My thoughts...hoo...where do I start?
I felt it had a strong opening to thee series, and while there was a misstep with SM 6, it rebounded...and since SM 18 (barring SM 21) has begun collapsing structurally. They don't do enough with the school aspect, and the fact that Ash doesn't think of his next trial, even when Kiawe mentions Olivia feels wrong. That there is nothing big going on for episodes is a major issue the series is now having. I applaud the attempt at smaller things being filtered through the episodes, but there's nothing else so it comes off as empty.
Likewise, there are simply too many characters, and not enough strong battles when by this point we'd have had about 5-6 (we only have 2...and they weren't that great). Kiawe and Lillie are the only characters to do anything typically, while Mallow remained useless in her own focus episode and is too loved by the fandom for no real reason. I prefer Lana and Sophocles over her any day, and one is under utilized while the other is Fat Clemont. To me, at this point, the Gladion episode is the make-or-break of the entire series and where it will move forward.