I haven't read the comics but I feel like this was all a setup to get Mark to convert to the Viltremite mission. I feel like Nolan cut some sort of deal with the bug people after saving/conquering them to set all of this up for Mark.
I loved exploring Nolan's mental state, and animation looked gorgeous... but fight was partly a slide show. I hope next season will improve on this aspect instead of having more cameos.
I wonder if part of that was because of the production struggles they were having that lead them to split the release of the episodes. Maybe they had to rush to complete this 4th episode and that lead to the slideshow nature of the fight.