Recently in “The Legend of Korra”, fans saw the reunion of some old friends that haven’t been shown together on the screen for quite a while. Meanwhile, dramatic plot developments saw Bolin and Varrick getting away from Kuvira and meeting up with a new group of benders who have also been running away from Kuvira’s camps.
In the latest episode of the show, Prince Wu has decided that he wants to become a tougher man, and turns to Mako for help with this. Grandma Yin shows her displeasure with this development, although Wu states that he needs the training due to his perceived weakness.
The episode then shows a flashback to Mako’s past, when he first met the Avatar in a pro-bending arena. The story is told with various additional comments by both Mako and Wu, who share details about their past, particularly Mako’s. Grandma Yin and Tu decide to take their own part in sharing the story as well. At certain points, Mako seems to not quite enjoy the way the others are going in detail about his private life, although there’s not much he can do about it at this point, and he just goes along with it.
As the story goes on, Mako comes to a certain realization, assisted by Tu and the others. It appears to him that he’s afraid of disappointment – more specifically, he’s afraid of disappointing anyone in his life, which always ends up backfiring, as he usually disappoints those around him in one way or another. Instead of taking the revelation harshly, Mako seems to be pleased to learn something new about himself, and actually shares a happy moment with Tu (who is himself quite pleased and not shy to show it).
In the end, Mako reaches the conclusion that he needed to learn more about himself without a girl by his side, and he shares that Korra has been a continuous inspiration for him. This is something that Wu and Tu don’t seem to understand quite so well, however, as they make some joking remarks before the episode goes on.
Judging by reactions on message boards and similar places, fans have been quite happy with the new developments, and there’s an overall sense of excitement over the fact that people got to see a glimpse into Mako’s past. Some critics have been pointing out that the character could use some more development with regards to his earlier life, and this seems to be a good answer from the producers. Although, it’s likely that this development was planned quite ahead of time, so it’s not known whether it’s actually a response to those criticisms.