Cobra Kai - The Karate Kid Saga Continues
- Thread starter Trekker4747
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Episode(s) is(are) live on YouTube Red, first episode is free-to-watch on regular YouTube without having to subscribe to anything, preparing to watch right now!
Youtube is also showing the second episode is free.
Yeah, I just got done watching the first two free episodes. Will sign up for "Red" and watch the rest of the series during the trial period.
After the first two episodes I'm still not too sure what kind of "arc" I'm supposed to be rooting for here. Is this like a "Breaking Bad" or "The Sopranos" where I'm supposed to be rooting for the "bad guy" because right now Johnny is just an asshole reigniting his asshole youth days and essentially picking on a teenage kid. (I could give him a bit of a slide on the fight with the kids in the strip mall parking lot, though his methods and the situation were a bit more extreme than the situation probably called for. (As compared to their active attack on Daniel and Myagi's intervention.) Also not sure how I'm supposed to be Daniel because while he certain seems like a bit of an asshole he seems to be somewhat.... "Friendly" about it? He's coming across that way just because of his wealth, but there's little things in the episode that suggests how "good" he still is like the dinner with the boyfriend and even something little like doing mechanic work in his dealership.
So, I've not yet got a read on where this show wants to go or how to read it, since future episode clips show him taking on more kids from the school who are bullied which, well, is pretty much the opposite of what the original Cobra Kai did.
But, I like it. Was nicely surprised by the original movie "flashbacks" in it and other little references to the original movie and just that time period in general. Just still not sure on where the show wants to go or wants me to think it'll go. Hell, is Johnny getting his own little "lightening up" arc as he takes on more of the bullied kids and becomes a better sensei?
I'd say the first two, free, episodes are worth a watch to see if you can get into the series. I'd say you have to certainly be in my age group and thus nostalgic in general for that time period and have the.... "Generational Disdain" for the present generation as the episode takes a nice dig at them as the "Millennial" kid in it spouts of some PC stuff to an incredulous Johnny. (And not that the kind was wrong, but it's just that big generational gap where younger people these days are quicker to look for or want to avoid offenses and grouping of people, where as older generations may not be so quick to catch that even if they know why it'd be wrong.)
So, I dunno, I liked it. The 25-some minute episodes certainly do feel short as right as the story seems to be getting a stride the episode ends, at the same time it also really doesn't feel like it needs more time.
Fight scenes are pretty good.
After the first two episodes I'm still not too sure what kind of "arc" I'm supposed to be rooting for here. Is this like a "Breaking Bad" or "The Sopranos" where I'm supposed to be rooting for the "bad guy" because right now Johnny is just an asshole reigniting his asshole youth days and essentially picking on a teenage kid. (I could give him a bit of a slide on the fight with the kids in the strip mall parking lot, though his methods and the situation were a bit more extreme than the situation probably called for. (As compared to their active attack on Daniel and Myagi's intervention.) Also not sure how I'm supposed to be Daniel because while he certain seems like a bit of an asshole he seems to be somewhat.... "Friendly" about it? He's coming across that way just because of his wealth, but there's little things in the episode that suggests how "good" he still is like the dinner with the boyfriend and even something little like doing mechanic work in his dealership.
So, I've not yet got a read on where this show wants to go or how to read it, since future episode clips show him taking on more kids from the school who are bullied which, well, is pretty much the opposite of what the original Cobra Kai did.
But, I like it. Was nicely surprised by the original movie "flashbacks" in it and other little references to the original movie and just that time period in general. Just still not sure on where the show wants to go or wants me to think it'll go. Hell, is Johnny getting his own little "lightening up" arc as he takes on more of the bullied kids and becomes a better sensei?
I'd say the first two, free, episodes are worth a watch to see if you can get into the series. I'd say you have to certainly be in my age group and thus nostalgic in general for that time period and have the.... "Generational Disdain" for the present generation as the episode takes a nice dig at them as the "Millennial" kid in it spouts of some PC stuff to an incredulous Johnny. (And not that the kind was wrong, but it's just that big generational gap where younger people these days are quicker to look for or want to avoid offenses and grouping of people, where as older generations may not be so quick to catch that even if they know why it'd be wrong.)
So, I dunno, I liked it. The 25-some minute episodes certainly do feel short as right as the story seems to be getting a stride the episode ends, at the same time it also really doesn't feel like it needs more time.
Fight scenes are pretty good.
Last week I saw the special theatrical preview of the first two episodes with the original movie. So I jumped right to episode 3 tonight after work and watched every episode.
Simply loved it! No spoilers from me, watch to the last scene...
Not sure why this has been promoted as a dramedy. It's not any more comedic than the original movies. Only a few rare moments that maybe push it a little far.
Simply loved it! No spoilers from me, watch to the last scene...
