Cobra Kai

[DreamBroken]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPUGgxf3tx8

COBRA KAI returns for the final season. Described as a "3 part event" with 15 episodes instead of the traditional 10.

Part 1: July 18
Part 2: November 28:
The Grand Finale in 2025.

[Greggulator]

LFG! https://youtu.be/m0aa_JaA-c8?si=yt7KfJkfcBWd7Hgu

[Johnny Sorrow]

Just started the new season of Karate Degrassi and it's still stupid and fun!

[RandomAct]

The booking this season is going crazy for real.  They were really about to leave Hawk at home because of a flag hunt lmaaaoooo

[Craig H]

Don’t attempt to take a drink every time someone says Sekai Taikai.

Very fun part one that also properly swerved me a couple times until the very end when Daniel punches Johnny. I guess I’m a little dulled to friends becoming enemies becoming friends again becoming enemies again becoming friends again ad nauseum since I’m bringing Suits at the moment.

[EVA]

With the exception of making fun of the blatant Olive Garden product placement, I avoided commenting on season 5 here because most people here seemed to enjoy it, and I’m not *always* trying to be the guy who shows up to spit in people’s Never Ending Soup (or Salad) and Breadsticks. Long story short: I saw it through to the end and did NOT like it. At all.

Hang with me now. I’m gonna say some mean stuff and then spin it into a positive.

I started up season 6 today and I finally reached my limit and tapped out after 2 episodes. It’s just reheating the same conflicts over and over again, to diminishing returns. And, honestly, if it was just that with the kids and Daniel and Johnny, I’d probably let it play out in the background; that’s all become inane but its mostly inoffensive. But, my god, THE LORE and anything with Kreese at this point is just insufferable. I had memory holed his escape from prison in the season 5 finale and literally laughed out loud when I saw it in the recap. The vision quest with the cobra was the last straw for me. I’m alllllll the way out.

Heck of an arc for this show. Two fantastic seasons, two seasons where you can tell it’s getting wobbly but the good still outweighs the bad, and then a two season descent into hell.

THAT SAID…I’m actually glad the show has been allowed to go on long enough to devolve into tripe? Like, that doesn’t happen in the streaming age! There’s something to be appreciated about that. Netflix, especially, has a reputation for even canceling shows that are still going strong. It’s a joke in the industry that most shows—successful shows— don’t make it past two seasons there.  

This kind of long tail to a series feels like a relic from a bygone era of network TV, when they would turn a show upside down and shake it until every last nickel, dime, and audience member had fallen out of its pockets. It’s almost kind of heartwarming in a “nature is healing” kind of way—an algorithm-based, ruthlessly efficient tech company hanging their head and grimly returning to what the good folks at the Olive Garden have known all along: if you keep putting soup, salad, and breadsticks in front of people, those motherfuckers will get eaten.

Here’s to 10 more seasons of Never Ending Karate Feud.

[Craig H]

Ahem, Endless Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks.

Never Ending Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks is what you’d get from Pimento Patch.

[clintthecrippler]

This show has been enjoyably fun trash TV since the first season, and I am still enjoying Season Six overall, but holy hell, even my "it's just a dumb TV show" brain is having issues with Kreese staging a very violent jail break, and then publicly showing up at the beginning of a supposedly well-known and well-recognized international karate tournament where it's been said that the finals air on live television (which to be fair, in 2024 could be just a live-stream on Triller TV for all we know, or whatever the Cobra Kai universe's version of the old VERSUS channel was), and cops aren't there immediately to arrest him and take him back into custody?

Also, holy hell, a laxative spike was the only way they could figure out getting tension back going between Anthony and Kenny? 

[Mister TV]

I really wish they pull some sort of swerve and pick up the next half of the season after the Sekai Taikai, have both Miyagi-Do and whatever Kreese's heel team is called get smoked by the other countries, then have the rest of the season be them dealing with it.

Edited July 22 by Mister TV

[DreamBroken]

Just finished season 6 part 1 and still loving it. Lots of fun moments throughout. Johnny and Chozen as a good cop bad cop duo was great. Chozen leaving midway through felt abrupt. Glad to get one more Mike Barnes episode in too. Love the build to the Sekai Taikai. Crazy swerves for Tory, who was always my favorite. 

