Cobra Kai

Cobra Kai

This is a great series imo. Not only it manages to bring back memories and has that nostalgic 80s feeling but what makes the series enjoyable is how the past meets the present and a tight interesting plot, and the credible develpoments all characters undergo throughout the events of the series.

First 2 episodes are free on YouTube, from there you need a subscription but first month is free as well.

I'm like 3 episodes in now. I will probably watch the whole thing.

Damn!

I mean... damn!

I watched the first two seasons of Cobra Kai. I just saw the second season finale this week and I... I...

Damn!

Maybe I need to back up before I can speak clearly. I loved the original movie The Karate Kid. It made me laugh. It made me stand up and cheer. The main character wasn't morally perfect; the bad guys weren't always in the wrong; wow! I didn't care that the story was horribly implausible; the thrills were well worth it. The same (to a lesser extent) goes for The Karate Kid Part 2. Heck, even Part 3 had some great moments (although far more moments of that movie made me wince).

And some time ago, I saw the first two episodes of Cobra Kai on YouTube. Again, wow! The bad guy - for all his faults - wasn't always in the wrong; on the contrary, the show made him more sympathetic than ever before, and the show pointed out the good guys' faults more than ever before. I wished I could continue watching. But I didn't have YouTube Red/Premium and knew I couldn't finish two seasons in a month. So imagine my delight when I learned that Netflix - to which my family subscribes - acquired the show.

I ate it up. That show made me laugh harder and more frequently than the movies ever did. It often baffles me when people remark on feeling suspense when reading a certain silly series; how can they feel suspense when they know that half the problems are resolved with nonsensical jokes? Well, as I watched Cobra Kai, I felt suspense at many subplots, even though I expected half of those subplots would be resolved by horribly implausible means; I wanted to know the resolution anyway. I had great fun watching that show, continuing to laugh at it...

...until the second season finale. I am SOOO NOT laughing! I'm actually emotionally upset about a fictitious story! Terrible, terrible things happened in that episode that deeply disturbed me... even BEFORE the worst part happened! (Those who saw the episode undoubtedly know what I mean by "the worst part".)

Now I'm conflicted. Am I saying that episode was good or bad? On the one hand, this show that once made me laugh is now raising my blood pressure with distress. On the other hand, the fact that I feel so much emotional investment in these characters proves that it's a powerful story. It must be; it's not often that I get so troubled over a piece of fiction. I mean... I've seen season cliffhangers before, of course, but offhand, I can't think of another one that hung me so high!

And I make no apologies for spoiling the story by saying all of that. On the contrary, I think people should be warned: If you liked the first Karate Kid movie, you'll love Cobra Kai, which I highly recommend with one caveat: Don't watch the second season finale until the third season comes out. And maybe not even then. Okay, let me put it this way: If you DO insist on watching the second season finale, don't do it on a full stomach!

I mean... damn!

I would have much more to say about the show, but I don't know if anyone's going to read this, and I should probably be doing other things with my time. I guess I just felt the need to vent.

Say, anyone notice that season 3 of this show dropped on Netflix over the holiday?

I have to mirror so much of what A-Bits said above! The battles with the kids, the drama of it is SO over the top, but somehow I love all the schlock. Along with it are some real serious, adult moments and consequences. There's no single hero or protagonist. Well, in season 3 there's obviously ONE protagonist. Still, I love how not even Mr Miagi is above some kind of character development.

And Season 3 brings back a brief update for Kumiko, Sato's nephew Chozen, and others from Tomi Village in Okinawa. There's cool inside jokes, there's genuine emotion for the struggles the characters are going through, there's even some subversion of expectations.

Of course, some of the coincidences guiding the plot this season are hokey to the point of ridiculousness, but I really loved how they paid off Daniel's act of heroism during the typhoon way back in Karate Kid Part II, even if it was RIDICULOUSLY convenient.

