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Cobra Kai


Dolfan in NYC

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I’m halfway through the new season and so far I would say it’s been a nice bounce back from the really-pretty-bad season 3. I think they’ve done a nice job responding to some of my biggest criticisms from last year, with the tournament truce dialing back the escalation of absurd, consequence-free karate brawls, and Daniel and Johnny running the dojo together creating more organic conflict, as opposed to the constant silly contrivances to keep them apart. Tory has been handled with a lot more care, too, and the story with Mrs. Larusso is solid.

There’s still a sense that they are stretching this thing out longer than the story can sustain, and characters are constantly learning, forgetting, and re-learning the same lessons repeatedly because of it (and don’t get me started about brining in the new kid...to tell the same tired karate kid origin story, yet again) but overall it’s at least enjoyable again.

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The introduction of Kenny and the shit with Daniel's ultra lame son was apparently forced in there by Netflix.

EDIT: Just to add, that's what I read in a few different places. I'm not sure if they're trying to force a spinoff to milk Cobra Kai's popularity for all it's worth of what. Historically though, adding in kids that are that young is always a bad idea considering that those kids will grow incredibly fast. It's also dumb because, again, Daniel's son really sucks. Johnny's remark to him really made me crack up and felt like the writers saying, "we know this character sucks, but we have to do something with him so we're just going to add our own commentary to make him look like a shithead." 

To go back to the FNL comparison, Daniel's son is about as bad as the worst characters introduced to FNL during the writer's strike season.

Edited by Craig H
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20 minutes ago, Craig H said:

The introduction of Kenny and the shit with Daniel's ultra lame son was apparently forced in there by Netflix.

EDIT: Just to add, that's what I read in a few different places. I'm not sure if they're trying to force a spinoff to milk Cobra Kai's popularity for all it's worth of what. Historically though, adding in kids that are that young is always a bad idea considering that those kids will grow incredibly fast. It's also dumb because, again, Daniel's son really sucks. Johnny's remark to him really made me crack up and felt like the writers saying, "we know this character sucks, but we have to do something with him so we're just going to add our own commentary to make him look like a shithead." 

To go back to the FNL comparison, Daniel's son is about as bad as the worst characters introduced to FNL during the writer's strike season.

Sam, Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Eli and Tory will be aging out of the tourney and high school after the next season, plus the actors playing them are all in their mid-20's so they can't really extend their senior year of high school past next season. I liked the intro of Kenny, finally doing something with Anthony, along with the intro of kids who filled out the rosters of each dojo, they need new characters if they want to keep the series going and I think both Netflix and Sony want to keep it going.

I'm not sure what kind of spinoff they could do besides Sam going to college, an updated Undeclared with karate mixed in could be fun.

 

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I feel confident in saying that this was easily the best season of the show. Better focus on the kids. Some nice redemption stuff, with the "heels" not really being so bad in the end.

The misunderstandings were kept at a minimum and felt way more natural. The scene with Robby and Johnny at the end was great too.

Also the tournament fight choreography was excellent.

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We're three episodes in to S4 and the show is a snake eating its own tail. I get that this is the season where they finally work through some things, but I feel like we've seen these character/story arcs and misunderstandings multiple times by this point.

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Just finished Season 4 and holy shit it was a rollercoaster! I don't need to go on a deep and extended rant on everything that was good about it, but this was a hell of a season with everyone from previous seasons (pretty much) getting a little bit of facetime. Loved every bit of it!

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On 1/4/2022 at 9:26 PM, paintedbynumbers said:
  Reveal hidden contents

 

Spoiler

Kreese is the word. It's got groove. It's got meaning.

 

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There was some serious dirty pool played with episode 9 cliffhanger, and that really kinda put me off the finale from the start. Schmuck bait.

And how has there not been a massive outcry on a PRO WRESTLING MESSAGE BOARD about

Spoiler

THE STIPS BEING IMMEDIATELY DISREGARDED!!?!?!?

Both of those things really made me distrust the show’s storytelling going forward and put a sour ending on what I thought was, overall, a pretty nice season.

Edited by EVA
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On 1/9/2022 at 12:53 PM, RandomAct said:

If Karate's Bad Boy comes back in season 5, they need to bring back the lads too.

moviescreenshot-blogspot.jpg?resize=780,

Yeah, the artist later known as Deacon Sharpe would be a cery welcome addition. I wonder what the odds of getting Hilary Swank to come in for one episode are? She could have some of Miyagi's wisdom that Daniel wasn't around to hear, or depending on what profession she chose as an adult, she could come to Daniel's aid in many different ways, story permitting.

