http://ikkinthekitsune.tumblr.com/p...nse-of-lin-or-why-makos-actually-in-the-wrong
In Defense of Lin (Or, Why Mako’s actually in the wrong in The Sting)
As nice as it’s been to see the fandom’s distaste for Mako begin to die down, it’s kind of frustrating that it has to come at Lin’s expense. And, no, I’m not going to blame the show for that, as much as I’ve seen it argued that she’s been made unreasonable to allow Mako to have a chance to shine.
Allow me to make an assertion: the perception of Lin as unreasonable in this episode is entirely the result of years of media insistence that the loose cannon cop always knows what to do better than his by-the-books boss.
Now, let me make something clear: Lin hasn’t seen the incompetence/corruption that Mako and the audience have seen from Lu and Gan. She probably doesn’t know about a lot of Mako’s evidence, because those two never bothered to tell her about it, and the one time Mako tried to tell her about it himself, he chose to do so at the worst possible time.
With that in mind, let’s look at the script for the scene where Mako interrupts the interrogation:
Mako: Chief! I think there’s a link between this attack, and the attack at the Cultural Center!
Lin: What do you think you’re doing?!
Mako: Solving this case! Did any of the people who attacked you have one of these in their hand? I think it’s a remote detonator.
Captain: It was too dark to see anything.
Lin: Mako!
Mako: Chief! I don’t think the people who attacked were Northern Water Tribe!
Lu*: Of course they were Northern Water Tribe! They were waterbending!
Mako: Was this one of the guys who attacked?
Captain: No. I don’t recognize him.
Lu: Oh, that’s embarrassing.
Gan*: Nice try, rookie.
Lin: Mako. Leave. Now.
Varrick: Nice work, everybody! Another open-and-shut case for the dynamic mustachio duo!
Asami: Wait! I think Mako might be onto something.
Mako: Chief, I know it’s a long shot, but I have an idea of how we can catch these guys.
Gan: Yeah, let’s all listen to the rookie.
Asami: He’s doing a better job than you!
Varrick: Whooooo’s hungry?
Lin: Enough! I don’t want to hear your lame-brained rookie ideas. You’re a beat cop, not a detective. Now hit the street and do your job.
So, here’s the first thing I’d like to point out about this:
Mako is terrible at interrogation!
No, seriously. There is not a single bit of information he obtained that would have been admissible in court, even assuming all the answers weren’t “I don’t know.” All of his questions were leading questions. “Did the people who attacked you have one of these in their hands?” “Was this one of the guys who attacked you?” There’s a reason why police have witnesses pick suspects out of a lineup, and it’s not because they think it’s fun to get a bunch of extra guys to stand in a line.
Basically, Mako just compromised an important witness. Is it any wonder that Lin would be furious about that?
And, second, to make matters worse, he let a couple of civilians follow him into the interrogation room! And one of them not only acts like a buffoon, but is also the very person least suited for being privy to information regarding this particular investigation.
Mako might be right about the bombing, but given his actual behavior, he was lucky she didn’t just fire him for incompetence.
* I’ve attributed the tall guy’s lines to Lu, and the short guy’s lines to Gan. I’m not sure if canon’s ever specified which is which; the names were given together both times I remember them being mentioned.
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Moving on from that particular issue, let’s consider one other thing regarding Mako in this episode: he may be right in his suspicions, but that doesn’t make his behavior right.
In essence, Mako is playing Korra’s role from Civil Wars (Part 2) and Peacekeepers. He knows what needs to be done, and he’s not going to let the law get in the way of doing it.
The problem is, in every case, acting outside of the law makes things worse. Korra sees a miscarriage of justice in her father’s conviction, and starts a war by threatening a judge and breaking him out of jail. She sees her tribe in danger of losing the war due to lack of reinforcements, and loses Mako by plotting with Iroh to get the United Forces fleet involved against Raiko’s wishes. Mako feels like his evidence is being ignored, so he plans a sting with triads and gets stung.
Mako’s single new piece of evidence was something that he probably could have found just by caring a bit more about what Bolin was doing; the only thing he gained from going outside the law was the knowledge that he gave Varrick the perfect opportunity to steal everything from Asami.
Honestly, there seems to be something of a double-standard here. Mako’s acting according to the expected “loose cannon cop” tropes, so he’s assumed to be in the right even though he didn’t actually accomplish anything; Korra’s… not, really, so her own similar behavior is treated as bratty and foolish. I don’t think the show wants us to think of the two as all that different, though — it just seems to be going for irony, really.
