The "uh, what?" stuff in episode 8 is what really threw me off my game. I was fine with extrapolating on things that were just hinted at in the books; Moiraine and Siuan's relationship becoming an ongoing thing instead of them just being "pillow friends" as children for instance.
But a lot of random stuff from the finale like characters just manifesting abilities they had not been trained for was just...ugh.
I'll consider giving season 2 a shot, if only because mixing together The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn seems like an objectively good move.