I was okay with most of that, but the way they just seemed to activate the arches but didn't have to maintain them was a bit disappointing to me. Although it did really sell Nynaeve's loss to me, since I totally expected that once they gave up and left, that was it. When Egwene was in there...
YES that one bothered me too! That's what made me think again about how many things that apparently happened between s1 and s2 never really get explained either, we just roll with it. But this one was even more obvious because it was within a single episode.
Someone mentioned (somewhere on discord I think) something about not minding so much if the characters and plot diverge a lot from the books as long as they end up in the right place for the MAJOR plot points, and I think that really sums up how I feel right now. In a lot of ways I have no idea...