Cobra Kai - (The Karate Kid Spin-Off)

[Mike_D202]

I mean I did. I watched the first two episodes. I'm not subscribing to YouTube red.

You should keep watching, it's pretty evident that Johnny is literally stuck in the 80s with his mindset because that's basically when his life ended. Miguel points out his problematic thinking throughout the series and it becomes kind of a joke. There's mixed races, empowering women and dramatic scenes that involve moving on from the past (if that's what you're worried about I guess).

I just enjoyed it as a series overall and I'm glad they renewed it for season 2.

 

[Teelie]

I just finished this last night and it was good every episode. I'm surprised at how well they pulled this off. Instead of a Rush Hour series we got something akin to Lethal Weapon one where they managed to make it good. Better even. It's the best reboot/revival I think I have seen yet.

 

[Aximili86]

I think it's more a deconstruction and reconstruction of a lot of themes and ideas, including certain aspects of both the current generation of Millenials and the Generation X of the 80's. I don't think it's necessarily preaching against political correctness, per se, but more like using it as a tool to examine Johnny's hidden virtues and numerous flaws: his rejection of its abuses by cyber bullies and his awareness about how it *alone* is an inadequate response to bullying is *good*, but his 80's philosophy still has no way to address self-control and his ignorance is a major flaw that almost costs him the development of his dojo.

I mean, he's being a self defeating idiot when driving kids away from his dojo by simply doubling down on the verbal abuse, but he's got decent advice for how Eli can counteract his bullying, and eventually realizes how he can modify his philosophy to be better for his students... But not enough to prevent them from repeating his mistakes.

It *not* a coincidence that the original set of bullies in the show, Kyler and Yasmine, go out of the way to manipulate and abuse Sam's hospitality for a party and to try and take advantage of her in a very Millenial-Bully way, and then the show ends with our Cobra Kai protagonists starting a alcohol fueled beach party and physically attacking their enemies. They're both still bullies; the only real difference is in their methods, with the Millenial bullies being more adept at scheming and more deceitful in their conduct (towards themselves as well as their victims), and the Cobra Kai kids being more blunt and honest in their conduct, but arguably more destructive (again, towards both themselves and others).

Robby, Sam and Danny, meanwhile, are reconstructing a more genuine and sincere mix of both generations' ethos; Sam is highlighting how her father raised her right and shows how a more communicative and modern approach towards her problems can be successful, while Robby, somewhat hilariously, uses modern sports to pull off Daniel's special move.

Nailed it. It's all sort of heightened & exaggerated, but not by much. Surprisingly three-dimensional so far too, and while Johnny's kind of an a**hole you genuinely feel for the dude. He's not quite the pr*ck he was back in 1984.

 

[TheVileOne]

Also, the actress who plays LaRusso's wife is smoking hot and all, but she's also only 37. The actress who plays their daughter is 21.

I mean she does look like a young-ish trophy wife. I think they should've made it so his wife was like his second wife or something, and Samantha was a child from an earlier marriage or relationship.

 

[Aximili86]

Well, Macchio was 23 playing a highschooler, it's sort of what Hollywood generally does when casting kids.

 

[legendkillin]

Well, Macchio was 23 playing a highschooler, it's sort of what Hollywood generally does when casting kids.

Tom Holland is in his 20s now and Spider-Man is still in high school.

Easier to probably deal with a 20 year old on set and with contracts than an actual high schooler. I don't know what age it stops at but kid actors can only work a certain amount of hours.

 

[dreammaster]

Just got done watching man this was awesome I am so happy that there is season 2 there are two things that I didn't like one was LaRusso's son he was so annoying and the second turning Miguel into some what of a villain. Also I hope they don;t add more episodes 10 is a good number. But I do hope they make them longer that ending through did not see coming.

 

[Lobo]

The actor who played Mike Barnes, the villain in karate kid 3 has confirmed he'll be in season 2. He'd be a good antagonist for Johnny.

