Cobra Kai

[thecolorsblend]

By the by...

Are we talking odds on Miguel being Terry Silver's son? Or Barnes's?

[BatmanFurst]

By the by...

Are we talking odds on Miguel being Terry Silver's son? Or Barnes's?

How can that be? Miguel's Hispanic, and he doesn't look mixed to me. Also, why would Silver's son be in Reseda?

[thecolorsblend]

By the by...

Are we talking odds on Miguel being Terry Silver's son? Or Barnes's?

How can that be? Miguel's Hispanic, and he doesn't look mixed to me. Also, why would Silver's son be in Reseda?

Rashida Jones is half-African American but most people wouldn't know that by looking at her. Point being that sometimes a mixed-race person doesn't look mixed-race.

Now that I think about it tho, Silver is possibly too old to be Miguel's father. Maybe.

[Silver Nemesis]

I didn't think it was coming out so soon. But January 1st it is. That'll give us all something to watch over the second half of Christmas.

[thecolorsblend]

I didn't think it was coming out so soon. But January 1st it is. That'll give us all something to watch over the second half of Christmas.

I can roll with that date. Pleasant surprise. I've been pretty stoked for season 03 so this works for me.

[thecolorsblend]

"BS, I heard you were the real bully!"

Heh, glad somebody acknowledged that.

[thecolorsblend]

Spoiler alert. Read the next stuff at your own risk.

"BS, I heard you were the real bully!"

Heh, glad somebody acknowledged that.

Finished the season. First time I've binged an entire season of something all in one day. Weird but here we are.

For openers, I kind of enjoyed how the various rivalries and factions invert the usual high school hierarchy. One thing I discovered near the end of high school is just how fragile the hierarchy truly is. I have no idea what it's like these days but in my day, people who weren't part of the in-crowd were expected to stay away from them. And vice versa. Social currency mattered greatly to most kids my age. But the events of the first two seasons haven't happened in a vacuum. The end result of that stuff, especially the massive brawl near the end of season 02, is that the gravity is being heavily warped in the high school. Kids are making friends and associations (by choice and by necessity) that have greatly distorted the social ecosystem and that has a deep plausibility to it. For me, anyway, Ymmv.

Backstory on Kreese. In itself, it's quite good. But the actor playing Terry Silver looks, um, basically nothing like Terry Silver. By itself, that's not the end of the world. Except the other Special Forces operative looks a LOT like Silver. Same weird face, same ponytail, same everything. But nope, the other guy is Silver. Because reasons. It's weird and distracting. I liked Kreese's backstory, don't get me wrong. But the business related to Silver was just so bizarre that I don't understand how or why it was allowed to happen.

The consequences of violence has been the main franchise of this show for me. We all bring our own baggage to the table. An acquired aversion to irl violence as much as possible is my baggage. I'm from the school of violence only as self-defense and only as a truly last resort. When the only alternative is death. Because cycles of violence are absolutely real and once the snowball starts rolling down the hill, there's no saying how things will turn out.

The business with Chozen... well, let's talk about that. Episode 04 features the return of Chozen. The last ten seconds or so were predictable enough. Then again, Chozen's return was spoiled early. Still, Chozen's character arc does seem to conflict with Cobra Kai's theme of "cycles of violence never end". But I don't think his more pacifistic ways and forgiving nature challenge that theme so much as reinforce it. Chozen is the guy who should bear one hell of a grudge against Daniel. But Sato got to him. Sato's life wasn't in vain after all. Sato was able to impart the most important lesson he ever learned to Chozen: the value of forgiveness. As a result, Chozen taught Daniel very important lessons that probably enabled him to survive the finale.

Chozen and the bell girl from KK2 both embody the values of mercy and forgiveness. Chozen indirectly saved Daniel's life. The KK2 bell girl directly saved his business.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that for Daniel's participation, Cobra Kai season 03 is very much a sequel to KK2 from the standpoint that Daniel revisits so many of those characters, themes and conflicts from a more mature, grown-up point of view.

The return of Ali. Yeah, we all knew it would come to that in the end. Her purpose is basically shining a light on the value of nostalgia. Nostalgia is fine in its place. But it's still worth remembering that we sometimes adopt a rose-colored view of things. Daniel and Johnny both idealized their relationships with Ali. Here, for a change, we get her perspective. And ultimately, it's not too important. They were kids! And they did kid things in a kid time in a kid way. The past is prologue; move along.

