Cobra Kai

[Mister TV]

Cobra Kai Bo with Billy Blanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgjTjkFzM5Y

[Execproducer]

 

[HumanChessgame]

 

[Craig H]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssss

And welp, guess I'm staying up really fucking late on New Years Eve this year.

[HumanChessgame]

Final season 4 trailer, featuring the return of Terry Silver

 

[Tabe]

I will give the Cobra Kai people credit - they make freaking awesome trailers.  That trailer has me pumped for the new season, big-time.  Bring it on!

[Craig H]

11 hours ago, L_W_P said:

Ralph Macchio being older than Thomas Ian Griffith will never not be weird. Terry Silver still got some moves though!

Wait, what?! 

Woah, wtf. Macchio looks like he's in his 40s.

[Mister TV]

11 hours ago, L_W_P said:

Ralph Macchio being older than Thomas Ian Griffith will never not be weird. Terry Silver still got some moves though!

Where can they go after this?

Hillary Swank for the final season?

They could send the Samantha off to college(spin off?) and have the show be Daniel trying to get Anthony into karate, basically George's idea for the pilot on Seinfeld but karate instead of gymnastics.

[Technico Support]

I thought the "change that would revolutionize the tournament" would be a joke and they were changing the color of the mat again.

[Mister TV]

21 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I thought the "change that would revolutionize the tournament" would be a joke and they were changing the color of the mat again.

Could it be a "sensei" tournament? That way they could have a semi-finals with Daniel vs. Terry Silver & Johnny vs. Krease to end their feuds, then a Rocky III style ending when Daniel & Johnny start their championship bout. Season 5 is built around flashbacks of the Daniel-Johnny bout, LaRusso would need to take the loss so you could have a storyline with him having a hard time dealing with it, the win would go to Johnny's head so you could have him be a dick for most of the season, maybe that's the opening to bring back "Karate's Bad Boy" Matt Barnes.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm not gonna binge watch too much tonight, but the first episode was good. It's back!

[Greggulator]

Got the couch reserved and ready to start.

[ohtani's jacket]

I went three episodes deep. They've done a really good job of mixing up the pairings this season so that you get subplots with characters who haven't interacted before. And the new character has a neat connection to the previous series. Oh, and of course all of the Terry/Kreese stuff is awesome. Loved the Eagle Fang Karate training. 

[Greggulator]

Three episodes in and this is better than ever. What an incredible show. 

[Greggulator]

I don’t think I am spoiling anything but Terry Silver blaming cocaine on his behavior in Karate Kid 3 is just the best explanation of anything ever.

[Greggulator]

Six episodes and a bit into the 7th. This is just perfect for what it wants to be. The tone of this has always been such a unique mixture of nostalgia and Dawson’s Creek and whole also not being afraid to wink at itself and etc. But they have really mastered it, and are also now expanding the universe it has created bigger.

Just an awesome show. 
 

 

[Greggulator]

Spoiler

Just plowed through the whole season. Another awesome season. The two-episode tournament had a lot of really good things — loved my guy The Hawk and The Cobra Queen walking out with the titles.
 

I wish they gave Eli a little more room to tell his story this episode, but in a lot of ways these four seasons were about his arc anyways — the most picked on kid at the start who learns to “Strike First” by becoming the confident mohawked badass, goes too far and becomes a bully, regains his humanity but at the same time loses his confidence, and then regains it and finds balance as himself but still being a bad dude to win the whole thing. 

Tori I think had the best overall story this year. She was the heavy the two seasons before and while we saw she had a messed up life to explain her anger, we did not really get anything more from her other than how badly she wanted to mess up Sam. Also, Sam instigated everything with her this season. But the end was heartbreaking with Tori getting the trophy (something truly life-altering for someone who has nothing) and then seeing how the strings were pulled on her behalf. 

I liked how many more things were set up for next season. Kenny going from sweet nerd to unforgiving maniac. The random girls they threw in to fill out the women’s brackets. Miguel trying to find his father. And Terry Silver sipping the sweet champagne of dominating the suburban Los Angeles teenage karate dojo community. 
 

