But he does get better. He tries to do the right thing. And when push comes to shove, he will always protect his family. Let's not forget that when Veronica's stepfather grabbed Georgy and tried to forcefully take Veronica, George knocked him out cold. And there was a tornado going through Medford, he used his own body to shield Missy.
Her death partially redeems her but it further complicates the turbulent relationship she had with her daughters. They now have to overcome the abuse they suffered at her hands while remembering the fact that her last act was selfless.
He was never fully able to descend to Azula's level because he always valued at least his own people. This meant that once the propaganda and brainwashing was shown to be wrong, he was more quickly able to switch to the good side.
Marinette is also frequently the first person he goes to when he has a problem. He genuinely trusts her judgement. And let's not forget that Marinette forgets how to string sentences together around him so it's not even a situation of them just being really close friends. It's him actively getting through Marinette's awkwardness in order to be close to her.
I love redemption arcs for victims of abuse. I think they serve as a wonderful message. A beacon of hope. But not every abuse victim has to be redeemed. Especially in a show that has other victims of abuse who break the cycle, it's fine to have a character who doesn't. It's sad but it also serves as a message to kids.
Maybe this is a result of the fact that I actually have morals but I genuinely don't understand the Kira worshippers. If a random dude came out and claimed to be a god and he had the ability to kill people with just a name and face, I would be running in the opposite direction. Goodbye society. Goodbye social media. I'm about to go live in the woods.
Even though Chloe is presented as an entitled rich brat with high self-esteem, she is incredibly insecure. Her abusive childhood would logically cause her to feel she isn't good enough. And you see this in her interactions with her mother. Getting abandoned by her own mother is traumatic. And this would've been triggered by Ladybug ignoring her.
She's still learning and growing. Sure, she's an elite warrior but she's also a teenage girl: a line that is unfortunately missing from the live action. Suki is unapologetically a girl who is still finding her way in the world. And she's navigating the complexities of a war. Of course she's not going to be the most functional teen.
The only thing I had a gripe with is the fact that they didn’t get Cristina Vee to sing, at least for the English version. It would’ve been fine for Lou to only sing the French version but having her sing the English version made it jarring every time. Cristina Vee has a phenomenal voice. Let her sing! Because with how it is right now, I'm getting jolted out of the character every time she sings. It's very clear that two different people are voicing the character here.