• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Cobra Kai - The Karate Kid Saga Continues

Reverend said:
Kreese has nobody to blame but himself. He's the one that decided to go rattle Silver's cage so he could continue a 35 year vendetta against people he first met when they were teens and he was a grown arse man.
Click to expand...
Oh, absolutely. His nice moment with Tory, and his pulling Silver off Johnny, are too little, too late as far as repentance goes. It's hard to feel sorry for his being framed for beating up Stingray, when we saw him try to straight-up murder Johnny and Daniel last season.
Reverend said:
Silver is an addict in more ways that one, and anyone that deliberately goes out of their way to enable someone trying to stay sober deserves all the blowback they get.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. Kreese ruins Silver, after Silver explains how hard he's worked to change, after Silver tries to talk him down, after Silver refuses him repeatedly. It's hard to imagine Silver will ever find his way back to the man he was before Kreese came back into his life -- it seems more likely that he will have to be killed to be stopped. He will do more damage to the Valley, and our heroes, than Kreese could ever have done -- but in the end, it's still all Kreese's fault.
 
Brennyren said:
Oh, absolutely. His nice moment with Tory, and his pulling Silver off Johnny, are too little, too late as far as repentance goes. It's hard to feel sorry for his being framed for beating up Stingray, when we saw him try to straight-up murder Johnny and Daniel last season.

Oh yeah. Kreese ruins Silver, after Silver explains how hard he's worked to change, after Silver tries to talk him down, after Silver refuses him repeatedly. It's hard to imagine Silver will ever find his way back to the man he was before Kreese came back into his life -- it seems more likely that he will have to be killed to be stopped. He will do more damage to the Valley, and our heroes, than Kreese could ever have done -- but in the end, it's still all Kreese's fault.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Kreese just wants to use people as a means to an end.

Yep. Silver at least tried. But underneath it all, he was even worse than Kreese. They both deserve each other. They're in their own private war now. Neither left Vietnam.
 
Brennyren said:
Oh, absolutely. His nice moment with Tory, and his pulling Silver off Johnny, are too little, too late as far as repentance goes.
Click to expand...
Even the thing with Tory is ultimately selfishly motivated. He just wants her to respect and need him, which is basically what he wants from everyone, because he thinks he deserves it. He knows that's when he lost Johnny the last time, so while yes he's trying not to repeat a mistake, it's not out of a true desire to repent or "do good" since that would require him to recognise and regret his underlying behaviours and motivations. He just doesn't want to loose what he considers his, because when you get right down to it, he sees people as things, and Tory is just another thing to him. A favourite thing to be sure, but still a thing.
 
Last edited:
Reverend said:
Even the thing with Tory is ultimately selfishly motivated.
Click to expand...
That's not how it read to me. But I don't think it matters if his motives were actually kind or selfish. He's done/is doing way too much damage for a momentary lapse into kindness to change his nature.
Random_Spock said:
Yep. Silver at least tried. But underneath it all, he was even worse than Kreese.
Click to expand...
I don't think Silver can help it at this point. Man is completely round the bend.
Random_Spock said:
Neither left Vietnam.
Click to expand...
Painfully true.
 
I’m six episodes in. Some of this season feels pre-choreographed. Keene cares about boy, gee, I wonder if Kreese being mean to boy will eventually anger Keene.

The whole Silver story feels like an addiction relapse. Only instead of cocaine he’s addicted to wielding power over people.
 
Aragorn said:
Everyone's going to get redeemed by the end. Season 5, Mike Barnes will turn on Terry Silver. Then in season 6, aliens who use a martial arts tournament to decide whether or not planets are worth conquering show up and Mike Barnes now has to fight for the fate of humanity... and the valley.
Click to expand...

In all seriousness, “Karate tournament with aliens” would be the perfect 80s-sequel style storyline.
 
I finished the season. I really thought it'd be Silver who had the realization against Creese. We haven't seen how his home life has been since he started. If he's completely blown up his affluent home life or not. At the start it seemed like he could have balanced both but not now.

It'll be interesting to see what Tory does with the information that the ref was paid off.
 
After thinking it was running out of steam last season, I really enjoyed this season, the eli thing was very satisfying.
 
My friends and I were going to all watch it at one point or another, so out of the blue I asked them, should we do a watch party? And that's what we did. Beginning on Sunday last weekend, we started with 3 episodes, then this Friday we binged 4, and last night was the last three. It was quite a fun experience and we plan on doing this for other shows we want to watch.