The one thing this season did not have that I missed was the big West Side Story-style gang fights like the past two. Obviously they couldn’t so they could build to the tournament. They had a smaller one at the prom. But the big bawls in Seasons 2 and Seasons 3 were really epic. 
 

But this show is just a treasure. 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Loved the Burning Heart video montage where Johnny spars with the waves. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by ohtani's jacket

[just drew]

So fun fact; that amusement park that the big fight takes place in in season 3? The laser tag arena? I worked there in high school. Dixieland Fun park in Fayetteville Ga. I think it has a new name now.

[Craig H]

That was so fucking awesome. This is easily my favorite TV series. Last season I watched in a single day, finishing around 5 am. This time it took me a bit longer but man, those last two episodes had me so fucking pumped up. Everything with Eli, the stuff with Johnny and Robby, and even capitalizing on how much no one watching can stand the Stingray character. And then, that final ending. I wanted to pump my fists and roar.

So, so, so fucking awesome. 

Spoiler

DANIEL AND CHOZEN! POSSIBLY DANIEL, JOHNNY, AND CHOZEN! YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!

 

[HumanChessgame]

I wasn't really on board with this season until the third act. It seemed like every episode just featured Johnny and Daniel finding new ways to bicker with eachother. I did come around on Hawk's face turn though. In the last season I just didn't feel like he'd had enough of a character arc to go from breaking his friend's arm to switching sides, but it felt earned in this season. Terry Silver came off as a bit iffy at first, but was he ever back to being a magnificent bastard by the end of the season.

Spoiler

Everything means something in this show, even Stingray's assault came back around in Silver turning on Kreese. I just hope we don't get a Kreese redemption arc next season. Let bad guys be bad guys. Silver's comments about old friends makes me wonder if we get the return of Mike Barnes (looks like that actor has been working steadily since then) and his other two flunkies. Chozen showing back up in the final scene was an unexpected touch. I'm guessing Daniel re-brands Myagi-do as an assistant sensei or some such next season to get out of having to retire while Johnny goes on a side quest to find Miguel.

 

[Greggulator]

They really should teach this show in screenwriting classes. Ever review ever says “This show should not work but it does.”

The reason why is because it takes its characters seriously. They really understand the importance of having characters make choices along the way and how it impacts their development. 
 

This show is a really great comparison to Friday Night Lights. They are in many ways the same exact show — a look at the lives of kids and adolescents in a particular sub-culture. But the magic behind both of these shows is that it takes the character choices and their stories seriously. It’s just that the tones are radically different. But, with both, strong characters and understanding how to develop those comes before anything else.

But Cobra Kai really is a gem. 

[Craig H]

3 hours ago, Greggulator said:

This show is a really great comparison to Friday Night Lights. They are in many ways the same exact show — a look at the lives of kids and adolescents in a particular sub-culture. But the magic behind both of these shows is that it takes the character choices and their stories seriously. It’s just that the tones are radically different. But, with both, strong characters and understanding how to develop those comes before anything else.

But Cobra Kai really is a gem. 

Dude! I thought the same thing re FNL. Hopefully this series never has a rape subplot.

[ohtani's jacket]

I have three episodes to go, but what's interested me most about this season is the reemphasis on the character relationships. There was so much escalating action in previous seasons that they could have easily gone OTT on the fights. Instead, we get a slow burn to the tournament. The cast has grown so big that we don't get as much Johnny as we did in season 1, but he's still the best thing about the show.

One thing the show does well is the soap opera style heel & babyface turns. No matter how man turns there's been, I'm still not sick of them. I think it's because the writers do such a good job at portraying no character as wholly good or wholly bad. The "good guys" can be huge dicks at times, and the "bad guys" can be sympathetic. Even Kreese has a complex backstory. 

The writers are also on the same page as the fans. They knew fans wanted them to bring back Silver, do something with Anthony, etc. 

Most of all, I'm impressed that they can get me interested in a show about a teenage karate tournament. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Silver, you magnificent bastard.

Highlight of the season was Johnny explaining why Tom Cruise's character in Top Gun is a pussy.