I'd like to see Chozen too, not sure how to connect him to Cobra Kai, though. Whereas it would be easy to do with Barnes

 

[TheCommissioner]

The actor who played Mike Barnes, the villain in karate kid 3 has confirmed he'll be in season 2. He'd be a good antagonist for Johnny.

if anyone remembers, one of the sub plots in KK3 was that Terry Silver was going to relaunch Cobra Kai dojos as a franchise and Barnes wanted half

perhaps a conflict with Johnny over ownership of the Cobra Kai name, I doubt Johnny would check if it was copyrighted or owned elsewhere

 

[Aximili86]

Barnes was an awesome bad guy! In a lot of ways I always thought he was a more intimidating kid villain than Lawrence, great as Lawrence was. Terry Silver was the **** though, they should bring that sleazy ****er back somehow, the best part of III.

Nice to see them acknowledging the sequels if they're doing more of this.

And yeah, Chozen could be interesting, have no idea how they'd work him into it though. Worst of the three villains (and even then he wasn't "bad"), but if they're going to bring III into the TV series you might as well have some stuff from II. Also wouldn't mind seeing Tamlyn Tomita's character somehow (pretty sure she's still acting), like it didn't work out between she and Daniel but they remained in touch over the years as friends.


EDIT: Actually, some character bio says "It is later revealed that Chozen committed suicide shortly after the events at the O-bon festival" The hell? I don't remember that, was that a line from the start of III or something?

 

[The Big G]

Also, the actress who plays LaRusso's wife is smoking hot and all, but she's also only 37. The actress who plays their daughter is 21.
[/IMG]

LaRusso's wife was the unsung hero of Cobra Kai. Her lines in episode 9 were golden. She was SOO over Danny's borderline obsession with stopping Cobra Kai.

 

[Lobo]

Barnes was an awesome bad guy! In a lot of ways I always thought he was a more intimidating kid villain than Lawrence, great as Lawrence was. Terry Silver was the **** though, they should bring that sleazy ****er back somehow, the best part of III.

Nice to see them acknowledging the sequels if they're doing more of this.

And yeah, Chozen could be interesting, have no idea how they'd work him into it though. Worst of the three villains (and even then he wasn't "bad"), but if they're going to bring III into the TV series you might as well have some stuff from II. Also wouldn't mind seeing Tamlyn Tomita's character somehow (pretty sure she's still acting), like it didn't work out between she and Daniel but they remained in touch over the years as friends.


EDIT: Actually, some character bio says "It is later revealed that Chozen committed suicide shortly after the events at the O-bon festival" The hell? I don't remember that, was that a line from the start of III or something?

Did not know that.

 

[Aximili86]

I guess it could be like semi-canon supplementary material, I don't know if there were ever videogames or comics or anything else expanding on the movies.

Definitely don't remember anything like that in III though.

 

[Teelie]

There was a brief one season cartoon though I don't think it was canon.

 

[TheVileOne]

Well, Macchio was 23 playing a highschooler, it's sort of what Hollywood generally does when casting kids.

It's not so much the daughter as the wife.

[YT]pFz2ElerHnM[/YT]

 

[godisawesome]

Barnes was an awesome bad guy! In a lot of ways I always thought he was a more intimidating kid villain than Lawrence, great as Lawrence was. Terry Silver was the **** though, they should bring that sleazy ****er back somehow, the best part of III.

Nice to see them acknowledging the sequels if they're doing more of this.

And yeah, Chozen could be interesting, have no idea how they'd work him into it though. Worst of the three villains (and even then he wasn't "bad"), but if they're going to bring III into the TV series you might as well have some stuff from II. Also wouldn't mind seeing Tamlyn Tomita's character somehow (pretty sure she's still acting), like it didn't work out between she and Daniel but they remained in touch over the years as friends.

EDIT: Actually, some character bio says "It is later revealed that Chozen committed suicide shortly after the events at the O-bon festival" The hell? I don't remember that, was that a line from the start of III or something?

Barnes feels like the perfect tool to give Kreese some muscle who can challenge Lawrence as a physical threat and a stronger embodiment of Cobra Kai's darkside. Plus the actor has some solid cred as a physical presence.

