The dragonriding get away was the weakest part of the episode. GOT meets the Bachelorette, the tone of the scene had no place in the episode given what is at stake. Also if you're going to do that, if you must include it...where is the sex? Not that anyone should be watching the show for sex or nudity given the Internet but I mean, come on. Middle of nowhere next to a sweet waterfall, new relationship...they would have banged one out for sure.
Aside from that I thought everything else was...necessary. I really wonder why the last two seasons got cut down so much. They are leaving so many potentially great extended scenes completely to the imagination. I was disappointed in the time they devoted to Arya's reunions with Jon and, especially, the Hound. He's clearly been off her list for a while.
Regarding what she was requesting from Gendry...there are stills out there and the diagram is very simplistic. It shows a shaft and a detached spear point labeled dragonglass with an arrow pointing toward the shaft indicating it is supposed to attach...but I think that its perhaps going to detach, as in be some kind of spring loaded point to be used in case of an emergency. Like when you need to kill an undead dragon maybe.
I expect next week to be more well received as more shit will happen. If the WW storyline is resolved completely after episode 3 that will surprise me.
The 20-21 months or so between S7 and S8 were brutal. I am going to miss the shit out of this show in a way that I have never missed any other show that ended.