I think these "unfair to Rand" complaints arise from certain adaptation choices made to shore up weak(er) book plots and not because the story is ignoring his difficulties. Long (non-wank) response with MAJOR BOOK SPOILERS incoming:
For example, in the book Lanfear's attempts to seduce/manipulate Rand are pretty low stakes, but still end with Moiraine sacrificing herself to get Lanfear off the board and protect Rand. The show's version of Lanfear is MUCH more of a threat having actually seduced him in s2 and now in s3 is the only one telling him she loves all parts of him and isn't afraid of him (pretty damn tempting for someone terrified of what he is capable of). She is clearly a danger to him and we see why Moiraine will have to Final Solution her. Unfortunately, this frustrates the audience because we know more than he does (at least until the end of ep6) and, like a horror movie protagonist, we want to scream at him "What are you doing?! Don't go in the house, idiot!".
Another book flaw (ymmv) i feel like the show is trying improve is Egwene's attitude towards Rand. There are reasons many book readers do not like her. One being that in the books she consistently sided with the Aes Sedai/Moiraine against Rand with no justification (that I could see) and in later books she was quite adversarial towards him. So to help reduce Egwene hate, the show kept her more supportive of him (and even anti-Aes Sedai which I have seen plenty of book readers spit taking about lol) and is also giving her a much more sympathetic/clear reason for how her later adversarial stance develops (he betrayed her trust).
However, after the show put a lot of focus on her harsh treatment by the seanchan and even gave her the hero edit of escaping the collar on her own, the audience has (rightly) A LOT of sympathy for her. And her repeated professed loyalty to rand in s3, makes him look like a heel for cheating on her. (Extended sidenote: I find it very interesting that she keeps telling people she is there to "protect" Rand. Yet she keeps having flashes of him going mad. And she threw out that "you've already succumbed to the madness" line pretty damn quick during their fight - ouch low blow. Protect Rand or protect the world FROM Rand? I think the show is telling us she is not being honest with herself about all her motivations, and that she HAS internalized the repeated arguments of Suian and Moiraine about the danger he presents. But because she isn't acknowledging that, it is a more subtle thing for the show audience to possibly overlook.)
To be clear, I FULLY support these story changes because they heighten the drama and tighten up the story. BUT I do acknowledge they currently make Rand look worse than he did at this point in the books, which might concern Rand enjoyers, particularly when they see show-onlies fully take Egwene's side here.
Rand was always gonna be a SUPER tricky character to adapt as he goes to some very dark, unsympathetic places. Heck, plenty of book readers dislike him even with the benefit of his tormented POVs to help give empathy. Robert Jordan was, I think, pretty hesitant to make early Rand anything less than a sweet cinnamon roll for this exact reason (and kept us pinned to his POV for the first 2 books). For me, the show has done a pretty good job of giving us early cinnamon roll Rand while also giving us tantalizing flashes of all the suspicion and anger to come. Making him a "cheater" too, doesn't really bother me (I mean he is gonna do SO MUCH WORSE why sweat one more flaw?). Plus, he is sure to feel super guilty about his big fuck up here, which HELL YES more Rand Trauma(tm).
Lastly, as others have mentioned, all this lays some good character ground work for his multitude of future relationships. Like Aviendha said, romantic relationships are lot to put on just one person. And if any single person is a Certified Heavy Load in this story - it is Rand. With this plot point, plus the Alanna polycule, plus the Rhuarc polycule (plus the AoL polycule hints - which i ADORE), the show is doing a lot of good setup to prepare the audience for the unique fantasy protagonist romance to come. I myself never enjoyed Rand's polycule in the books, but I look forward to being won over by the show.
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