Not sure why this has been promoted as a dramedy. It's not any more comedic than the original movies. Only a few rare moments that maybe push it a little far.
I watched the first two episodes too, and can't wait to see the back 8. I will gladly sign up for YouTube Red for this--especially since it's free the first month anyway. I'll bang out those 8 episodes in like 2 days, if that, and if there's a season 2, or something else that catches my eye, as long as binge watching is possible, I'll do it.
Over the years, people have viewed this movie. There are several Youtube videos that side with Johnny, and How I Met Your Mother had Barney Stinson give a speech about how great Johnny was and how horrible Daniel was. Well, they are all about 15 years behind me, who was making those arguments before they were cool.
Johnny is not a bad person. Never was. When we first met Johnny in the first movie, he realized that he did some bad things and wanted to do right in his senior year. He wanted to change. That says something about him because he knew something was wrong.
One of the first things he wanted to do was make amends with his ex girlfriend. He just wanted to talk. Now, when he broke her radio, he was wrong. He was still 17, not perfect, but not a bad kid.
Daniel stuck his nose in their business. If you watch that fight on the beach, Johnny, despite his training of no mercy, used minimal force on Daniel. It was only when Daniel took a cheap shot and punched him in the face that Johnny put him down for good.
Johnny and his friends, after that, did not roll out the welcome wagon, but once again, Daniel threw the first punch at Bobby at the soccer tryouts.
If you watch what Bobby did, it wasn't worth a punch to the face.
A few months pass and nothing happens. DANIEL reignited the flame by pouring water on Johnny when he was in the bathroom rolling a joint. Not endorsing drugs, but marijuana does not make you violent--it's quite the opposite. Daniel made Johnny lose it.
Johnny didn't like Daniel and Daniel didn't like Johnny. Daniel DID go after his ex girlfriend, not only preventing them from reuniting, but the incident at the beach caused irreparable harm to their relationship.
So the movie events play out, and Johnny loses the big fight. What does he do? He mans up and shakes Daniel's hand, and presumably, there was no incident after.
SPOILERS...
Johnny's life took a turn for the worse. His father must have died and his mother remarried. He clearly had a broken marriage, and a son whose life he is not a part of. From what I saw in the first two episodes, he doesn't want that. Clearly, the kid's mother isn't a great person.
But Johnny isn't a perfect person.
Johnny's attempts at teaching are coming off very well. We are getting the Cobra Kai mentality from HIS point of view. He didn't experience the horrors of war like Kreese. He's bitter sure, but he is not devoid of humanity. I think he likes the kid he's teaching.
He may have used the car as an excuse to stop the bullying, but I think deep down, he helped someone out, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself.
When he teaches what Kreese taught him, he's doing so differently. The words may be the same, but the logic behind those words are much different. Notice his student almost immediately taking the lessons to heart and showing more confidence.
Daniel right now has not come off well. He was a dick to Johnny with that "I kicked his face" comment. I loved the "I got a warning, you got the win" exchange. It WAS an illegal kick, and Daniel didn't deny it.
Daniel's confrontation with Johnny made Daniel look terrible. He didn't have first hand knowledge of what happened and had no right to confront Johnny about it like that.
Interestingly enough, Johnny essentially did the same thing Myagi did to HIM, when Daniel instigated that Cobra Kai attack on him during Halloween. Myagi saw a kid in trouble and being bullied, and stepped in. Johnny did the same thing. If Daniel saw six teenagers picking on a kid, he would have done the same thing.
Johnny is not training bullies. Johnny is training the bullied. He's making it so these people won't be bullied much longer. Kind of what Myagi did for Daniel. Johnny may not care about how his teachings are used like Myagi, but this is not a bad man, and this show? Terrific.
Over the years, people have viewed this movie. There are several Youtube videos that side with Johnny, and How I Met Your Mother had Barney Stinson give a speech about how great Johnny was and how horrible Daniel was. Well, they are all about 15 years behind me, who was making those arguments before they were cool.
Johnny is not a bad person. Never was. When we first met Johnny in the first movie, he realized that he did some bad things and wanted to do right in his senior year. He wanted to change. That says something about him because he knew something was wrong.
One of the first things he wanted to do was make amends with his ex girlfriend. He just wanted to talk. Now, when he broke her radio, he was wrong. He was still 17, not perfect, but not a bad kid.
Daniel stuck his nose in their business. If you watch that fight on the beach, Johnny, despite his training of no mercy, used minimal force on Daniel. It was only when Daniel took a cheap shot and punched him in the face that Johnny put him down for good.
Johnny and his friends, after that, did not roll out the welcome wagon, but once again, Daniel threw the first punch at Bobby at the soccer tryouts.
If you watch what Bobby did, it wasn't worth a punch to the face.
