Merge Request Denied -- Even with Evidence

What I want to do is move episode 13 to episode 16. Then I would enter the data for the real episode 13 which I have access to. I thought merging 13 to 16 would be the way to do that since episode 16 is effectively empty anyway.

Please advise.

Should I instead move 13 to a slot that doesn't exist, like 41? So the steps would be:

a) move 13 to 41

b) move 16 to 13

c) move 41 to 16

d) add data to 13 as needed.

That way no merge would ever be triggered.

Any ideas?

If the data for episode 13 is not correct, the corrections can be submitted using the online Update Form, merging the episode will not be the way. 

And for episode 16, if there are missing data, the same way it have to be submitted using the self service and update form.