5.) But Mako apologized to Asami and they broke up, so it’s okay for him to date Korra now.
First of all, the way Mako apologized to Asami isn’t a real apology. He apologizes in the passive voice, which is how politicians talk to avoid taking responsibility. Mako says, “I’m sorry things got messed up between us” rather than “I’m sorry that I messed up.” You see the difference? Asami didn’t do anything wrong in the relationship, it was all Mako. Their relationship didn’t get magically “messed up” overnight. Mako was the one who was pinning after Korra while in a relationship with Asami and who couldn’t be bothered to take five minutes to break up with Asami, even though he says in episode 12 that he realized that he loved Korra back in episode 9. Talk about an unfortunate implication that Mako’s just keeping Asami around for backup in case Korra doesn’t like him anymore.
Furthermore, Mako’s excuse for not dealing with Asami in episode 10 is pretty pathetic. He can’t take the time to talk to Asami because there’s a war going on, and yet that doesn’t prevent him from coming onto Korra in front of her. (I am referring to the scene at the end of episode 10 where Mako randomly puts his arm around Korra for no apparent reason. He could have been trying to comfort Korra, but considering the problems he has with Asami at the moment are directly related to him liking Korra and cheating on Asami with Korra, that was inappropriate at best and downright cruel at worst.)
Nor does the war going on prevent Mako from telling Korra how brave and selfless she is (traits that actually don’t apply to Korra , but that do apply to Asami) while Asami is sleeping nearby. Bryke also confirmed that Mako was leaning in for a kiss during that scene. You know, while his girlfriend that he’s stringing along is sleeping 20 feet away. What a great person he is!
Korra can be brave, but she didn’t do anything like side against her father like Asami did. At the end of the day, Korra’s parents still love her. Asami could have taken the easy way out and sided with her father, but she didn’t. The idea that Korra is somehow incredibly selfless is ridiculous. Asami was the one being selfless by turning against her only parent who had taken care of her most of her life to do what she thought was right. Not to mention, Korra was very selfish and unlikable in her pursuit of Mako.
As for Mako and Asami breaking up, “I still care about you” is very open-ended. Like many things in this season, that “break-up” was rushed and forced. Why even bother to have Masami be canon for a while if they aren’t even going to break up properly on-screen? Why not just make Makorra (along with Pema/Tenzin obviously) the only canon ship and focus on developing affection between those two if it was going to be endgame anyway? It would be less rushed and maybe Mako and Korra would actually be civil to each other in situations that don’t involve them fighting the Equalists. Also, Asami is so amazing that she really deserved better than just being Mako’s arm candy and the target of Korra’s rage for the first three episodes she was in.
I can’t believe that Bryke was bragging about the lack of filler in this series and then crammed it full of poorly-written romance. That romance was the worst kind of filler because rather than resulting in any character development, which could have happened with more episodes to space out the romance and better writing, the romance actually resulted in character derailment and regression. Mako is basically a tool for the romance subplot and a creator’s pet. While I still have hope for Korra, she never apologizes to Asami or ever seems to take Asami’s feelings into consideration after episode 7, which has made me dislike her and has made her not be my favorite character anymore.
Here’s some advice, if you ever need to break up with someone, do not do what Mako did. I suppose the one good thing about the romance in LOK is that it can be a teaching tool about how not to handle your romantic relationships.
