Season 3 Discussion

[norcalgal]

23 minutes ago, Megan said:

Ralph Macchio looks so much like Tony Hawk. 80's colliding.

Watching the thingy with David Spade and Cobra Kai cast and WTF are the boys wearing? So much weird jewelry and monochromatic jacket outfits.

What thingy is this?  Can I see it on YouTube? Or on...?

[Conotocarious]

9 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

What thingy is this?  Can I see it on YouTube? Or on...?

Its on Netflix right after episode 10.

[DoctorAtomic]

I shut off the show with a minute to go in the credits, so the ad for the Afterparty didn't pop up. You'd think they would add it to the episode list. Yeah about the outfits though.

They all seemed really outgoing and upbeat.

Shue was really fun.

It's funny Macchio was saying the KK franchise was like Star Wars to TPTBs because they handled this franchise way better.

Edited January 3, 2021 by DoctorAtomic

[bettername2come]

2 hours ago, Racj82 said:

I will say bravo to the show for never using Ali as plot device to fix Miguel. That seemed like a no brainier and they just didn't bother going there.

When they said "they're flying in some doctor from out of state" and showed her, I swear it was a blonde woman that bore something of a resemblance to Elisabeth Shue, so they knew we were all assuming it and they got in a little reference to it. 

[norcalgal]

32 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

Its on Netflix right after episode 10.

Ok thanks. I never saw this advertised anywhere so didn’t know I should stick around post credits. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

6 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Then there's the whole plot line of the evil dojo, which I find just as ridiculous.  I'm not saying that there's not some whackos out there in the martial arts, but having seen Mr. Chat through his Tae-Kwon-Do years, there was none of this kind of behavior from his dojo or anybody else's that they went to competition with.  It was all about self-discipline and defending one's self if necessary.  It wasn't about going out and picking fights with other people. 

The premise of the series and the films it is based on, though, is that there are people who are going to ignore or pervert the notion that the martial arts should be about defense. And particularly when we are talking about kids, they would be prone to ignore the spirituality and discipline parts and focus on the looking cool and kicking ass parts.

6 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Not to mention, apparently Miguel couldn’t go back to school until he was walking again?  No reasonable accommodations here?  I’m just going to go with all the eye-rolliness and enjoy it for what it is. Kept expecting Batman-style “bam” “pow” during all the fight scenes. 

First, I don't know if we know how much time passed between when Miguel was conscious and when he was walking. 

But most importantly, there were in addition to the physical injuries the mental and emotional ones. If I'm Carmen or a school official, I'm not going to try to push Miguel to come back to school until he's good and ready to come to the place  where he was put in a coma. 

Come to think of it, one would think that the school would have been bending over backwards to pay for Miguel's care to avoid the lawsuit that would have inevitably been filed if this was the real world.

6 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

Agreed. Also, while I think many of the younger actors have grown into their roles, I feel like you can really see the most development with XM's line deliveries and emoting than the others.

On another note, Ali first mentions to Johnny that she and her husband are separated, but later in the same conversation says her parents are mad at her about "the whole divorce thing." Even later (following episode) she mentions to Daniel that it's just Mills now, no Schwarber. Almost all the pictures we see on her FB page are also of her alone, or occasionally with her kids (no hubby). 

My takeaway is that she is actually divorced now, and not just separated. It's possible that the writers just used those terms interchangeably in her dialogue with Johnny, without regard to the fact that they have very different meanings/implications (as any child of separated or divorced parents would know). I hope that they were actually doing this intentionally, though; maybe Ali was initially nervous about being forthcoming about the extent of her marriage situation, but later became more comfortable with Johnny. He didn't seem to have much reaction at the different terminology, though. It's possible that the writers may also be hedging their bets here, setting up a storyline for a possible love triangle with Johnny-Carmen-and-Ali if they can get Elisabeth Shue back for a few more episodes in S4.

The way I remember/interpret things is that Ali has been separated from Schwerber for a while and divorce is inevitable, not that Ali is actually divorced and is being cagey about it. It's not uncommon for women who are getting divorced to start going by their maiden name before the divorce is final.

5 hours ago, RunningMarket said:

My one main issue is Tory. The way she is presented, her entire MO is that she doesn't like Sam because, reasons? Because Sam is wealthier than her? Because Sam and her dated the same guy? Good luck in life Tory, if you're always going to be pissed off because someone has it better than you. Of all the Cobras, she's the one I would actually be concerned about - she needs professional help for her anger. And not the kind karate can bring you.

I mean, again in both fiction and real life, teen (and adult) resentments have been built out of less than class differences and jealousy.