A few months pass and nothing happens. DANIEL reignited the flame by pouring water on Johnny when he was in the bathroom rolling a joint. Not endorsing drugs, but marijuana does not make you violent--it's quite the opposite. Daniel made Johnny lose it.
Johnny didn't like Daniel and Daniel didn't like Johnny. Daniel DID go after his ex girlfriend, not only preventing them from reuniting, but the incident at the beach caused irreparable harm to their relationship.
So the movie events play out, and Johnny loses the big fight. What does he do? He mans up and shakes Daniel's hand, and presumably, there was no incident after.
SPOILERS...
Johnny's life took a turn for the worse. His father must have died and his mother remarried. He clearly had a broken marriage, and a son whose life he is not a part of. From what I saw in the first two episodes, he doesn't want that. Clearly, the kid's mother isn't a great person.
But Johnny isn't a perfect person.
Johnny's attempts at teaching are coming off very well. We are getting the Cobra Kai mentality from HIS point of view. He didn't experience the horrors of war like Kreese. He's bitter sure, but he is not devoid of humanity. I think he likes the kid he's teaching.
He may have used the car as an excuse to stop the bullying, but I think deep down, he helped someone out, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself.
When he teaches what Kreese taught him, he's doing so differently. The words may be the same, but the logic behind those words are much different. Notice his student almost immediately taking the lessons to heart and showing more confidence.
Daniel right now has not come off well. He was a dick to Johnny with that "I kicked his face" comment. I loved the "I got a warning, you got the win" exchange. It WAS an illegal kick, and Daniel didn't deny it.
Daniel's confrontation with Johnny made Daniel look terrible. He didn't have first hand knowledge of what happened and had no right to confront Johnny about it like that.
Interestingly enough, Johnny essentially did the same thing Myagi did to HIM, when Daniel instigated that Cobra Kai attack on him during Halloween. Myagi saw a kid in trouble and being bullied, and stepped in. Johnny did the same thing. If Daniel saw six teenagers picking on a kid, he would have done the same thing.
Johnny is not training bullies. Johnny is training the bullied. He's making it so these people won't be bullied much longer. Kind of what Myagi did for Daniel. Johnny may not care about how his teachings are used like Myagi, but this is not a bad man, and this show? Terrific.
Just watched the entire season and it was the right mix of nostalgia and aged reality. 80s movies were very black/white for the most part. Heroes were good and villains were just bad. Storytelling evolved and so we get more fleshed out characters.
Spoilers for all 10 episodes
Spoilers for all 10 episodes
Johnny's evolution is very realistic. There's no instant switch to turn back time 30 years and have him suddenly change and he makes mistakes as the series goes on, but he tries to improve. Daniel also is no longer a flawless hero, but also makes mistakes and tries to be a better person.
As soon as we find out Johnny had a teenage son I knew it would end up being Daniel coaching Johnny's son. Which hopefully with Mr. Miyagi values can lead to improving the relationship between Robbie and Johnny.
The ending shows Johnny just how close he is to becoming his Sensei(Kreese) and holy shit that cameo was a shock after Johnny saying Kreese died. Martin Kove looks great for being 72 years old. I had to google because I thought it was digitally restored footage at first.
Season 2 looks like it will be a Miyagi-do karate vs Cobra Kai with Daniel's daughter joining.
My biggest complaint is no You're The Best playing and would have been better if the guidance counselor was Elisabeth Shue or Robin Lively.
As soon as we find out Johnny had a teenage son I knew it would end up being Daniel coaching Johnny's son. Which hopefully with Mr. Miyagi values can lead to improving the relationship between Robbie and Johnny.
The ending shows Johnny just how close he is to becoming his Sensei(Kreese) and holy shit that cameo was a shock after Johnny saying Kreese died. Martin Kove looks great for being 72 years old. I had to google because I thought it was digitally restored footage at first.
Season 2 looks like it will be a Miyagi-do karate vs Cobra Kai with Daniel's daughter joining.
My biggest complaint is no You're The Best playing and would have been better if the guidance counselor was Elisabeth Shue or Robin Lively.
The incident in the parking lot doesn't entirely favor Johnny. Johnny didn't step in until his 30-year-old car had somebody pushed onto its sun-bleached hood. He didn't step up to protect the kid, he saw that going on and didn't seem to care he only cared when *he* was being impacted, helping the kid was just a consequence of the events.
This is different than with Myagi who stepped in while Daniel was being actively attacked by bullies, the bullies for this show's kid weren't actively beating him up, just sort of picking on him, they dumped the Pepto bottle on him, one punch, and then a shove into the car. A bit different than with Myagi/Daniel and Johnny. Daniel was having his ass kicked. (Though he sort of brought it on himself after what he did in the bathroom to Johnny.)
