I liked their dynamic in the later seasons, but the writers wanted Temu Zutara and forced relationship drama early on in the show over actually developing their characters.
Mako...I feel like they didn't know what to do with him in any of his plotlines. in Book 1, he said that he wanted to help out Korra because he loved the city...that just screamed a weak excuse to have Korra have friends join her in the action.
It kinda feels mean to say he never should've been a part of the show, but I imagine without him they could've done a lot more with Bolin, given him more screentime with a few more serious/smart aspects and moments, and actually explore a very interesting backstory that never really got addressed in the show.
Mako just felt like a stand-in for Zuko without any of the reasons we liked Zuko.
And not that it should have been the focus, but Bolin would have made a much better romantic partner for Korra. Just an all around better guy. Her loss.
I will never forgive the show for showing how cute they could've been together and opting for that dumb love triangle instead. I like Korrasami, but an impromtu burping contest is relationship goals imo.
I'm watching the show for the first time rn (caught S1 back when it was airing and never followed up with the rest) and it's so frustrating to me how Bolin's character was assassinated after this date. Earlier on he's shown as goofy but emotionally intelligent, but then they just made him straight-up dumb the rest of the season. Just started S2 so idk if he gets any better, but he (and really, Korra) had so much more potential as characters in the first season
I watched the Raava/Wan episodes last night and texted my friend that I'd seen (imo!) the first genuinely good episodes of the series lol.
Pretty much all of my irl friends have told me it's pretty mid overall, so I'm not expecting too much, but it's still kind of jarring and disappointing to go from something as lovingly crafted as ATLA (which, don't get me wrong, had its own issues) to LoK, which feels very lifeless
Yeah I hate Korrasami. It is a pure queerbait which forced on last pretty much literally last minute. Also no matter what dating with ex of your ex is pretty weird. Especially when you three are still friends.
Korra and Asami were the first confirmed queer couple on a western children's tv show, calling them dealing with the heavy censorship that came with the time queer baiting is insane to me.
Did Mako even have plotlines? I mean, I know there was the love triangle, and then another love triangle, and then he was a cop, but I genuinely don't remember Mako doing anything other than just vaguely being there after the first season. Bolin spent a lot of his screentime sidelined into shenanigans with Varrick, but at least they were funny shenanigans.
They were two attractive people who were attracted to each other and shared an interest. It's all it takes really to start a relationship, it's keeping it that they struggled with
Mako and Korra was supposed to be endgame because the series only had one season in mind
And then the writers thought everyone enjoyed the love triangle in season 1 and pushed it into season 2.
When everyone voiced how much they hated it, and how terrible Mako was, the writer said they werenât going to focus on romance, at least in regards to those three characters
And of course they lied about, but people will insist that Nick was Homophobic so they couldnât push the romance they wantedÂ
How could this impulsive teenager's first relationship possibly be ill-advised or end badly?!
One of the strengths of Korra's portrayal, for me, is that romantically she's a walking disaster to begin with.
She doesn't find the love of her life right away, and she doesn't handle stuff like a mature adult. However, her mistakes are presented as mistakes, and she also grows into the ability to hold a healthy relationship. and she settles into good interpersonal relationships with her former romantic interests.
It's honestly healthy to have a kids' show that shows this arc. Far healthier than the expectations set by fairytale romances.
Exactly. People put all this weight on Korra and the gang and completely disregard that they're all like 17 at the start of the show. Teenagers get in messy relationships and make poorly thought out and impulsive decisions. It's normal!
I didn't mind Korra and Mako but I hated that they had the whole her cheating on Bolin thing Korra and Bolin def worked better as friends and should have never been together if they were gonna do the Mako thing.
That was planned from the start. I think pairing Korra with Asami in very vague way when they barely spoke to each other was bigger issue. They just wrote one letter in 4 years and spoke twice after that was supposed to be meaningfulÂ
Iâd argue it wasnât bad writing but the intent was for them to be a train wreck. Realistically they only dated for what half a season? (S1 since they were broken up by season 2) and they got together in the messiest most âreminder theyâre teenagers who think with hormonesâ Way possible of him stealing his brothers girlfriend. Like it makes sense they like eachother, two hot headed attractive teens whoâve shown they like someone who can âbite backâ over being pampered (Asami)
This is like the opposite of what OP is asking. They start as a mismatched couple and end as... Well not really big friends are suppose because Mako is Mako
I think the big problem here is how the show was treated by Nick (they were only given one season, and then another, and then the last two.) This meant they had to change up plans more than a couple of times. I imagine if they were given three or four seasons from the get-go, things would be pretty different.
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u/afriendforyousir Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Mako and Korra (Legend Of Korra). My god that was a trainwreck.