This episode has great action between Alphard and Canaan an a rather confusing speech that the former gave. My though is this: Alphard thinks she’s at the top of the game and the best there ever is for regular humans, but of course, the strongest warrior would want to test herself against someone who’s stronger, so she sets up the stage by shooting Maria in the stomach and placing a time bomb at on the train. Simple enough?
All the flashbacks, hallucination sequences and all can’t compare with Eva’s mind fuck and seriously, it’s one episode before the last, just ignore all the jumbling conceptual stuff and watch the last one if you are this far. Everything will make sense after the last episode.