There's plenty of reasons for Johnny to be upset with Daniel on events that happened decades ago but the stuff with Alli shouldn't be part of it. Johnny was out of line, she as a person has the right to hang out with, or not hang out with, whomever she wants and he should have respected her space when she wasn't interested in talking to him. Same for Daniel on interjecting himself into her life but he wasn't as aggressive about it as Johnny and it'd seem Alli ended up not minding Daniel's presence once she got to know him.
So, did Johnny not report the hit-and-run to the police? He may not have gotten the license number of the SUV or anything but he likely knew what it was, its color, it contained teenage girls and the like. The police would then know to be on the look out for an SUV fitting that description with front-end damage. (Though I wonder how much they'd be blamed for the "run" given Johnny's reaction to the crash, they could easily claim the fled as they feared for their lives.)
Daniel, I'm still on the fence on. With the trailers I thought he was the "villain" of this story and that the time had made him more of an asshole than he comes across here. During their talk in the dealership he seemed like he really wanted to have a "friendly" relationship with Johnny, wanting to put the bullying in the past, and for the two of them have some kind of amicable relationship with the fight being just one of those "funny stories" people share about their time in school. (Not knowing that, apparently, that fight sent Johnny into something of a spiral or a rocky path. (Though with Johnny giving the trophy, you'd think the two of them would have reached some kind of amicable relationship afterwards. The fight was in December so they still had a few more months of school to share together and see each other in.)
I dunno, looking to watch some more episodes this evening.
This is different than with Myagi who stepped in while Daniel was being actively attacked by bullies, the bullies for this show's kid weren't actively beating him up, just sort of picking on him, they dumped the Pepto bottle on him, one punch, and then a shove into the car. A bit different than with Myagi/Daniel and Johnny. Daniel was having his ass kicked. (Though he sort of brought it on himself after what he did in the bathroom to Johnny.)
There's plenty of reasons for Johnny to be upset with Daniel on events that happened decades ago but the stuff with Alli shouldn't be part of it. Johnny was out of line, she as a person has the right to hang out with, or not hang out with, whomever she wants and he should have respected her space when she wasn't interested in talking to him. Same for Daniel on interjecting himself into her life but he wasn't as aggressive about it as Johnny and it'd seem Alli ended up not minding Daniel's presence once she got to know him.
So, did Johnny not report the hit-and-run to the police? He may not have gotten the license number of the SUV or anything but he likely knew what it was, its color, it contained teenage girls and the like. The police would then know to be on the look out for an SUV fitting that description with front-end damage. (Though I wonder how much they'd be blamed for the "run" given Johnny's reaction to the crash, they could easily claim the fled as they feared for their lives.)
Daniel, I'm still on the fence on. With the trailers I thought he was the "villain" of this story and that the time had made him more of an asshole than he comes across here. During their talk in the dealership he seemed like he really wanted to have a "friendly" relationship with Johnny, wanting to put the bullying in the past, and for the two of them have some kind of amicable relationship with the fight being just one of those "funny stories" people share about their time in school. (Not knowing that, apparently, that fight sent Johnny into something of a spiral or a rocky path. (Though with Johnny giving the trophy, you'd think the two of them would have reached some kind of amicable relationship afterwards. The fight was in December so they still had a few more months of school to share together and see each other in.)
I dunno, looking to watch some more episodes this evening.
So. I finished the series. 8 half-hour long episodes is an easy sit.
I liked the series and look forward to/hope for more. I liked Johnny and Daniel sort of "befriending" one another, or at least understanding the other, on some level and how this seemed to "re-center" Johnny and during the tournament he realized the way he was teaching wasn't right. And surprise, surprise, Kreese shows up at the end.
But it was good, I liked Daniel's student learning the one-handed, upside-down, kick thing Daniel was practicing in the woods; mirrors stuff from the original movie with Daniel able to do something Miyagi couldn't. (Was it the crane kick, some other move, catching the fly with the chopsticks? I don't remember, need to rewatch the movie; been a while.)
But it was a good watch and I'd recommend it to anyone who's my age and saw the original movie(s.) Not sure how much it'd click with today's youth, but there is some good stuff in it with the teenage characters.
There are some "mini-arcs" and just little things hear there that don't feel fully developed or fleshed out, like the stuff between Daniel and his [cousin?], the competing dealership, his wife and his mother (beyond usual wife/mother-in-law relationship), Johnny and his ex, his son and the mom, the stuff with the daughter and the boyfriend is dealt with quickly and, really, Daniel's youngest could've been Judy Winslow'ed (Chuck Cunningham'd or whatever) out of the picture and we wouldn't have lost anything. I think a lot of these problems goes to the episodes short run times, it feels like a LOT has been skipped over are breezed past. I mean, I never got the full feeling Johnny's dojo was successful enough that not only could he maintain it with the higher rent Daniel instigated, but he also returned the [owed] money to his stepfather and was able to completely refurnish his apartment. "Johnny cleans up and gets his life on track" is a fine arc and story, but it feels like we missed some of the points on that arc. It just sort of happens.