IDK, this was good fun until season 3. Its still fun, but its getting into ridiculous territory. The Vietnam POW scenes are terribad even by Cobra Kai standards.

IDK, this was good fun until season 3. Its still fun, but its getting into ridiculous territory. The Vietnam POW scenes are terribad even by Cobra Kai standards.

LOL, agreed. Also the scenes with selling the dealership. It felt like I was watching some bad Disney movie from the 90's!

Still, then you get the training montage between Chozen and Daniel. Or how about Amanda confronting Kreese? I still feel like there's enough grit left to keep me engaged.

I love it Pan a lana ding dong!

I finally got around to watching Season 3, which I liked a lot. After the grim darkness of that Season 2 finale, it was great to laugh at the show again, despite the nastiness in some of the subplots.

And I can still live with the ridiculousness of the story. My biggest complaint about Season 3 is the way the good guys keep acting like idiots so much of the time. The primary example is Samantha.

Okay, I just went on for far too long about what I DIDN'T like. Despite that stuff, I thoroughly enjoyed Season 3.

And I'm not even going to spoilerize this: I was afraid Season 3 would have a grim cliffhanger ending like Season 2 did... and it didn't! It actually had a NICE ending with some closure; yay! So even if I never see Season 4, I would feel I've reached a conclusion.

I don't allow myself very much time to watch videos, and I have a long list of videos I want to see. So I don't speak lightly when I say that I intend to watch all 3 seasons of Cobra Kai again, someday soon.

A big story arc with Danny in Karate Kid 1 was that he was a kid, ruled by teenage emotions... emotions like fear. They clouded his judgement. Remember when Mr Miyagi had to yell at him, tell him to focus? Even though he KNEW the lessons, his fear still controlled him.

Samantha feels small, insecure. She's been afraid of her social status being diminished and in turn confirming her own insecurities since the first episode. Samantha desperately wants validation that she matters.

So SHE knows karate. Miyagi-Do Karate. To maintain her status she acts out in the way she THINKS (with her emotional, teenage brain, just like her dad) a leader should act. She KNOWS the lesson that karate is just for defense, but she doesn't FEEL that lesson.

Now look at what happens? Every time she actually gets into a situation where she has to step up and be the aggressor she freezes in fear. Not only is it PTSD from the end of season 2 but I think its also a recognition, on some gut level, that this action is wrong.

Samantha is a person that doesn't like herself. She feels weak so she overcompensates and tries to appear strong. She doubts herself internally so she puts out an air of decisiveness. She's so strongly trying to "fake it til she makes it" into being the person she thinks she should be that she makes straight up dumb moves.

… not unlike her mother. Why go to Creese's dojo, after hours, alone? Why continue to make a spectacle in the public forum to the point where you're escorted out? Emotion clouds her judgment.

I think what Samantha could use, more than anything, is self confidence. More than that, self acceptance. She needs to stop looking externally for validation and accept that she is good enough.

I was gonna write something up but Mark covered it. I chalked the stupid things up as teens learning lessons. I was more bothered by adults driving around busting up chop shops and stealing all the story time from the teens showing they havent learned any of those lessons either. Also, no stingray? "What about that neckbeard teacher lolololol"

I just finished Season 4. Just like the previous season or two, this one was pretty fascinating. Funny at times, deathly serious at others, this season jerked around my emotions. I don't offhand recall any TV series affecting me so strongly. Seeing all that bad blood between the characters actually upset me. Yet it wouldn't upset me if I didn't CARE, so in a way, that speaks WELL of the show.

After re-reading those last two posts, I must say that Samantha is still Samantha, as Mark Hoover 330 described her. And perhaps Orville Redenbacher might be pleased to learn that Stingray is back... although the role he plays in the story is not what you'd expect. Really, I never would have expected that subplot to go that way... and yet it makes sense.

And speaking of subplots taking directions that I never would have thought of and yet make sense, how about the MAIN plot?