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I loved this season. I definitely was surprised by the outcomes of the tournaments. And the fights were well-choreographed. 

Like Greggulator said, this should be taught in classes. Perfect example of a show that has its universe, takes it seriously, and doesn't go outside of that. It just works so well. 

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I often wonder if MMA just not a thing in the Miyagi-verse? Seems like the logical progression for some of the kids, Hawk and Robbie have that “Dana White Contender series” vibe about them.

Maybe that’s for next season,Cobra Kai becomes a full MMA team expanding beyond its karate roots.  Complete with a cameo from either Dana White, Dan Lambert or Connor.

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Ultimo Necro said:

I often wonder if MMA just not a thing in the Miyagi-verse? Seems like the logical progression for some of the kids, Hawk and Robbie have that “Dana White Contender series” vibe about them.

Maybe that’s for next season,Cobra Kai becomes a full MMA team expanding beyond its karate roots.  Complete with a cameo from either Dana White, Dan Lambert or Connor.

 

 

Gross. Only good thing about MMA in this world would be Johnny shitting on it with a throwaway line and it never being referenced again.

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6 hours ago, Ultimo Necro said:

I often wonder if MMA just not a thing in the Miyagi-verse? Seems like the logical progression for some of the kids, Hawk and Robbie have that “Dana White Contender series” vibe about them.

Maybe that’s for next season,Cobra Kai becomes a full MMA team expanding beyond its karate roots.  Complete with a cameo from either Dana White, Dan Lambert or Connor.

 

 

Man, this idea needs to be fired into the sun. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally after over a year, got back around to catching Season 3 and then went ahead with season 4 this past month. Absolutely brilliant. Definitely remains one of my very favorite shows ever. Loved it.

Spoiler

Thought season 3 was amazing and perfectly done with bringing back Kumiko, Chozen, and especially Yuna was unexpectedly awesome, loved that they got the same actress from Karate Kid 2. Thought Ali was also used perfectly here and great to see. Hawk's face turn felt super sudden and abrupt but I could appreciate the pro wrestlingness of it all in the heat of that epic brawl.

As always, the music choices remain top notch all over the place. Popped for using Baxter Robinson's "Feel The Night" for the Golf N Stuff scenes like in the original was classic (and the actual unattainable version used in the original movie too!) Big time chills for the Daniel & Johnny team up at the end to "In the Air Tonight". Carrie Underwood's surprise performance of the classic "Moment of Truth" was greatness also.

Just now finishing season 4 and thought it was great as well, though there were more parts I didn't like as much. Terry Silver was an awesome addition, crazy to see him again after so many years. Loved how he turned in to his old self once he put the iconic ponytail in. I liked how they brought his attack on Stingray back around to the ending swerve but don't love splitting Silver and Kreese already as it definitely made it feel like there'd be some sort of face turn/redemption arc for Kreese now. I liked them as a unit. The early Daniel/Johnny team up stuff was great where they are learning each others' styles. Loved the hockey fight scene and Johnny bringing "No Be There" back around was hilarious. Tory remains my absolute favorite throughout all of this, was pleasantly shocked when she won the tournament final (even if it ends up being through unintended cheating), as I thought the final would have the obvious outcome. I like Tory and Robby together. Liked the addition of Kenny, and Anthony looked like an entirely different person from the previous seasons, that was a shock at first. Daniel now teaming up with Chozen was an epic finale for sure.

Also thought it was pretty cool how they've used Kreese and Daniel's real life kids for minor roles at different points. Definitely very much look forward to the continuation next year whenever Season 5 is and I wish this could just go on forever cause it's so good. Feeling like Mike Barnes has got to show up next. 

 

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I agree with pretty much everything you said, @DreamBroken.  While laid up with COVID a couple weeks ago, I rewatched the first three seasons for the first time and they all were still just as great.  I've loved pretty much everything about this show - it's amazing to me how consistently everyone involved has hit the exact right notes in terms of nostalgia AND updating things to present day.  

Anyway, here's a fun video with the cast talking about the making of that epic, awesome brawl in the school at the end of season 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AinnpKoBcSA

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  • 3 months later...

I want a Chozen/Terry Silver fight so bad. Chozen should be like the Hulk with just Johnny and Daniel doing everything they can to contain him until they're finally like, "get him."

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