I actually really enjoyed the first episode - and Logain's episode was excellent too and I thought the series was different and would turn out being good, but it devolved quite quickly after that and ended in a very anticlimactic finale. I suspect even people who didn't read the books wouldn't find it great that the Dragon's big feat is cracking a rock. The best scene in the episode was the arrival of the Seanchan (I liked it and the look of the damane).

Overall I enjoyed the casting of the series - I think all of the main characters are spot on, but I never imagined Lan like that and I think Loial is clumsy and irritating. The problem for me is the writing which I think is amateur and unfulfilling. I can't think of a single notable verbal exchange (compared to Game of Thrones or even The Witcher). Ishamael was well cast but he had nothing to work with despite books and books of intense taunting and dialogue with al'Thor. Siuan turned out to look good on screen but she was weak and even allowed Nynaeve to steamroll her.

With the Power I could enjoy some of it, but I missed certain aspects like the separate flows, sensing strength and the glow. I thought the taint was well done and I also enjoyed the voices demonstrating the madness. Many of the liberties with the Power are awful though, like Nynaeve nuking the screen every time we need an escape. Egwene was at least shown to be useless with the Power due to her lack of training. I don't understand why they leaned on unknown characters like that Green Sitter or Amalisa when we have so many hundreds of fan favourites to work with. By Moiraine's own account in the series Amalisa was too weak to be useful to the Tower but she becomes our female protagonist in Tarwin's gap. Almost the only thing you can't do in a circle is overdraw, but I guess they went there for no good reason - and if a circle of five can sense every breath on Earth then I don't hold much hope for us seeing the Choedan Kal. It's a pity they also defiled sa'angreal - I can't see Callandor being a major part of the story if this little ornament had 'thousands of men's power in it'. Binding another Aes Sedai with the Oath Rod as punishment was another diabolical liberty, when all they needed to do was have Siuan and Moiraine chatting while a new Sister was raised in the background.

The girl-power theme is dreadful, but not unexpected in today's TV. Men in TV these days are basically damane with their sul'dam telling them how to think and act for most of the series. I'm quite liberal and open minded but the trends are undeniable. Taking Rand's scene away from him at Tarwin's Gap is particularly egregious. Second to that we have Latra Posae who can clearly see the outcome of Lews Therin's strike and him being a stupid man, and the AOL looks perfect as if the War of Power never occurred. Objectively Moiraine and Nynaeve were both more impressive as channelers than the Dragon Reborn in season 1. I would even say Alanna was.

I enjoyed many things in the series like the Tower and the Hall, Moiraine & Lan, the Whitecloaks and Valda, Shadar Logoth, Machin Shin and the Borderlands... but a lot of it was very deficient. The Blight was less scary than Shadar Logoth despite it being 'deadly' and the worst thing we saw was some moss growing on Rand's hand, for instance. Fades remain scary but unimpressive.

I suspect we are going to see divergence to the point where it won't be recognizable. Rafe already said he intends to continue with the Egwene-Perrin-Rand love triangle and he's 'looking forward to shocking fans by killing off main characters'.