[nomodrama]

3 hours ago, moonshine71 said:

9 hours ago, nomodrama said:

The kids, oh man the kids. It's very clear to me that when they did the casting for this show they seriously went for karate ability over acting ability. 

Also a more petty nitpick but this took me right out of the show....when they showed Kreese in Vietnam, one of his war buddies had super long hair. No that would never in a million years have happened. That doesn't happen in the military now, it would especially not happen back them, particularly because the military was so again hippie culture and hair like that was associated with it. They couldn't just hire an actor for that very small part with short hair....come on!

Lol, most of those kids are have no particular talent for karate and are generally unathletic. Any deficiencies you find in their acting has nothing to do with being chosen for karate skills and everything to do w/ the fact this show started on YouTube w/ a more limited budget and was less likely to draw the caliber of talent that one would imagine it could do now.

Maybe but the girl that plays Sam was on that David Spade show on Netflix and she mentioned that she has a black belt. She also said she slept thru her original audition time but she worked everything out thru her agent and rescheduled so I figured they must have really wanted kids with some martial arts backgrounds. 

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, nomodrama said:

she mentioned that she has a black belt

I thought that was a joke. 

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, nomodrama said:

The kids, oh man the kids. It's very clear to me that when they did the casting for this show they seriously went for karate ability over acting ability. 

Of the young set, Jacob Bertrand is actually pretty good. Unfortunately they didn't give a lot of range for Hawke this year. He had better writing in the first two seasons. 

Surprisingly Mary Mousser has the second most acting experience of the "kids." Kind of surprised- she's never had the kind of buzz around her that Peyton List seems to gotten at various points in her career. (I'd say Peyton is kind of similar to Dove Cameron- Disney Star with some pushing for fame but not quite household name.)  First is Peyton List, which doesn't surprise me., but only one credit more than Mary at 56. Then there's Jacob, who has 40 credits, and Tanner, at 29 credits. I think the rest are under 20 credits.

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I mean, again in both fiction and real life, teen (and adult) resentments have been built out of less than class differences and jealousy.

The foundation for the Sam/Tori rivalry is that Sam didn't like that Tori was sneaking drinks with Aisha at the country club, and then she accused Tori of stealing like wallets and stuff. That pissed Tori off enough that she pushed Sam into table and that spilled pudding or cake or whatever on her. (Maybe chocolate mousse?) That was the foundation and everything snowballed from there. Anyway, I've always joked that the biggest lesson that high school teaches you is how to work with people you can't stand. The workplace is basically high school, just without classes.

4 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Ali ended up being more like their Christmas angel than another source of conflict. Thank God for that. Daniel and Johnny fall apart at the end of every season. Finally we end with them united.

I loved how they wrote Ali- a divorcing middle-aged mom who has had pretty much a "by the rules" life, and decides to revisit some old relationships in her life. It was sweet, and it felt real, and I think everyone has had that moment where you feel like hanging out with people from your past to try and recapture what it used to feel like, as a respite from the general crap of adulthood. 

It's funny when you remember that Ali and Johnny didn't get a lot of scenes together in the original movie, but I thought Zabka and Shue really sold the "former high school sweethearts" moments. It makes me feel kind of sad that Shue doesn't get to play those romantic leading lady parts anymore because of Hollywood sexism and ageism. (Unless she was willing to go to Hallmark, but her career has been such that she's never had to resort to that.) 

[Zanne]

10 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Not to mention, apparently Miguel couldn’t go back to school until he was walking again?  No reasonable accommodations here? 

I'm a teacher and, very often, the parents have to request home-hospital where a teacher will come to the home to help the student keep up somewhat with school work if the student needs to be out of school for a long period of time for health reasons. I'm sure that in some cases the school or district may take the initiative to offer it, but it can really depend on your district/administrators. But, watching a kid get tutored for several weeks probably wouldn't be as exciting as watching him jump for a Sports Illustrated.

6 hours ago, TigerLily20 said:

A friend of mine works in Middle School and while over all it's not an overly rough school they have had a few instances, and she has told me they are not to get involved between students, so yeah this part didn't surprise me much.

Special Education teachers/paraprofessionals in my district get trained to use CPI, which is a crisis intervention program that first relies on deescalation, but does include certain restrictive holds in cases where a child is a danger to themselves or others. Much of what we learn in CPI is only useful if the student is attacking us, not another student. I've been in a couple of situations where I had to use it when it was fighting between students and it was absolutely terrifying.

