who wound you have wrote bowling from Korea if you wrote the show
i'm assuming you mean Bolin from Korra lmao
truth is, i think Bolin had a lot of potential. if it wasn't for his predatory behavior in s2, i would have liked him a lot more. even him working for Kuvira in s4 wasn't that bad because at least he got called out for it and ultimately realized his mistake.
but his harassment of Ginger in s2 was so normalized and portrayed in a comedic manner that you really can't bring yourself to like him. at least i can't. but i guess in that way, it's more of a writer problem than a character problem.
so yeah, i would either remove that part entirely or have Bolin actually realize that he was being a fucking creep. you know, give him actual character development instead of playing off SA as a comedic bit.
if i were to keep that subplot with Ginger, i wouldn't take it so far as Bolin literally kissing her without consent but instead keep the part where he chases after her even after she rejects him.
i can imagine a lot of people doing this without realizing it's wrong, because young men are often encouraged to "never give up, she'll eventually like you back" or fed bullshit ideas like "she's just playing hard to get, you need to be more persistent".
then maybe after failing a few times, he has a talk with Asami and asks her what it takes to win a girl's heart. when he explains the situation, Asami tells him that chasing after a girl isn't going to do him any good. she advices Bolin to just respect Ginger's rejection and move on.
and so, Bolin approaches Ginger later and apologizes for the way he treated her. Ginger doesn't immediately forgive him but she does accept his apology and they continue acting together in the mover. maybe they even start to bond a little. afterwards when Bolin saves the day, instead of suddenly being attracted to him out of the blue, Ginger simply hugs him as a friend and tells him that it was fun acting alongside him.
i think this would also harken back to Sokka's arc in s1 of ATLA. both Sokka and Bolin behaved in immature and toxic ways, because of the way young boys are often raised. it's not the portrayal of misogyny or sexual harrasment that's the problem, it's the way it's treated by the narrative. i don't mind showing problematic behaviors in characters so long as it's not glorified.
the difference is that Sokka gets reprimanded for his behavior and learns a lesson, while Bolin gets praised for harassing a woman and doesn't learn anything. Sokka gets down on his knees and apologizes to Suki while Bolin basically gets rewarded for assaulting a woman.
as for the rest of Bolin's character, i think he's mostly okay. i do think that he's pretty unfunny in a lot of scenes and also just annoying sometimes. he was a less effective comic relief than Sokka because Sokka actually had a personality outside of being the comic relief. Sokka was smart, capable and a good leader while also having his fair share of flaws and insecurities.
Bolin was good at earthbending but that was about it. i think i would make more use of his lavabending and in general, make him a more useful member. he is a skilled earthbender, it's just that he's a bumbling idiot most of the time.
i think that Bolin's struggles with trying to learn metalbending and ultimately discovering that he can lavabend was a really interesting arc but it could have gotten more spotlight. it could have been done a little earlier in the show so that we could see him use lavabending more often and getting better at it.
i also think that Bolin and Mako's relationship had a lot of potential. (Cinema Therapy has a whole episode on them, i highly recommend it!) however, i do wish we had gotten more insight into their childhood and their parents.
Mako basically raised Bolin while they both lived on the streets and had to survive any way possible. that's a really interesting backstory that never gets explored. it explains why Mako is so hardened and jaded, since he had to take on the role of a parent at a very young age, while Bolin got the chance to be more childish and carefree.
all in all, i think changing Bolin's character in s2 will immediately make him a lot bearable. but yeah, all these little tweaks would have definitely made him a more well-rounded and developed character.