[Technico Support]

On 7/22/2024 at 9:38 AM, clintthecrippler said:

even my "it's just a dumb TV show" brain is having issues with Kreese staging a very violent jail break, and then publicly showing up at the beginning of a supposedly well-known and well-recognized international karate tournament

I just finished this last night and turned to my wife and said, "so Spain wouldn't extradite an escaped felon?"

I thoroughly agree with everything @EVA said re: reheating all the same of tired conflicts (Daniel/Johnny being the worst offender), but I'll still finish the show because it's fun trash and only has six episodes left.  Daniel continues to be the dirt worst person, though.  His reverence for Miyagi absolutely crossed from "sweet" to "he might kill and skin you if you say one bad thing about the dude" a long time ago and it's creepy.  Dude's a grown man.

[Craig H]

I co-sign what Technico said about Daniel. Dude has serious future Netflix true crime documentary subject vibes.

[blitzkrieg]

I was fine with the Daniel/Johnny beef coming back because it's never really ever been resolved, they just end up with threats that are bigger than their beef. That said 90% of the problems are always Daniel's fault, he really is the worst.

[Technico Support]

10 hours ago, blitzkrieg said:

I was fine with the Daniel/Johnny beef coming back because it's never really ever been resolved, they just end up with threats that are bigger than their beef. That said 90% of the problems are always Daniel's fault, he really is the worst.

Daniel out here proving that you never mature past the age where you get some fame/notoriety.  I don't want to give this show's writers credit because they're clearly just spinning their wheels to keep it going, but it's some great accidental creativity that Johnny at least tried to grow up a bit while Daniel still has a child's reverence for Miyagi and can't see Johnny as anything except the bad guy he was as a teen and can't get past past "waaaahhhhh his methods go against Miyagi-do."

Edited July 30 by Technico Support

[ohtani's jacket]

It was really only half a season, so I don't see any point on placing an ultimate judgement on it just yet, but I enjoyed it for the most part. Yeah, i's treading over the same ground, but that's because the tensions are still there. 

[Shartnado]

After the first 5 episodes we have already got some big matches, like Johnny vs Barnes! The cliffhanger was badass! Anyway, is this worldwide tournament by any chance the same that took place in the legendary Best of the Best movie?

[Technico Support]

After the ending, I desperately need the twist to be that Sekai Tekai is a Bloodsport style fight to the death.  KUMITE KUMITE KUMITE

[odessasteps]

I saw yesterday they are exploring idea of a Mr Miyagi prequel.

[NikoBaltimore]

Watching the dog while working at my sister's house I noticed they had Netflix so figured why not check out the 5 episodes.

I agree about the negative points yet it's what I kind of expected.  Daniel and Johnny had moments where it seemed like they could move past it all throughout the whole show but then something would happen to bring the tension.  It's par for the course but I have a feeling once all this is done and Daniel is done at that point they may actually work on friendship.  Granted it's going to take Daniel trying to process that Miyagi was human after all and may or may not have done some bad things.  But I think something will happen to finally get him over that man-child part of his character.  At least I hope so as I think they've leaned maybe too much into Daniel being a jerk and there's been much less him actually being a decent person at times.

As for everybody else I chalk it up to high school drama mixed with karate.  Of course they're making bad decisions since they're teens but even then there's progress where the power couples made up even in combat.  Well that is of course until Tory's mom passing away led to her joining the dark side again.  But while it's familiar territory it's kind of not at the same time.

Overall I enjoyed the first half and have liked the character progressions for damn near everybody.  Even the bit characters have had growth and it makes the show worth watching.  I am in full agreement though that the Kreese part is nonsensical and got worse when he was shown on the Sekai Taikai.  They only mention "Yeah, he should be arrested" when it's in a spot like the parking garage.  Yet they didn't find a way for him to remain hidden from TV while still contributing to his dojo?  C'mon, man.  And I'd rather not remember that fever dream shit he had as that felt like padding time with bullshit because they have x amount of episodes to do before the end.