General Education teachers do not get this training, at least not in my district. So, overall, yes, teachers are not supposed to get in the middle of a fight, but need to get the rest of the students out of the room and away from danger so I can see why no adults were jumping in between the fighting students. They'd likely be fired for accidentally hurting any of the students, even in self-defense or defense of another student. However, I am surprised they weren't trying harder to get the others students away, though no kid would willingly want to leave the site of a brawl on school grounds. They'd all be taking videos on their cell phones.

[moonshine71]

13 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I think the stunt doubles for the older actors like Kove, Macchio, and Zabka must have been a Covid19 restriction guideline because two actors are in their 50s and one is in his 70s. While in the first two seasons before the pandemic, they did do those stunts themselves and even though they are not karate expert in those seasons, it was still contact among individuals. I would not have been shocked at all if it was a meeting decision to make sure the actors are not put in harm's way. While the other two younger actors are karate trained and engaged in these stunts, I would not be shocked if some meeting went on when the pandemic was in full force.

Nope.

Season three was filmed in 2019. Post production was pretty much completed by the time lockdown went into effect. It sat for an extended length because 1. It had to find a new home and land on Netflix, and 2. Netflix then wanted to give subscribers ample time to view the previous 2 seasons and build up anticipation and buzz for season three.

Stunt doubles are because those guys are old, slow, and at risk of injury.

[moonshine71]

10 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Oh of course. That could happen. But, they also had that little hand touch in okinawa that could have been hinting at things that ultimately were nothing. I think there was an air of oh what could have been with Daniel and both of his exes but I don't think they will do anything with it. 

But, I love Amanda clocking the two hugs because I did too. It didn't anger her but she saw it and Daniel without any hesitation threw that possible concern away. 

Ali ended up being more like their Christmas angel than another source of conflict. Thank God for that. Daniel and Johnny fall apart at the end of every season. Finally we end with them united.

I think the writers were clearly trying to give us a series of misdirects this season 

1. The very Kreese-esque jock(played by his son who looks very much like him) turning out not to be Kreese, but his bully.

2. "Ponytail" getting killed, and Kreese's other fellow soldier being Terry Silver.

3. The hand touch in w/ Kumiko went nowhere. And angry Chozen turned out to him pulling Daniel's leg and being just the opposite.

4. Johnny and Ali were clearly headed for a kiss before she got her phone alert, which had me dreading some Johnny/Carmen/Ali triangle, or even just Carmen getting some wrong impression and messing up her relationship w/ Johnny, which would surely sour his relationship w/ Miguel. Which, honestly, wouldn't have been fair to Johnny. Carmen just showed up at his place and threw herself on him the night before, to expect any type of commitment from that is a bit presumptuous(and i say that as someone who was hoping for them to repair their relationship all season).

I think, from Ali's last words, that's not a threat now. The both seem to have come to the idea that they have gotten closure, let the past be the past and move forward. Credit again to Amanda, since she filled Ali in on Carmen(which seems to have turned the tide for Ali). Although it is a little strange since as far as Amanda knows, her and Daniel had dinner w/ Johnny and Carmen like 8-9 months ago and she knows nothing of whether they are together or anything that had happened since.

5. Also, Miguel describing his miracle doctor from out of state, and the short glimpse we get of that Dr. when Carmen is called to speak to her at the end of ep. 3, she is a dead ringer for Elizabeth Shue(and I guess it still could have been her, but it would be strange at this point that she didn't recognize Miguel in Johnny's Facebook posts as her patient, or that the connection wasn't put together in some way. That was one of my big concerns, in true tv trope fashion, Johnny shares a kiss w/ Ali, then the next day Carmen asks Johnny to accompany her and Miguel on a follow up visit w/ his surgeon, who turns out to be... 😒. Everything implodes for Johnny!)

Edited January 3, 2021 by moonshine71

[moonshine71]

Biggest reveal of this season that i haven't seen mentioned yet-

For 30+ years we've believed that Ali dumped Daniel for some football player at UCLA(which always seemed a little strange and out of character to me)

It turns out that Daniel was just a jealous, insecure dumbass who ruined that relationship himself.

[DeeDee79]

36 minutes ago, moonshine71 said:

Biggest reveal of this season that i haven't seen mentioned yet-

For 30+ years we've believed that Ali dumped Daniel for some football player at UCLA(which always seemed a little strange and out of character to me)

It turns out that Daniel was just a jealous, insecure dumbass who ruined that relationship himself.

This made me think back on the scene at Golf N’Stuff in KK1 when he followed Ali around angrily ranting about what he thought happened at the country club before her friend set him straight. It’s totally believable that he would go that route again and lose his girlfriend because of it.

[Robert Lynch]

2 hours ago, moonshine71 said:

Nope.

