I don't understand how he could touch Mesaana or cancel out weaves she has tied off or maintained, while not being able to affect the net of Compulsion set in Elza's mind.

Also, I was disgusted by what RJ had happen to Moghedien and Mesaana. I'm hoping the same punishment was visited on Moridin, Balthamel and Aginor - their failures were all more spectacular, and bullying the weakest of the female Forsaken lowered the scope of the evil in the series, and it seems to me that this is a blow that is worse than the breaking of Semirhage in terms of tarnishing the overall sense of risk in the series.

Dark One: You let yourself be killed by a tree, and couldn't defeat an Aes Sedai and five untrained children standing next to another Forsaken.
Balthamel: Oops, Great Lord.
Dark One: You're Reborn.

Dark One: You didn't do all that much, nor did you exactly fail. But you got captured.
Moghedien: Oops, Great Lord.
Dark One punishes her with Shaidar Haran.

Dark One: You almost organized the capture of the Dragon Reborn without much assistance from other Forsaken, even while manipulating the White Tower to not even raise an objection. But you didn't show up to an event where amounts of Power were being channeled in such a vast quantity that all the Chosen could have been wiped out in an instant.
Mesaana: Oops, Great Lord.
Dark One punishes her with Shaidar Haran.

The double standard is quite tiresome. And lame.