Cobra Kai: Post First. Post Hard. No Mercy.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Cobra Kai: Post First. Post Hard. No Mercy.

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

I was just about to write up a thread for this as I just finished it. It certainly ended in a different direction than I would have thought!

# ¿ Apr 27, 2019 02:04

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 20:49

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Robbies thing is being a 90s kid actor thrust in a show about 80s adults and 2010s kids. Hes pretty much Dicaprio on Growing Pains.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2019 04:20

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

I'm just waiting for Walton Goggins to show up in the show.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2020 07:40

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

The flashback Terry Silva fake out was funny.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2021 17:56

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

MiddleOne posted:

Yeah (E10) they nailed that LMAO. Got me. I'm so curious how they'll gloss over what a humiliation the last time that favour being called in ended up being.

Have so many thoughts about the season. To start off, there sure were a lot of returning cast members from season 1 that were absent in season 2. Were there production issues with season 2 or something?

Shameful lack of Karate's bad boy outside of the one flashback. Is he the only plot-central character from the movies not to make a return at this point? I guess pot-girl too.

Michael Ironside and Walton Goggins havent been back.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2021 19:42

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Dawgstar posted:

Yeah. We've got that from Barney of all the characters on HIMYM and apparently a lot of sites ran with a YouTube video from some content creator I never heard of because said creator apparently looked at what was happening between Ali and Johnny and Daniel stepping in, getting his rear end kicked, and thought 'yes hmm clearly it is poor Johnny who is the real victim.'

Said video also called Miyagi a 'demon sorcerer.' So. Yeah.

More to it then that. Those of us that were the nerdy/bullied kids when Karate Kid came out that grew up to be somewhat well adjusted and experienced Johnny's side too started looking at the movie differently, when we all cheered for Daniel initially. Its kind of like looking at Revenge of the Nerds now and realizing they suck and one is a rapist! 80s kids weren't getting all of that.

The show understands that neither were right and kept escalating with each other, spurred on by their mentors. But its funnier to just blame Daniel because he's really annoying in retrospect.

The season explains it perfectly where he tries to justify ruining the weed smoking hose thing with, "I couldn't resist."

Darko fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Jan 3, 2021

# ¿ Jan 3, 2021 05:11

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

I did find the pivotal Robbie moment contrived with timing. As stated, even as stunted as Johnny is, he still would say I have to meet my son in prison today. Him just being late with the same result would have worked better.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2021 13:28

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

punk rebel ecks posted:

Karate Kid has like a 40% approval in Rotten Tomatoes. The third film is even worse, which makes me wonder if they were bad or just good films that reviewers misunderstood.

Huh? Karate Kid 1 is well reviewed, 2 is middling, 3 is bad but like infamous bad movie bad, 4 is made for TV bad, remake is kind of good. Which is basically what they are.

The first is a genuinely good coming of age movie, 2 is a typical 80s sequel thats not as good as 1, 3 is so stupid that it's funny - especially the villain that acts like Calgon from Space Mutiny, 4 is just stupid boring. Remake is pretty decent and is helped by an excellent acting job from Chan, but gets underrated because people like hating on Will Smith's family (I've responded to several people in the past that complained about it without even seeing it?)

# ¿ Jan 5, 2021 23:52

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Spacebump posted:

I fairly certian the dealership car brand changes between season 1 and 2. (prob because of sponsors.) I wasn't paying as close attention in s3.

Season 1 was literally all Audi and Porsche. I noticed because I thought that was a really weird dealership.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2021 11:59

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

I finished it; really good season overall. I was hoping Michael Ironside and Walton Goggins would show up but maybe next season.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2021 18:32

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

MichaelFlatley posted:

After marathoning the season did anyone else think Chozen was initially written to be Julie Pierce?

Yeah, that would have been better honestly. Would also tie into "other dojo owners" line to bring in cameos from that one.

Best part if the season was Johnny's montage music. Of course it would be that.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2022 01:42

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

PneumonicBook posted:

Alright so Karate Kid 3, I wrote this basically real time to the movie and it's a stream of conscience, despair all who enter.

