I think even if he didn't say it in time, the fact that he was going to say it is good.
I think the experiment failed and the joke next episode will be Eleanor protesting with "Brent was ABOUT to say sorry!". The Judge will be like "really, you think?", and let him go for like 5 more seconds where it's revealed that he actually said "I'm so, so, sorry that you feel that way" or something equally Brent-ish
I don't know where they go from there if it fails, but then that's the magic of the show I guess.
that's a hilarious idea, i love it
i've seen a lot of people speculate on various ideas that all sort of come down to like "well the experiment failed but the real experiment was the friends you made along the way" i.e. ways to give them a pass for failing because at least some stuff went well either for the main characters or for 3/4 of the newbies who didn't do 100% horribly, but i don't really want it to feel like a cop out or a "you failed but you win anyway"
looking forward to seeing what clever idea they have in store