I don't feel I'm really spoiling the story by saying this. Like Season 3, Season 4 gave us a cliffhanger ending... that WASN'T a cliffhanger ending. We see the cliffhanger, but then the episode goes on with many other subplots, resolving some and raising others. And as for the main plot, the cliffhanger wasn't a cliffhanger because the last scene reveals what Daniel will do to deal with the problem in the next season. Again, I never would have thought of that solution, yet it makes a funny kind of sense.

Lots of people talk about modern media "subverting expectations." Its gotten to the point where the subversion IS the expectation and the twist is telegraphed blatantly through the production.

CK, season 4, like other seasons before, leans SO HARD into the tropes of the 80's action films and specifically the original Karate Kid series that I honestly got tricked at a couple of their deviations. So much of the All Valley competition follows the source material for redemption arcs, special moments and such, and at the last minute just keeps going "NOPE!" and turning a different direction.

It feels good being surprised by a piece of media these days. My only real critique is that season 4 more than the other seasons begins to heavily imply Danny becoming the lead of the show. Like, the name of the show is Cobra Kai, yet season 4 sees a concerted effort to merge the two dojo's together and now the character that started all of this, Johnny Lawrence, is being given a plot thread for the future that removes him from striving against the very enemy of the show, the enemy HE created.

Also, on a personal note... did anyone but me completely miss Karate Kid III and the whole Terry Silver arc of the series back in the 80's? Like, I remember 1 and 2, and I remember going to see The Next Karate Kid in the theater, but I'd missed III entirely somehow. When season 4 of the Netflix show started, I had to Google Terry Silver and read the plot of the movie.

I'm not quite sure, but it's just possible that you're better off reading a plot summary of III than watching it. Like I remarked in my first post in this thread, Part III had some good ideas, but some parts of it made no sense even by Karate Kid standards. (Well, it was a heck of a lot better than The Next Karate Kid at least.)

And I wouldn't worry about removing Johnny. I expect that subplot - or at least Johnny's part in it - will get wrapped up long before Season 5 ends and he'll get back into the main action, just like with that whole "searching for Robby" thread in Season 3.

A thought just occurred to me: what if Hillary Swank did a cameo in this show? I mean, TECHNICALLY she was a student of Mr Miyagi, even though the whole thing is in Boston instead of LA. Even still, and despite the... challenging nature of the film, it would be kinda cool to see Swank's character Julie do an episode about controlling one's anger, since that was the character's arc.

I did think season 4 righted the ship. I totally enjoyed it. Welcome back Cobra Kai.

<sighs in relief>

Okay. I finished season 5... but I nearly didn't. After finishing the 4th episode I decided to quit.

I mean... I knew to expect tensions to run high and bring up my blood pressure. I've described that feeling earlier in this thread. When it looked like...

Fan Service: The Show. The show definitely has diminishing returns for me. I'll give it one more season, but if this trend continues I'm out.

Best defense: no be there - N. Miyagi

If this season reminded me of anything, it reminded me how LONG Daniel has been without his teacher and friend, Mr Miyagi. At this point in the timeline of this show, it has been over 6 years since Mr Miyagi passed and probably longer than that since Danny really sought his wisdom and guidance. That's many years of Daniel LaRusso being the best car salesman in the valley, successful and well off, with a beautiful wife and wonderful kids in an affluent suburb.

In short, I think the Danny we see in this season is the real, inky blackness still sloshing around and given form without the humility and wisdom of being a pupil to Mr Miyagi. He is easily duped by Silver b/c part of him WANTS to fight; he's still that angry kid who sees bullies and pain all around him.

I thought after season 4 Chozen would serve as a way for Danny to center himself again but he's all over the place and Chozen is only fueling his rage and frustration. But in that moment, Danny standing in Mr Miyagi's room... "it's like a time capsule..."

