Yes, they were still operating as if they were doing episodic drama rather than serialized. And yes, they were not playing it like it would happen in the real world. In fact, they went too far in playing it like a comic caper rather than a life-or-death situation. The turn toward comedy might be a consequence of trying to have the rescue contained to one episode, and the 'dramatic license' inherent in stories happening in a fake place.
This Moldavia caper (at least this stage) is the kind of story that can only be done over multiple episodes to be effective. I was struck by how they didn't even observe the effects of time-change in the storyline. "The cavalry" left Atlanta in the morning and were back in the evening, despite having traveled to Eastern Europe (seven or eight hour time change) and back. They played it like they went to South Carolina or something. Also, how easy was it for them to land the Carrington jet at a Moldavian (read: hostile) airport? Even if it was a private airport (Liam's friends?), a fancy corporate jet entering restricted air space isn't easy--they'd have to interact with the country's air-traffic controllers and/or the military (controlling their air space) in order to get approval to land (and avoid not being shot down as a hostile force), thereby announcing their arrival. An argument could be made that this was why A&L were captured so quickly, but if that was the case, why did they not apprehend everyone on the plane (like Sam and the offscreen pilot)? Also, once Liam and Adam were captured, the King would have impounded the jet and have it surrounded by military men, not leave it open as a means of escape for the Carringtons.
I noted in the previous episode's thread how quickly they introduced the concept of Moldavia and involved the family company in its problems. This was an extension of that hurried pace. I still think this pace was in service of what would have been the events in the cliffhanger, likely something (or things) that would have raised the stakes of Blake's war with the Moldavian King. Rather than this whole kidnapping/rescue thing being the main event, it was just the appetizer. But the kitchen's now closed, so we'll just have to snack on appetizers until October.
I think Laura was (literally) in bed with the Moldavians (at least their King), but when the relationship was no longer useful for her, she dumped him. He then decided to get revenge by nationalizing the oil industry, hoping it would bankrupt Laura and her family. Laura instead dumped C-A on Blake, selling it to him at a premium right before the King's efforts came to light. So Laura was the "real" target of his anger, but Blake (by blocking the King from taking back those C-A oil tankers full of crude oil) wandered in and made the King angry in a different way. If given the choice, the king would probably prefer allying with Blake to make Laura pay for her betrayal, but Blake isn't making it possible for the two of them to come to an arrangement. I wonder how the King would have instructed the guards to treat Liam if they had known he was Laura's son.