Anyway, still a good show. Check it out.
I liked the series and look forward to/hope for more. I liked Johnny and Daniel sort of "befriending" one another, or at least understanding the other, on some level and how this seemed to "re-center" Johnny and during the tournament he realized the way he was teaching wasn't right. And surprise, surprise, Kreese shows up at the end.
But it was good, I liked Daniel's student learning the one-handed, upside-down, kick thing Daniel was practicing in the woods; mirrors stuff from the original movie with Daniel able to do something Miyagi couldn't. (Was it the crane kick, some other move, catching the fly with the chopsticks? I don't remember, need to rewatch the movie; been a while.)
But it was a good watch and I'd recommend it to anyone who's my age and saw the original movie(s.) Not sure how much it'd click with today's youth, but there is some good stuff in it with the teenage characters.
There are some "mini-arcs" and just little things hear there that don't feel fully developed or fleshed out, like the stuff between Daniel and his [cousin?], the competing dealership, his wife and his mother (beyond usual wife/mother-in-law relationship), Johnny and his ex, his son and the mom, the stuff with the daughter and the boyfriend is dealt with quickly and, really, Daniel's youngest could've been Judy Winslow'ed (Chuck Cunningham'd or whatever) out of the picture and we wouldn't have lost anything. I think a lot of these problems goes to the episodes short run times, it feels like a LOT has been skipped over are breezed past. I mean, I never got the full feeling Johnny's dojo was successful enough that not only could he maintain it with the higher rent Daniel instigated, but he also returned the [owed] money to his stepfather and was able to completely refurnish his apartment. "Johnny cleans up and gets his life on track" is a fine arc and story, but it feels like we missed some of the points on that arc. It just sort of happens.
Anyway, still a good show. Check it out.
I just binge-watched the first season. It was surprisingly good stuff...better than Karate Kid 2 or 3, for instance, and I actually liked those movies. The character development of Johnny and Daniel has been top notch. I hope we get a season 2.
He was drinking at the time, and he parked in a dangerous manner. I don't think a police report would have gone well.
He was drinking at the time, and he parked in a dangerous manner. I don't think a police report would have gone well.
Judging by how many people still wish for a Breakfast Club sequel, I'm going to go with: yes? I've never seen any of the Karate Kid movies, but, given the obscurity this show's leads have fallen into, I think in a certain sense it's legitimately heartwarming to think that two small-time actors with single points of fame from decades past can, in this streaming/nostalgic age, get a chance to revisit and even deepen the roles and legacy they've lived with all these years.
Now, the real question, clearly is: when does Hillary Swank show up?
Some thoughts and now that I've watched all ten episodes, consider this spoiler warning.
I agree that Johnny didn't step in until his car was hit, but he still did the right thing, for the wrong reasons.
And Miguel did not have that beating coming. Daniel did. Daniel attacked Johnny, not the other way around. And why was Myagi even there? It was almost like a trap. How would he know to be there at that time?
Regarding Ali, Johnny did have a reason to be upset with Daniel over her. Obviously, they had broken up, and Johnny is a flawed character. He was a kid, not perfect. And on the beach, he did some wrong things, and admitted it. Breaking the radio was wrong. And yes, Ali had a right not to talk to him. But it wasn't Ali's failure to talk to Johnny that set him off--it was Daniel's butting in on TOP of that. And Daniel again, hit Johnny with a cheap shot. What Johnny did to Daniel on the beach was legitimate defense.
Other thoughts for the season:
This is the best reboot since Dallas. If there is no season 2, we riot!
I binge watched this in under 24 hours. You could tell this show was written by people who loved the original movies. The rest of the review will be spoiler filled, so if you haven't seen this, please stop reading.
SPOILER
SPOILER
LAST WARNING
SPOILER
Ok, one nitpick that I'm shocked the writers didn't pick up given their clear love for this franchise....
Myagi's tombstone said he was born in 1925.
That makes no sense, and here's why.
Myagi fought in WWII on the American side. In order to do that, he would have had to arrived in America at some point before 1941. It is likely he would have been in the US at least a couple of years simply because by the time he was fighting in WWII, he had a wife and baby on the way.
He had to learn all that karate too. Even as a prodigy, he would have had to be studying a long time.
He had to meet his wife, fall for her, and leave Okinawa rather than fight to the death.
You telling me he did all that stuff in Japan before he was 16 years old?
By the time he meets Daniel, he should have been in his early to mid 60s. Not the actor--the character.
Myagi should be a good 5-10 years older than that tombstone.
Other than that nitpick, I loved this thing. Only one plot point bothered me, and that was Kreese being dead. Still, when Johnny said that, it felt off. First, Kreese faked his death before. Second, Martin Kove was so brilliant in this role, and he absolutely loves the franchise. Why would writers NOT want to include him in some capacity?