Johnny vs. Kreese. It went just about the way I thought it would. I always figured if Kreese and Johnny ever truly came to blows, Kreese would crush him. Johnny put up more of a fight than I'd expected, and arguably won until Kreese took a cheap shot. But like the mythical snake, Johnny always knew Kreese's true nature. For Kreese, that wasn't a cheap shot. It's just winning. Very good for character.

Daniel vs. Kreese. Same thing, in a way. If they'd squared off before Daniel had a chance to reunite with Chozen, I don't see how Daniel wins. But win, Daniel does. The look he trades with Johnny is just perfect. "This is your time, this is your moment, this is your kill". Johnny might've wanted Kreese for himself but I think Daniel had a just plain better claim. Kreese sent the Cobra Kais to Daniel's house. Who knows how badly out of control that could've gotten? The law aside, Daniel had a moral right to end Kreese right then and there. It is a strange irony that Samantha inadvertently saved Kreese's life after he had deliberately endangered hers.

The perfection of those moments is enough to make me overlook the plotholes going on there. How did Daniel know to find Kreese at the dojo at that time of night? How did Sam know what her father would do and find him there? It's easy to make educated guesses as to how all that came about but we never see it. So, technically, those are plotholes. But I don't rly care. Esp when filling in those plotholes would've destroyed the rhythm of the finale.

Finally, the post-mortem character development for Mr. Miyagi continues. It's clear that Miyagi truly was deadly. Miyagi taught Daniel everything Daniel knew. But it's crystal clear that Miyagi never taught Daniel everything Miyagi himself knew. Which adds up. He wanted Daniel to be able to defend himself. And Daniel can. At least nine out of ten people in the world are probably no match for Daniel in his prime.

But teaching the offensive killing arts would logically be something that Miyagi would refuse to do. He served in the war and probably dealt out more death than he cared to remember. Miyagi would have no taste for teaching others to kill. He did his duty in the service. And that's fine. But I think Miyagi would've wanted to killing behind forever once the war ended.

Plus, on a selfish level, I imagine that Miyagi believed that adding offensive maneuvers intended to kill diluted the moral and philosophical purity of his karate. In teaching Daniel only defensive moves, he ensured that Daniel would never be able to misuse his abilities.

All in all, season 03 is highly enjoyable. I'd say it's more Daniel's season than the previous two. Whether that's good or bad is up to you.

[The Joker]

Thanks for posting that review, Colors.

Sounds like a pretty good season, but that Terry Silver stuff sounds incredibly frustrating. I take it that Thomas Ian Griffith didn't want to return anymore than Chad McQueen did for Season 2. That's disappointing. Anything on Mike Barnes this season?

[thecolorsblend]

Sounds like a pretty good season, but that Terry Silver stuff sounds incredibly frustrating. I take it that Thomas Ian Griffith didn't want to return

The sequence involving Silver took place in probably 1970 or 1971. So, obviously they needed to cast younger actors and Griffith wouldn't have been appropriate for that. Just saying that the actors who were chosen for that sequence were a bit wonky.

anymore than Chad McQueen did for Season 2.

He didn't want to come back? Never heard about that.

Anything on Mike Barnes this season?

Nope. But the return of Terry Silver got teased this season a lot like the return of Ali got teased last season. So there's that.

Somewhere along the line, I got the idea that Sean Kanan would be up for coming back. So I wouldn't be too surprised if that's held back for season 05 or something. In fact, five seasons would be a pretty good run for this show. No idea how likely that is but five sounds good.

[The Joker]

Ah, ok. For some reason I took it as you meaning Silver returned in the present day, but played by a different actor. I get what you're saying now.

He didn't want to come back? Never heard about that.

Yeah, Martin Kove made an honest attempt in getting him back for that Cobra Kai reunion episode with a dying Tommy, and Chad just wasn't interested. So as a consequence, we got the line about Dutch still currently serving time in prison.

Bummer about Barnes still being MIA, but as you said, that's a character that can be teased for a Season 5. Always leave us wanting more.