I liked Chozen as a villain better just because he was literally trying to kill Daniel, but honestly the more interesting element from KKII that could tie in is what happened to Sato and his company. If Chozen reconciled with his uncle, he could make an interesting counterpoint to Barnes and Lawrence and an interesting compatriot for Daniel. If he also sunk low... Well, I feel he might be worse just because of who he was in KKII.

 

[Aximili86]

Yeah, that's an interesting angle Godisawesome. Somehow I can't really see Chozen coming around to the error of his ways the same way Johnny (more or less) did, but it'd be fun to explore. I think that guy's still acting too, wasn't he in Inception in a small role?

What would be really awesome would be bringing Steve McQueen's son back as one of Johnny's dip**** buddies from back in the day. Like maybe he's still loyal to Kreese and his way of doing things, get a bit more depth going on with the Johnny/Kreese conflict going on by bringing in one of his old friends to a teaching position in Kreese's Cobra Kai or whatever. He could be kind of a middle-aged burnout like Johnny is, only without any of the repentance/second-guessing himself.

Either him or the "put him in a bodybag, YEAAAHHHH!" guy.

 

[Verbal21]

Who says Chozen can’t be the uncle or something of that kid Kyler? He didn’t even know where his parents are from and since it’s established that he’s in the “rich kid” group of kids, it’s not hard to reveal his parents being wealthy being a part of Soto’s family.

With that said, I feel like all the Star Wars fans that like to keep everyone in the Universe connected which makes other fans feel like the universe is so small,lol. Fortunately, I’m very forgiving with the Karate Kid Universe and won’t hold any contrived connections against them. The creators seem to know how to weave multiple characters in a story, in a natural way.

 

[Aximili86]

Chozen might be a little...coincidental as an uncle of that guy. It does make the world feel very small.

 

[LL2K2]

EDIT: Actually, some character bio says "It is later revealed that Chozen committed suicide shortly after the events at the O-bon festival" The hell? I don't remember that, was that a line from the start of III or something?

Death before dishonor, I would say. Chozen felt Daniel had insulted his honor mainly because he took an interest in Kumiko. Later, when the typhoon struck Okinawa, Chozen's indecision whether to help Daniel with the rescue efforts left Sato with no other course of action: "Now, to you, I AM dead."

Here are a couple of clips from the second film which would explain the situation:





(By the way, at the end of the second clip, Chozen says, 'Kono yaro! Koro****e yaru zo!', which roughly translates as, 'You bastard! I'm going to kill you!'.)

 

[The Big G]

“….and when he’s not teaching Karate, you can find him jamming out to 80's rock in his Firebird.”

 

[Aximili86]

Death before dishonor, I would say. Chozen felt Daniel had insulted his honor mainly because he took an interest in Kumiko. Later, when the typhoon struck Okinawa, Chozen's indecision whether to help Daniel with the rescue efforts left Sato with no other course of action: "Now, to you, I AM dead."

Here are a couple of clips from the second film which would explain the situation:





(By the way, at the end of the second clip, Chozen says, 'Kono yaro! Koro****e yaru zo!', which roughly translates as, 'You bastard! I'm going to kill you!'.)

It makes total sense given the character and his portrayal, yeah. I'm just wondering where the hell this "reveal" was - doesn't seem like the type of thing they'd include in a kid's cartoon, a little grim. Were there tie-in novels or something maybe?

Just got that quote from one of those Wiki character bios, but have no idea what they're referring to.

 

[LoganPool]

Just watched the entire season... holy s*** was that good! I love how (for me anyway) they made Johnny and Daniel take turns being the antagonist and protagonist. In the end, I was basically routing for everybody (except Miguel), and I loved it! Love all the call-backs to the original movie! Phenomenal what they were able to do with this series. Can't wait for season 2!

 

[Rob Lobo]

Manly tears from episode 4, where Johnny sees and reacts to the father and son bonding in a cafe. That scene was touching and lovely too.

 

[samsnee]

Looks like this was a huge hit for YouTube so I expect a second season. But honestly how are they going to need more original content if they want people to pay for the whole service. I imagine a lot of people watched it during the free trial when you sign up.