X sansmerci
His character was written poorly. Step one is to grock that people criticising that aren't saying they personally dislike Mako.
Admittedly, how he acts in canon is flat out shitty! But we've had characters before who were full-throttle jerkasses, grabbing at being a shmuck out of the jaws of decency. (Zuko is an obvious example, since he got the redemption arc, but everyone had their moments, from Sokka to Toph to Azula.)
The problem with Mako is that he is not written consistant with his shown actions or implied role. Remember Bolin telling Korra that Mako had to grow up at a young age to take care of both of them as street orphans? Or Mako's concern over Bolin in the first part of the series?
Where is that later in the show? Even ignoring the whole "my brother took you out, now is a good time to mention I kinda like you back despite how brusque I was earlier", because that is an example of a moment of hormonal teenage idiocy, he just doesn't show his mature-beyond-his-years protective side towards Bolin later in the series.
Nor is jerking around two girls consistent with a character whose core is serious maturity and responsibility forged from painful loss; especially not when that extends to blowing up and blaming anyone but himself when Asami (inevitably) found out and confronted him about Korra. It would still be thoughtless coming from Bolin or even, say, Tahno, but either of those characters, it *could make sense* that they would act like Mako did (the former because he really is innocent and capable of tripping over his own feet when it comes to emotions, since, again, Mako mothered him; the later because he was shown in canon to have an entitlement streak and wasn't show/given backstory to contradict that extending to his interpersonal relationships.)
The way Mako was written in terms of how he treats Asami, Korra, and Bolin, is not consistent with what we are *told* and *shown* about him in the first few episodes. Not to mention that the writers utterly failed to show *why* Korra and Mako like each other, just the switch where he's the only character allowed to be concerned over her kidnapping, which dammaged the characterization of not just Mako but the whole "good guy" supporting cast.
It's not a case of "Oh, he's gonna be a jerk in the show and then he'll be redeemed". It's a case of the writers belly-flopping so hard that instead of a charming-but-human romantic hero they painted a picture of a jackass who is never called out on his actions. It's like how in the dub of Sailor Moon changing Neptune & Uranus to "cousins" without editing their body language just made them appear to be *incestuous* lesbians.
I don't hate Bryke for writing Mako (and the whole mess that was character relationships in this show) as they did– disappointed, sure, but hate's a straw word to throw out for those of us who went into the show expecting the writing to be in the same realm as ATLA.
You are one of the few that actually have valid points. Which I will counter in matching-paragraph form.
I fail to see how Mako is a flat-out jackass. I mean, of course he has his moments; as you said, everyone did. But there is a difference between moments, and being that type of person entirely. Keep in mind that this was supposed to be a miniseries, so that might justify your reasoning behind the writing of his character being shitty.
And actually, he does show his protective side towards Bolin, in more ways than one. Being beyond worried in the third episode when he got captured, confronting Korra when she went on a 'date' with Bolin, etc. Yes, he was told to be a MAJORLY protective guy when their parents died, but that was when they were eight. Both Mako AND Bolin have matured since then, and I doubt that Bolin needs as much taking-care-of as he used to, so the protective side of Mako isn't shown as much in the series as we were told he was/is.
Next, Mako was not 'jerking around' with really either of them. Yes, he had feelings for Korra, and yes, he had feelings for Asami, but he wasn't acting on his feelings for Korra when he was with Asami. (I'm not even going to bring in the first kiss subject here really. Korra kissed him first, and yes he did kiss back, yet as you said, teenage hormones, right?) That is definite maturity. He did not get with Korra, or say anything even remotely close to romantic to her after the fact, because he took time to sort his feelings out. Quite frankly, what Asami said when she confronted Mako was stupid, simply put. Why? Because how else was Mako supposed to act when a dear friend of his is missing by Equalists or Tarrlok or what have you? The fact that she didn't stick around to hear him explain himself shows that she didn't give him a chance, and he is not the one at fault in this situation. It was not his plan at all to kiss Korra or 'cheat' on Asami for that matter.
We saw the relationship develop throughout the series between Mako and Korra. Just because there weren't definite moments of "oh, they definitely like each other," like when Korra was kidnapped, does not mean that they weren't there.
Mako wasn't called out on his actions because there weren't really any actions to be called. Asami did when she confronted him, and I say again, she left without giving him a chance to explain.
Again, it was supposed to be a miniseries. From what Bryke and the rest of the team achieved, I'd say they did a spectacular job of it. Mako was and is definitely a dynamic character and his development was good, and will only get better as the new seasons approach.