait 12 months between episodes, I think IL will be looked on more favourably because then it will 'fit'. No development cycle delay nonsense clouding the issue, this is the whole season, this is how its supposed to be, and it will work.