First of all Tony Silver gives me huge Wolfgang Krauser vibes (from the Fatal Fury 2 movie) in the movie, same as he did in Season 4, a lot of that has to do with the piano whenever he's around, he's rich, and he's a good fighter. Because of this, I'm already biased. Ralph Macchio really sells himself as an overzealous teen, but also I can totally see how he could end up as a car salesman like he did in Cobra Kai, way more so than in the first two movies. Things like this just make me appreciate how they set up Cobra Kai more. I like that Silver and Kreese's relationship is basically identical to how it is in Cobra Kai. In the beginning of KK3 Silver tells Kreese that he's going to make these guys pay and Kreese is very much like nah you don't have to go to those lengths, which echoes the Season 4 moment when Silver brings Johnny into the old dojo. The super wide pan out when theyre doing the Miyagi kata is a great shot. Snake being the baddest guy in LA is uh..certainly a thing. This movie also does a lot (as do the other two) to show why Daniel is the way he is as far as putting MIyagi on a pedestal. Miyaig was able to just kind of go with the flow and Daniel is constantly working through his aggressive nature to be more like this father figure he has that is at this point in his life completely the opposite of him. At this point in the movie the big failing is not showing why Mike Barnes is an actual threat. Johnny and Chozen were shown as actual threats that affect Daniel's or Miyagi's life, thus far Mike's talked to Silver in a bath tub and been very angry with Daniel about not entering the All Valley. I'll assume this changes at some point. Oh okay Barnes beats up his under aged not love interest and then beats up Daniel, I suppose taht shows that there are some stakes. Daniel yelling at Miyagi that "This is the 80's you have to do something!" is pretty hilarious given how passive he is in Cobra Kai. The entire roping down the mountain scene is peak bad 80s, especially the part where Barnes is just going to kill Daniel if he doesn't sign the application. The Bonsai Tree getting murdered because of Daniel's impulsiveness really speaks to again how passive he is in Cobra Kai. Whenever he does anything, ever, it goes wrong, always. Better to be passive and try to defend the hits, I guess.

Daniel running right to Cobra Kai isn't super believable. Miyagi brings him a broom to learn sweeps and who knows what kind of bizarre Miyagi Do technique he'd teach him? Daniel should know this is how he teaches. Now Daniel is stealing the magic healing dust while the Bonsai tree dies. WHAT COULD THIS MEAN? This band in the dance scene is extremely 80s as well. Daniel clocking the creep and having a crisis of conscience doesn't seem earned. He feels bad because the movie requires him to feel bad, a lot of the conflict in this part of the movie is just precipitated by needing to get to a to b to c, which is pretty disappointing. The Miyagi scene where he beats Silver and Creese is pretty sweet. That's one thing all of the movies did well, was show Miyagi to be an impenetrable bastion of defense.

The tournament fight is just Daniel getting his poo poo kicked in. The movies have never made Daniel a believable fighter and this keeps with tradition. Daniel beats Mike Barnes by confusing him with a...kata...

At the end of the day not a lot happened in this movie, but it does paint Silver as a convincing rear end in a top hat of a villain but no one needs to watch this. The movie ending with just The End, credits is pretty bad but theres nothing to talk about so...

From a Cobra Kai perspective it helps solidifying Daniel's reverence of Miyagi and why he's incredibly passive, but you don;t need to watch this movie to understand the basics of their relationship. I started watching Cobra Kai after only watching the First Karate Kid before, and I'd argue neither of the sequels are required viewing, nor should anyone watch them. Instead watch the end of Karate Kid 2 and all of the Silver clips on Youtube and you're covered.

I think I've been trolled.

It's so bad it's good, mainly from Silva hamming it up. Not sure why you got the impression that it was good, good.

Karate Kid 4 is so bad It's bad, in comparison, even with Walton Goggins AND Michael Ironside

# ¿ Jan 2, 2022 12:13

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

cartoons123 posted:

Yeah, I know it's been said multiple times before, but this does seem like endgame territory especially now. There's not too much left to set-up, kids are getting older, one of them is already becoming a movie star now.

Michael Ironside and Walton Goggins as the final villains of course.

I hate that they don't want to crossover with Jackie Chan and Jaden. Having a World Warrior tournament with Jaden as the final boss with Jackie as his coach would be the best ending.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2022 03:40

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Medullah posted:

Ahh okay cousin makes it slightly less weird to me.

Daniel was specifically not dating the Karate Kid 3 girl because Ralph Macchio felt weird about being so much older. That whole thing was platonic on screen.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2022 15:08

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Michael Ironside can be the big bad.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2022 02:51

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 20:49

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

LividLiquid posted:

Personally, I'm disappointed we've not revisited Miyagi's only other student from the films. The Next Karate Kid wasn't great, but Julie Pierce at least warrants a mention if you can't get Hilary Swank. Speaking of:

Has this been confirmed? I haven't heard anything about them even trying.

On another topic, there's a great throughline of this season about Johnny learning to be a supporting character in his own story. He has to grow up to be a dad, instantly does the beginnings of the work, and he sort of hands the franchise back to Daniel this year for a season. This was way more The Karate Kid sequel show than it was a show about Johnny and Cobra Kai this year, and it's great that they gave Daniel his own season with Silver as his villain before handing the show back to Johnny for the wrap-up with Kreese's return as main antagonist.

They are very open to getting her in and she's being coy about it. It just seems to be a scheduling thing.

Thats why we definitely need Ironside and Goggins, stat. If you want to beat John and Silva, those are the two to ham it up even more.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2022 01:42

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Cobra Kai: Post First. Post Hard. No Mercy.