it took me forever to understand why mordred lived

I got that immediately. Mostly because they heavy-handed the music when they returned to Camelot to find him alive. Which … is insulting. The whole thing could have been made SO much more ambiguous without heavy-handing it.

F’r’ex. The Disir should have been much more comprehending of Arthur’s native nobility and willingness to sacrifice, /and/ of his willingness to come find out what was wanted at all. Instead, they were far more haughty and arrogant than he was, behaving with an expectation that he, who was not raised in the old religion at all, would know everything about sacred spaces, about their roles, etc. The one true thing they said was about how he permitted continuing persecution of the followers of the old religion. The rest of it was them doing exactly as they accused him of doing, and justifying it by claiming to be the mouthpieces of the Triple Goddess.

What should have happened is that when he came back the second time, willing to be at least respectful of their sacred space and begging virtually on his knees for the life of someone he cared about, it should have been presented in a way that made you wonder if Mordred’s life was spared as a punishment to Arthur, or because Arthur’s plea moved their hearts. Instead what we got was an unambiguous declaration that no matter how loyal Mordred appeared he wasn’t going to be let to remain loyal.

That, in the first episode in which Mordred appears as a knight, corrupts the entire arc they set up for him.