Cobra Kai YouTube Red Series (SPOILERS)

[Patrick]

Hey all,

I decided to go ahead and start a thread where people can talk about this series safely with spoilers, without worrying about ruining it for someone else. So... have at it!

Thanks,

Patrick

[MatsuShinshii]

Thanks Patrick. It was killing me to hold back for fear of ruining it for another member.

First I need to get the Capoeira in this series out of my system. What's with the super secret, final, most advanced kick??????????? What are the producers thinking injecting some kick from another art and calling it the most advanced kick when it doesn't even exist in Okinawan arts?

Second - did anyone else pick up that the characters had been shifted. Now Johnny is saving the weakling from getting destroyed. Flash back to Miyagi and skeletons pummeling Daniel anyone?

And what is with Daniel and his ultra jerk move of kicking the cup out of the other salesman's hand. Seem like something the old Johnny would have done?

It's like they flip flopped the two characters. Daniel comes off as a jerk in quite a few scenes and Johnny (although still stuck in the same mind set) comes off as a misguided Miyagi.

Having said that it was a major flash from the past and is for the most part in keeping with the original movie.

Biggest spoiler Creese (not sure how to spell his name) is back and I wasted my free membership. There will be more episodes!!!!!

I wish I would have waited so I could have binged on all of them instead of rushing to sign up and then opting out. I guess I'll have to pay full price when the next set comes out. Darn it.

Ok I think I left enough meat on the bone for others to spoil so end of my rant.

[Bulltahr]

I think that the writers have done a good thing there, turning the tables a bit, makes it less predictable and not just a re-hash like they usually do.....

I actually like Johnny better than Daniel ATM...... And Creese arriving at the end of the series is of course a sure sign that season 2 is on the way, I'm sure it's already been written and pre-production is well advanced by now. Good show I thought...

[LLLEARNER]

Daniel always had a temper issue. I see kicking the cup at totally in character if we consider how unbalanced he is. He has not been training for some time as evidenced by his dojo/storage room. His daughter is getting into boys, and abandoning her lifelong friend. His daughter is not training with him anymore. His son has no interest in karate. Miyagi, his father figure, has long since passed. Instead of getting the wife approved midlife crisis sports car (a red Miata) his temper is surfacing against the major changes in his life.

I like Johnny better right now because he is more relatable. He has the better struggle, improving himself.

What I do not understand is the lifelong obsession with high school triumphs and losses. I guess I don't consider my teenage years as the end all and be all of life. So what, your high school girl moves on to someone else and a different life. So what, your rival opened a dojo with the same name (I think the old signage was much cooler). So what, the guy who beat you has a successful business. Johnny never moved on from that defeat. He has the same tv, same car, same movie collection, same Atari, same magazines. I kept waiting for the red jacket. Even the tournament committee seemed to put a bigger fuss over the winner from 30 YEARS ago than was necessary. I know Daniel has stayed local, been involved with the tournament, and is somewhat of a local celebrity. It just seemed they were trying a little too hard. Maybe martial arts tournaments are like that, I have not been around them enough to notice.

What growth did Daniel display after 30 years? He immediately throws a temper tantrum when he learns his attentive, solid, high performing student is Johnny's son. Up to that point, when has his student and employee ever displayed anything other than an eagerness to learn and respect to him, karate and his business except when they were Daniel's fault. He gave much more flack to Miyagi.

[sensei8]

You are ALL bad, bad people!!

I'm that curious cat, yes I know curiosity killed the cat, and whenever I see a thread title, like this one, well, darn it, I'm drawn to it, like a moth to the flame.

Plus, as a KF Sensei, I have to read posts, as it's part of my duties here at KF.

Meany bad people...all of you.

[LLLEARNER]

You are ALL bad, bad people!!

I'm that curious cat, yes I know curiosity killed the cat, and whenever I see a thread title, like this one, well, darn it, I'm drawn to it, like a moth to the flame.

Plus, as a KF Sensei, I have to read posts, as it's part of my duties here at KF.

Meany bad people...all of you.

I will own that.

[MatsuShinshii]

Me too.

[sensei8]

To LLLEARNER and MastsuShinshii...

[JR 137]

I wasn’t surprised by any of Daniel’s flaws. He was a hot-head in the movies, and Miyagi was the one who showed him the errors of his thinking. The difference is he was a teenager then and an adult now.

I also wasn’t surprised that he didn’t stand up to his wife and daughter when he had strong feelings things were wrong. Instead his wife made him feel ashamed for being strict. His wife was ok with their daughter having the friends over for a party while they were out at the country club. I wasn’t surprised that Daniel allowed his wife and daughter to make him the bad guy in that ordeal. He had problems sticking up for himself in the movies, and this is simply the adult version of that flaw. Instead of saying “I don’t care if I embarrassed her when I threw out the kids who had a party behind my back,” he was trying to apologize by making a special breakfast and appeasing his daughter and wife. He knew he was right, yet he didn’t stand his ground. Same for pretty much every other family issue. But his wife is also a Miyagi of sorts - she often makes him see his errors. However unlike Miyagi, her ways aren’t always the best way.

I really liked what they did with the Johnny character. They made him human instead of him being a pure evil and one dimensional character. We quickly realize that Johnny didn’t live the wonderful and care-free life we thought he did.

Johnny reminds me of a lot of kids I’ve dealt with as a teacher - he wants to do the right thing and straighten things out, but someone or something external gets in his way and he resorts to his old self. His (and those kids’) flaw is he can’t let things slide and move on. You come at him with a BB gun, and he’ll retaliate with a rocket launcher.

Both are hung up on “the good old days.” Johnny far more so, but Daniel definitely is too. Johnny can’t handle the fact that he didn’t get everything he wanted and/or thought he would get in life. He lets situations control his reactions rather than trying to follow through with what’s right. For a tough guy and fighter, accepts defeat too easily when he can’t get his way through physical means - he wants to be a part of his son’s life again until his son reminds him he’s a deadbeat; he backs off when his ex tells him it’s too late to be a father. If he can’t punch and kick his way out of it, he’s out of ideas.

[JR 137]

As far as the MA in it goes... yeah. If you’re watching it as a MAist, forget it. It’s to be expected though. Actual MA isn’t flashy and doesn’t translate well to the screen.

As MatsuShinshii said, the kick was stupid. But what can you expect? They ended the original with a stupid and unrealistic kick. They had to use a seemingly impossible kick to end it again. While that one annoyed me, it’s nothing compared to the real offender...

Seiunchin. They butchered it in I think 2, outright butchered it in 3, and continued to do so this time around. Every single thing thing about it is just awful - eliminating steps, adding those spinning kicks while they’re on the docks, and perhaps more annoying, the application. Every time Johnny’s son moved his arms to focus made more angry. Completely stupid and doing kata as a whole a disservice.

Seiunchin is my favorite kata, so maybe I’m overly sensitive here though.