I'm not sure how I'm being rude? I'm not being confrontational or condescending (I hope) in this discussion, I'm just trying to amiably express an opinion that happens to differ from other commenters here.

At this point though, like I said in another comment, it's best that I drop the subject. I'll just agree to disagree, since further discussion about this would potentially not be pleasant, and I understand that you want to avoid that.

And again, I cannot emphasize enough: Big fan! Your episode reviews are sooooo entertaining, and so are your watching videos. I would never want to do anything that would cause me to be banned and excluded from your community. It would break my heart.

"You're a firebender. Heat it yourself."

That's passive-aggressive hostility. I will admit that Mako erred in not being transparent with Asami that Korra had kissed him. But Asami? She wasn't behaving in a mature way, either. They had time to sit around, a nice respite from the imminent Equalist threat...so why did Asami feel it appropriate to muck that up by asking about Mako's feelings for Korra and -- here's the key part -- acting indignant that Mako didn't want to talk about it *right* in the middle of everything that was going on?

I certainly understand if you have a bone disease that literally makes it painful to type. So it's not hasty that you want to excuse yourself from this specific discussion. What's hasty is passing judgement on me specifically as a person and deciding to not reply to me at all on future comments before trying to work things out with me to get to a point where it's *not* painful for you to discuss things with me. Which I'm totally willing to do!

Anyways, I don't expect any response to this, go relax and try to recover! <3

I don't think Mako's behavior toward Korra about her suspicions of Hiroshi were as much about Korra as they were about Hiroshi. Again, at that point Mako had every reason to be trusting and loyal to Hiroshi. The man had shared inspiring anecdotes with Mako, financially supported him in pursuing his dream, apparently given his blessing in dating his daughter. The man was all but stepping into a mentor role to Mako.

Mako hadn't known Korra much longer than he had known Hiroshi. At the time, it was reasonable for Mako to value his relationship with Hiroshi more than his relationship with Korra. That's not to say that he didn't also value his relationship with Korra, but that Korra's actions pushed a button for him that he saw as risking their friendship from *Korra's* side.

(And can I say that Hiroshi doing all of this just to use Mako while actually despising him for being a bender was really, really shitty of Hiroshi?)

I'll save discussion of what you ciphered there for when Mark gets there. ;)

I apologize for coming across as rude and condescending, that certainly wasn't my intention. I haven't taken issue with anyone else about using capslock, because as far as I've seen, no one else *does* use capslock as much as you did. I wasn't trying to be rude, it's just that reading through a post with so much in caps was legitimately draining to me. I hope you can understand the feeling? But I should have phrased the request better, saying please would have been a good way to start. So again, I apologize for that.

If I may, your reaction to me seems a bit...hasty? This is the first day I've ever commented. I understand why you feel damaged by debating with me, and I will promise that I will make the tone of my posts less harsh. I just don't want to be locked out of discussing anything with you at all. It's through discussion and the exchange of ideas, even ones we disagree with, that we become smarter and wiser, after all.

Mako actually *is* kind of like Katara, ironically enough. He's the more mature of two siblings, and he took care of Bolin when their parents died much like how Katara stepped up into the role of mother in their family when her mom died. He's generally levelheaded to counterbalance Korra's hotheadedness, such as when Korra wanted to charge back in and knock some heads in 111 and Mako was there to talk her out of it. That sort of mirrors how Katara's responsible but headstrong nature balanced out Aang's more mischievous and diplomatic nature.

As for smart characters to figure stuff out, it's ironic you say that. Znxb vf gur bar jub svtherf bhg Ineevpx vf oruvaq fgrnyvat Nfnzv'f rdhvczrag va pbzvat rcvfbqrf.

Probably should preface this paragraph with a trigger warning for suicide...

Mako's useful for fighting, helping take down a mecha-tank back in 110 and getting a hit on Amon in 112, leading to Korra's moment of unlocking airbending (which was an interesting inversion, with Korra unlocking power to save Mako rather than a male character unlocking power to save a female character in distress). As I said, he's the more levelheaded of the group. And he *tries* to be supportive of Korra. His statement in 112 "I don't care if you're the Avatar or not" was incredibly supportive, and pretty important to Korra's development if you go with the interpretation that she was contemplating *suicide* over losing her bending and effectively not being the Avatar anymore.

I watched it. Mako leans in slightly. Nothing I'd interpret as going in for a kiss.

Ok, so I watched the Blu-ray with the audio commentary, and I can confirm that neither Mike nor Bryan said anything to the effect that Mako was going to kiss Korra in that scene. So yeah, I'd chalk this up to either misinformation or jumping to conclusions about a small lean Mako makes during that scene. That's all it is, a small lean. He doesn't close the space with Korra or anything. It's really reaching to interpret that as Mako going in for a kiss, and it really only makes sense if you're already biased against Mako (which I'm not).

Asami was adding stress to an already stressful situation. It may have been reasonable for Asami to ask the question (though Asami did it in a rather passive-aggressive way), but it was also reasonable for Mako to ask that they not talk about it until after things calmed down. Asami's petulant response was what was unreasonable.

Ok, I understand the reasons why it would have been good for Mako to tell Asami about the kiss (but not why he would have been *obligated* to tell Asami). Try to see it from Mako's perspective, though. Why would he not want to tell Asami? Because it would cause conflict amongst the three of them, conflict he would rather avoid. *That* is Mako's core flaw when it comes to relationships. Not being manipulative, not lying, not cheating -- it's avoidance. It's certainly a flaw, but it doesn't make him abusive or a bad person any more than Korra's temper makes Korra a bad person (and really, some of Korra's behavior in Book 2 is more abusive than Mako's behavior).

Mako was rude and judgemental toward Korra for, like, the first episode. That pretty much disappeared once Mako actually spent time with her and got to know her.