That set up the cliffhanger perfectly.
Things I want to see in Season 2--
Johnny and Kreese will clearly have some conflict. Johnny is not a bad man. He's not Kreese. He's a better man. But at the same time, let's see some redemption for Kreese as well. Let's make him three dimensional. Maybe he's a jerk because of things that happened in the war. Kreese is a war hero. Let's learn about that.
Don't redeem him completely, but flesh him out.
Are we going to see Terry Silver? I could see that. I don't know if Mike Barnes would ever return--not that he wouldn't be welcome, but I doubt his relationship with Kreese and Cobra Kai would be nearly as strong. Terry Silver loves Kreese. Kreese saved his life.
But Barnes was a short term business arrangement.
That said, we could see Dutch or Bobby. Maybe even Ali.
As for the newer characters, it would be interesting--Daniel actually has a business to run--why would he open a dojo? Would Myagi approve of what Daniel is doing? I don't know about that. Myagi taught Daniel karate so he didn't have to fight. Defense only. Teaching Myagi's style would serve no purpose.
Miguel is a fundamentally good kid. He and Hawk started showing signs of turning into douchebags. It's a good plot twist, but a lot of his anger is due to misunderstandings. I like his relationship with Johnny. But we saw Johnny react to this vicious streak of Miguel, and he didn't like it. Miguel has a support system and family, and hopefully we see that kid who WAS bullied not become a bully.
The bad casting was Daniel's son. But he was more of an after thought. That said, Ralph Macchio is a thin man and Daniel married essentially a supermodel. That kid could not be his off spring. It might be fun to see his son become Cobra Kai.
I agree that Johnny didn't step in until his car was hit, but he still did the right thing, for the wrong reasons.
And Miguel did not have that beating coming. Daniel did. Daniel attacked Johnny, not the other way around. And why was Myagi even there? It was almost like a trap. How would he know to be there at that time?
Regarding Ali, Johnny did have a reason to be upset with Daniel over her. Obviously, they had broken up, and Johnny is a flawed character. He was a kid, not perfect. And on the beach, he did some wrong things, and admitted it. Breaking the radio was wrong. And yes, Ali had a right not to talk to him. But it wasn't Ali's failure to talk to Johnny that set him off--it was Daniel's butting in on TOP of that. And Daniel again, hit Johnny with a cheap shot. What Johnny did to Daniel on the beach was legitimate defense.
Other thoughts for the season:
This is the best reboot since Dallas. If there is no season 2, we riot!
I binge watched this in under 24 hours. You could tell this show was written by people who loved the original movies. The rest of the review will be spoiler filled, so if you haven't seen this, please stop reading.
SPOILER
SPOILER
LAST WARNING
SPOILER
Ok, one nitpick that I'm shocked the writers didn't pick up given their clear love for this franchise....
Myagi's tombstone said he was born in 1925.
That makes no sense, and here's why.
Myagi fought in WWII on the American side. In order to do that, he would have had to arrived in America at some point before 1941. It is likely he would have been in the US at least a couple of years simply because by the time he was fighting in WWII, he had a wife and baby on the way.
He had to learn all that karate too. Even as a prodigy, he would have had to be studying a long time.
He had to meet his wife, fall for her, and leave Okinawa rather than fight to the death.
You telling me he did all that stuff in Japan before he was 16 years old?
By the time he meets Daniel, he should have been in his early to mid 60s. Not the actor--the character.
Myagi should be a good 5-10 years older than that tombstone.
Other than that nitpick, I loved this thing. Only one plot point bothered me, and that was Kreese being dead. Still, when Johnny said that, it felt off. First, Kreese faked his death before. Second, Martin Kove was so brilliant in this role, and he absolutely loves the franchise. Why would writers NOT want to include him in some capacity?
That set up the cliffhanger perfectly.
Things I want to see in Season 2--
Johnny and Kreese will clearly have some conflict. Johnny is not a bad man. He's not Kreese. He's a better man. But at the same time, let's see some redemption for Kreese as well. Let's make him three dimensional. Maybe he's a jerk because of things that happened in the war. Kreese is a war hero. Let's learn about that.
Don't redeem him completely, but flesh him out.
Are we going to see Terry Silver? I could see that. I don't know if Mike Barnes would ever return--not that he wouldn't be welcome, but I doubt his relationship with Kreese and Cobra Kai would be nearly as strong. Terry Silver loves Kreese. Kreese saved his life.
But Barnes was a short term business arrangement.
That said, we could see Dutch or Bobby. Maybe even Ali.
As for the newer characters, it would be interesting--Daniel actually has a business to run--why would he open a dojo? Would Myagi approve of what Daniel is doing? I don't know about that. Myagi taught Daniel karate so he didn't have to fight. Defense only. Teaching Myagi's style would serve no purpose.