Owain Taggart said:
Someone needs to stand up to him, knock him down a peg, as it's ridiculous what he's been allowed to get away with.
Click to expand...

I said this about Kreese last time around, and it seems we've got Kreese's downfall, but totally not what I expected! Terry Silver? Whoa. And involving Stingray no less. The analogy of a bigger fish swallowing up a smaller fish comes to mind.

Ok, backing up a bit, there's actually a bit of foreshadowing to that even in the 3rd movie. Terry Silver's always been a business mogul, and I do believe he mentioned to Kreese in that movie that his dream was to open up a chain of Dojo's. When Kreese shows up at his house in the series, he's kind of looking bored with his life, and seeing Kreese sparks that ambition back up. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Silver is a con-man. He wasn't going to partner up with Kreese out of friendship. He saw an opportunity through his connection with Vietnam to maneuver him to achieve his dream. He was smarmy back in the movie, he was smarmy now. The only difference between then and now is that he has more resources. He simply used Kreese to get what he wanted. At one point Amanda asks Daniel if there's anyone else he should expect to come back from his past. A friend of mine had the theory that Barnes might come back to help Silver run the Cobra Kai in season 5, which I think is very plausible.

Many interesting developments throughout. I notice they turned down the violence and brutality under the guise of keeping the confrontations for the tournament, which is a good thing, IMHO, as it helped to focus more on the drama and the characters. Anyway, those are my thoughts for the time being. Will have more later.
 
Kreese is a sociopath, but Silver is a psychopath.

You can't feel bad for Kreese at all but you can acknowledge seeing Silver's made him see his own actions objectively.
 
I liked season 4 but on reflection I think it’s gone downhill since the start. Seasons 1-2 had the generational cultural exchange between Miguel and Johnny, and the main conflict was between Johnny and a good guy with hang ups about their personal history.

Seasons 3-4 aren’t bad or anything. Just the villain was now someone evil and it all seemed to get formulaic and fanservicy. Like older seasons had a modern reflection on the source material and later ones are just nostalgist.
 
JirinPanthosa said:
Seasons 3-4 aren’t bad or anything. Just the villain was now someone evil and it all seemed to get formulaic and fanservicy. Like older seasons had a modern reflection on the source material and later ones are just nostalgist.
Click to expand...


I think the best thing it does is expand on the lore of the movies. For example, I wouldn't have found Terry Silver coming back to be nearly as interesting, if not for the fact that they expanded on his backstory to make him a more compelling character. It's how they manage to interweave both the modern and the old that make the show compelling.
 
Owain Taggart said:
I think the best thing it does is expand on the lore of the movies. For example, I wouldn't have found Terry Silver coming back to be nearly as interesting, if not for the fact that they expanded on his backstory to make him a more compelling character. It's how they manage to interweave both the modern and the old that make the show compelling.
Click to expand...

He was compelling at the start when he seemed like he was balancing Cobra Kai with his mature sensibilities and wealthy lifestyle, but he got less interesting when he went full mustache twirling kids movie villain. He turned into the same cartoonish caricature he was in the movie.

Apparently his speech about hitting rock bottom when he tortured a teenager was just nonsense and he learned absolutely nothing in 40 years.
 
Last edited:
JirinPanthosa said:
He was compelling at the start when he seemed like he was balancing Cobra Kai with his mature sensibilities and wealthy lifestyle, but he got less interesting when he went full mustache twirling kids movie villain. He turned into the same cartoonish caricature he was in the movie.
Click to expand...

I actually agree with that and I'm glad to hear someone say it. I kind of wanted to see more of him and his lifestyle before jumping back into his old life. As for his speech, yeah, that's partly why I feel he's a conman. He was playing the long game all through the season the minute Kreese walked onto his property. Kreese has been thoroughly played.

CaptainWacky said:
He only changed after his PTSD was triggered by Kreese. He's clearly not well in the head now.
Click to expand...

Or that's what he'd like everyone to think. My theory is that he's used his Vietnam war experience to his advantage in the form of a sympathy card with Kreese in order to maneuver him.
 
I had a dream that I was sat in McDonalds with Miguel and Hawk, Hawk kept punching Miguel in the face and Miguel kept crying like a little bitch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top