Sechel, you ask 2 good questions: gemora before pshat, and halakha v agadah.
On first, I already explained ^ that many modern people need to be able to reason at the same high level they know secular science. Also, my Lakewood rebbe explained Rambam similarly: 1/3 division means you need to finish tanach, Mishnah/halakha, gemora/reasoning at the same time, which means gemora should take most of the time