Miguel is a fundamentally good kid. He and Hawk started showing signs of turning into douchebags. It's a good plot twist, but a lot of his anger is due to misunderstandings. I like his relationship with Johnny. But we saw Johnny react to this vicious streak of Miguel, and he didn't like it. Miguel has a support system and family, and hopefully we see that kid who WAS bullied not become a bully.
The bad casting was Daniel's son. But he was more of an after thought. That said, Ralph Macchio is a thin man and Daniel married essentially a supermodel. That kid could not be his off spring. It might be fun to see his son become Cobra Kai.
The actor who plays Mike Barnes is still active and a well-known soap opera actor. They could subvert expectations by bringing him back on Daniel's side. Plenty of time for him to have changed.
The showrunners said they're not ignoring any of the four movies so anyone could come back.
The showrunners said they're not ignoring any of the four movies so anyone could come back.
Would be interesting to see Swank. I actually don't mind TNKK, hey is the "remake" in canon? Any chance for Jackie Chan or Jaden Smith? 
I'm a big fan of the 2010 reboot with Jackie Chan....in many ways it was the perfect remake of the story and a perfect reboot blueprint for other franchises to follow. I love that movie to death, but the sequel spent too long in development hell, so if Karate Kid was going to come back, it makes sense to revisit the original story with Cobra Kai.
I just finished binging the series. Holy hell, I did not expect to enjoy that as much as I did! What a great show. The teens were actual teens. The writing was (mostly) good. The conflicts felt realistic. It was funny, too. Of course you could see some of the tropes coming a mile away, but somehow it didn't feel particularly forced. One thing I will say is that I think they probably should've had 12 or 13 episodes....because the All Valley Karate Championship just kind of...happens. There's very little buildup.
Too bad Elizabeth Shue wasn't in the show....but the actress they got for Daniel's daughter looks like her, so it kinda felt like she was there.
I just finished binging the series. Holy hell, I did not expect to enjoy that as much as I did! What a great show. The teens were actual teens. The writing was (mostly) good. The conflicts felt realistic. It was funny, too. Of course you could see some of the tropes coming a mile away, but somehow it didn't feel particularly forced. One thing I will say is that I think they probably should've had 12 or 13 episodes....because the All Valley Karate Championship just kind of...happens. There's very little buildup.
Too bad Elizabeth Shue wasn't in the show....but the actress they got for Daniel's daughter looks like her, so it kinda felt like she was there.
I really liked the Chan reboot too, it was very well done.
I too am surprised by how much I liked this series and do hope to see a Season 2. My brother and SiL just binged the series too and really liked it and are "angry" it ended on something of a cliffhanger.
The tropes and stuff, yeah, you see coming but all somehow clicks in the kitsch of the show. This just feels like being in the '80s again.
I do think hour-long episodes would've worked better (or more episodes) because it does seem like a good deal of story is skipped or glossed over and, yeah, the championship just shows up and, what, Johnny trained his students to be black-belts inside a few months? Well enough they make it through the end of the competition? Doesn't it take years to get that good. (And, yeah, yeah, I know Daniel in the original movie becomes a BB even quicker, but we're supposed to assume that was largely due to Myagi's teaching methods and mentoring of Daniel.)
Really hope to see a Season 2.
I too am surprised by how much I liked this series and do hope to see a Season 2. My brother and SiL just binged the series too and really liked it and are "angry" it ended on something of a cliffhanger.
The tropes and stuff, yeah, you see coming but all somehow clicks in the kitsch of the show. This just feels like being in the '80s again.
I do think hour-long episodes would've worked better (or more episodes) because it does seem like a good deal of story is skipped or glossed over and, yeah, the championship just shows up and, what, Johnny trained his students to be black-belts inside a few months? Well enough they make it through the end of the competition? Doesn't it take years to get that good. (And, yeah, yeah, I know Daniel in the original movie becomes a BB even quicker, but we're supposed to assume that was largely due to Myagi's teaching methods and mentoring of Daniel.)
Really hope to see a Season 2.
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Well, when I say "black belt" there I guess I speak more to general skill-level of the student and their ability to fight on some level, since there's no real set "rules" for what belt is what and it'll vary from dojo to dojo, teacher to teacher.
But, in the original movie Daniel's troubles start at the beginning of the school year (Late August) and he's skilled enough by mid-December (when the All-Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament was held) to compete with people with years of training well enough to make it to the final round. That's.... Unrealistic. But, again, we're supposed to take it that Miyagi was just that good of a teacher and his "balance" technique and mentoring of Daniel was a better method than the more aggressive techniques employed by Kreese.
