This was as bad as ep.3, and for the same reason. After a sober assessement, everyone in the story wins: Producer made a difference for a change, Miki got over her mood, everyone else moves on with the life as usual at Namco Pro, with important concert not screwed up... hopefuly (as per preview). Which is great for them, but what about us, the viewers? We were treated to 20 minutes of Miki's juvenile rebellion. The only one who crawled from this cesspool smelling like roses was Chihaya, although with Haruka in tow.

UPDATE: Evirus disagrees:

I stand by my prediction that Miki is The Chosen One who will ultimately be Producer's salvation, if not all of 765PRO's. She'll have to mature a bit to get there, but I feel optimistic we'll see that progression during the remainder of the season. After all, Producer winning Miki over in episode 12 was much better done I would have expected. Typically these things seem to turn on a single bombastic speech about the Otaku Virtues coinciding with some unlikely Important Event. In the instant case, however, I really feel Producer and Miki got somewhere together, and both became better for it. [Emphasis mine — Author]

He is quite right about it and I was too lazy and circumspect with "everybody wins". It was done better than the ep.3 in how it was more believable, and if one likes the talking-head show. I guess what I'm really objecting here is that I am an even worse manager than P-san: I would let Miki go, to the detriment of the outfit. I really did not like the musical insert. And I am hobbled by my lack of Japanese, so I cannot pick any redeeming subtleties from the dialogue, if they existed. And finally, I plainly do not like Miki. All this adds up against the episode's strengths.

As for Miki loafing around in the middle of the day -- I think that may actually be fine, as high school is not mandatory in Japan. Twins have no choice, but Haruka did. I am not quite sure what 15-year-olds are supposed to do instead, though, as I am clueless at the specific rules and their ability to enter the workforce. Russia has a similar gap between 15 and 16, when drop-outs cannot legally be hired. I suppose you intern like the twins do and your parents receive your wages.

The idea of Ritsuko's cameo coming up later is probably right, too. It is a different Live because the members of Ryuguu Komachi are included.