I think if they're going to satisfyingly wrap things up next season (fingers crossed) I think Danny needs that guidance, that stability back in his life. He needs someone that not only knew Mr Miyagi but also learned to channel their anger, their fear, to move beyond it, to genuinely find balance.

They need Julie Pierce.

But seriously folks, I really liked season 5 except for 2 things: the stale "let's fight... let's work together against a common enemy" formula between the 2 dojos is really getting old. On a more personal level though, I just could not understand WHY Danny would so obviously and directly fall for Silver's manipulations and become the aggressor, except b/c then the show could happen.

But that got me thinking of just how LONG it's been since the cocky kid who caught a fly in chopsticks on the first try has gone without Mr Miyagi. And during all that time, what had his life been reinforcing to him? He was living his happy ending, with few if any conflicts actually shown in his life at the start of season 1. In other words, if he CONTINUED being the cocky guy that bragged about beating Johnny to the man's face in the first season, he'd continue being successful.

He has to unlearn everything. Danny can't keep going the way that he's going, b/c that's exactly who Silver NEEDS him to be in order to be manipulated. Danny needs to really take to heart all that Mr Miyagi taught him:

1. Miyagi Do is about defense
2. Before you learn to punch or kick, you learn to block and redirect
3. Balance, focus
4. The best defense: no be there

While Mr Miyagi had no problems saving Danny from a bunch of bullies and signing up his pupil for a tournament to confront those bullies, he NEVER said to be the aggressor, to start fights yourself. That was Kreese and Silver.

So I'm serious, they need to pull back from Chozen and his angry fight starting, pull back from Jonny's kick-a first attitude, and remind Daniel and his students what Miyagi Do is REALLY all about: avoiding fights until you absolutely cannot.

I think Julie Pierce could be positioned as the character to do this. Her whole arc was learning to move past her anger and trauma to find peace and happiness. Showrunners have hinted she continued to be a friend to Mr Miyagi until he passed away and practices his teachings in her everyday life. Who better to help Danny see than the Next Karate Kid?

Despite the opinions I expressed in my last post - which basically boil down to "Season 5 got worse" - I have, since then, watched that season a second time and enjoyed it. And now I've watched the first 5 episodes of Season 6, which I liked despite their obvious flaws.

But to end this post on a positive - and spoiler-free - note, I found the spotlights on some of the members of Miyagi-Do and their relationships to be pretty fascinating. So in contrast to my last post - when I indicated that I wasn't sure I wanted to watch Season 6 - this post is my way of saying that it looks like I'm hooked, feeling the need to watch Cobra Kai to the end.

Okay, it's been over a month since episodes 6 through 10 of Season 6 came out, but for a long time I put off watching them, because I was watching other stuff. Today, I just finished off the latest batch of episodes, and I greatly enjoyed it. Without spoiling the story - TOO badly - I can say that the many plot twists really threw me, and in a GOOD way this time. I say that as a contrast to Season 2, which left me feeling sick (as I've related in a previous post). In fact, the latest episode looked like a deliberate resemblance - yet a contrast - to the Season 2 finale. This time...

And once again, I don't feel I'm spoiling the story too badly when I mention the brief glimpses we get of Miyagi himself, albeit in a dream. In the movies, Miyagi briefly mentioned having to fight for his life. I've reflected that might make for a fascinating movie, although I doubted that any actor other than Pat Morita could do the character justice. When I saw that dream sequence, I immediately thought: Now THAT actor looks GREAT for the part!

Really the whole sixth season - or the ten episodes of it that came out so far - are chock full of great, fun moments. I even enjoyed the fight sequences, and I usually find such scenes to be too long and drawn out. Those scenes were long, yet I still thrilled to watch them. I often had to rewind and re-watch certain parts to answer questions like "Wait... how did that that character manage to win? I missed that part." In fact, I often went back to remind myself of how things went down with other kinds of scenes, like dialog.

In short, this is fascinating stuff!