This series makes things, slightly, more realistic by having Miguel's training take place mostly over a school year (he meets Johnny during his summer break, and we see various points of his training at various times through the next few months, seeing the Halloween dance, Christmas decorations hung in a montage, and the All-Valley Tourney is now being held in May.) but still fairly fast for someone to get to competition level and make it into the finals. (And of course Robby was trained in probably half the time given when he meets and begins training with Daniel, but Daniel's using Miyagi's techniques, so... Well, he'll have one successful dojo. Though he can't quite take on the close mentorship with all of his students.
)
So, tonight I sat down with my buddy and we watched through the first 6 episodes, he my age, fan of the original movies, and had heard good things about the show over the last week from his co-workers and brothers and was willing to give it try. Like everyone else I've spoken to who's seen this he agrees it's good, better than he thought it would be and better than it has any right to be. We stopped only because he had things to take care of at home, we'll likely finish it next weekend. (He doesn't want to sign up for YouTube Red.)
I want to "support" this series and through that I want my watching it to... "count."
By that, I mean I don't know how this works with free trials and stuff. YouTube is probably ecstatic over the views they're getting, subs and such but that doesn't really mean anything if none of those "stick" and they make no money. I want to see a Season 2, so I plan to at least have one month of YouTube Red so they can make *something* off of it.
But, in the original movie Daniel's troubles start at the beginning of the school year (Late August) and he's skilled enough by mid-December (when the All-Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament was held) to compete with people with years of training well enough to make it to the final round. That's.... Unrealistic. But, again, we're supposed to take it that Miyagi was just that good of a teacher and his "balance" technique and mentoring of Daniel was a better method than the more aggressive techniques employed by Kreese.
This series makes things, slightly, more realistic by having Miguel's training take place mostly over a school year (he meets Johnny during his summer break, and we see various points of his training at various times through the next few months, seeing the Halloween dance, Christmas decorations hung in a montage, and the All-Valley Tourney is now being held in May.) but still fairly fast for someone to get to competition level and make it into the finals. (And of course Robby was trained in probably half the time given when he meets and begins training with Daniel, but Daniel's using Miyagi's techniques, so... Well, he'll have one successful dojo. Though he can't quite take on the close mentorship with all of his students.
)So, tonight I sat down with my buddy and we watched through the first 6 episodes, he my age, fan of the original movies, and had heard good things about the show over the last week from his co-workers and brothers and was willing to give it try. Like everyone else I've spoken to who's seen this he agrees it's good, better than he thought it would be and better than it has any right to be. We stopped only because he had things to take care of at home, we'll likely finish it next weekend. (He doesn't want to sign up for YouTube Red.)
I want to "support" this series and through that I want my watching it to... "count."
By that, I mean I don't know how this works with free trials and stuff. YouTube is probably ecstatic over the views they're getting, subs and such but that doesn't really mean anything if none of those "stick" and they make no money. I want to see a Season 2, so I plan to at least have one month of YouTube Red so they can make *something* off of it.
Well, when I say "black belt" there I guess I speak more to general skill-level of the student and their ability to fight on some level, since there's no real set "rules" for what belt is what and it'll vary from dojo to dojo, teacher to teacher.
But, in the original movie Daniel's troubles start at the beginning of the school year (Late August) and he's skilled enough by mid-December (when the All-Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament was held) to compete with people with years of training well enough to make it to the final round. That's.... Unrealistic. But, again, we're supposed to take it that Miyagi was just that good of a teacher and his "balance" technique and mentoring of Daniel was a better method than the more aggressive techniques employed by Kreese.
This series makes things, slightly, more realistic by having Miguel's training take place mostly over a school year (he meets Johnny during his summer break, and we see various points of his training at various times through the next few months, seeing the Halloween dance, Christmas decorations hung in a montage, and the All-Valley Tourney is now being held in May.) but still fairly fast for someone to get to competition level and make it into the finals. (And of course Robby was trained in probably half the time given when he meets and begins training with Daniel, but Daniel's using Miyagi's techniques, so... Well, he'll have one successful dojo. Though he can't quite take on the close mentorship with all of his students.
So, tonight I sat down with my buddy and we watched through the first 6 episodes, he my age, fan of the original movies, and had heard good things about the show over the last week from his co-workers and brothers and was willing to give it try. Like everyone else I've spoken to who's seen this he agrees it's good, better than he thought it would be and better than it has any right to be. We stopped only because he had things to take care of at home, we'll likely finish it next weekend. (He doesn't want to sign up for YouTube Red.)
I want to "support" this series and through that I want my watching it to... "count."
By that, I mean I don't know how this works with free trials and stuff. YouTube is probably ecstatic over the views they're getting, subs and such but that doesn't really mean anything if none of those "stick" and they make no money. I want to see a Season 2, so I plan to at least have one month of YouTube Red so they can make *something* off of it.
Keep in mind that Daniel studied Karate (at the YMCA) prior to meeting Mr. Miyagi. We don't know the full extent of that training, but he at least learned some of the basics.