Season three was filmed in 2019. Post production was pretty much completed by the time lockdown went into effect. It sat for an extended length because 1. It had to find a new home and land on Netflix, and 2. Netflix then wanted to give subscribers ample time to view the previous 2 seasons and build up anticipation and buzz for season three.

Stunt doubles are because those guys are old, slow, and at risk of injury.

Thanks for clearing that up!

[Racj82]

59 minutes ago, moonshine71 said:

Biggest reveal of this season that i haven't seen mentioned yet-

For 30+ years we've believed that Ali dumped Daniel for some football player at UCLA(which always seemed a little strange and out of character to me)

It turns out that Daniel was just a jealous, insecure dumbass who ruined that relationship himself.

It is a big reveal but not shocking to me.

Above all else, this is why I always wanted Ali back. Johnny, through this show, got a chance to show that he was more than the ultimate 80s bully. We got to see his side. Ali never got that chance and it's one of the shittiest ways to write out a beloved character I've ever seen. And because Shue wasn't available for filming, we never even got to see her again. 

I also don't believe that what Ali says here was the original intention. It's the show rehabbing a very shitty writing decision. Which I'm totally fine with. 

I hope they never bring in Robin Lively from part 3. There is nothing there to examine or revisit. They had her friend zone Daniel after seemingly being really into a date with him and wrote her off before the tournament. Like why even have this character here? They didn't want Daniel to fall in love AGAIN but why write that character in the way they did initially or not have her be there for Daniel as a friend?

I'm also curious about Silver because the actor has made it clear that he has retired and has no interest in acting again. He could just be blustering or faking to preserve a secret. Who knows. You also have actors like the sheriff from Twin Peaks that flat out refused to come back for the revival because he was legit done with acting and away from hollywood.

Lastly, I just realized how wrong it feels to write Daniel's name as Danny in the case of Larusso. Just feels wrong. I guess because Miyagi never called him Danny.

[bettername2come]

50 minutes ago, Racj82 said:

They didn't want Daniel to fall in love AGAIN but why write that character in the way they did initially or not have her be there for Daniel as a friend?

She was originally intended to be a love interest in the movie, but then there were second thoughts after Robyn Lively was cast, so she friendzoned him due to her being an actual 16-year-old and him being like 27. Although I guess that doesn't explain her being absent at the end of the film. 

Edited January 3, 2021 by bettername2come

[moonshine71]

55 minutes ago, Racj82 said:

It is a big reveal but not shocking to me.

Above all else, this is why I always wanted Ali back. Johnny, through this show, got a chance to show that he was more than the ultimate 80s bully. We got to see his side. Ali never got that chance and it's one of the shittiest ways to write out a beloved character I've ever seen. And because Shue wasn't available for filming, we never even got to see her again. 

I also don't believe that what Ali says here was the original intention. It's the show rehabbing a very shitty writing decision. Which I'm totally fine with. 

I hope they never bring in Robin Lively from part 3. There is nothing there to examine or revisit. They had her friend zone Daniel after seemingly being really into a date with him and wrote her off before the tournament. Like why even have this character here? They didn't want Daniel to fall in love AGAIN but why write that character in the way they did initially or not have her be there for Daniel as a friend?

I'm also curious about Silver because the actor has made it clear that he has retired and has no interest in acting again. He could just be blustering or faking to preserve a secret. Who knows. You also have actors like the sheriff from Twin Peaks that flat out refused to come back for the revival because he was legit done with acting and away from hollywood.

Lastly, I just realized how wrong it feels to write Daniel's name as Danny in the case of Larusso. Just feels wrong. I guess because Miyagi never called him Danny.

Oh, I would definitely not assume that was their original intention for Ali, the movie just took the simplest and quickest route to explain her absence that made Daniel look sympathetic, and ready to love w/ Kumiko. Glad they have used this opportunity to change that and reveal that we were misled by in unreliable narrator

From what I've read, they weren't opposed so much to Daniel falling in love again, as much as once the role was cast and they got to filming, they became very uncomfortable w/ filming a romance(including kissing scenes) between, iirc, a 16yr old and a 27?yr old(not sure of the ages, but seems like it was 10+ years or something of that nature), so they rewrote that part during filming.

I wouldn't mind a cameo as someone Daniel had maintained a friendship w/, or even that she became friends w/ Amanda and include her in that way. But, no, i don't think she would offer much in the way of a person showing up from the past, that now offers Daniel some kind of new perspective on his life or some sense of closure from an unresolved issue.

Edited January 3, 2021 by moonshine71

[Chit Chat]

10 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

And particularly when we are talking about kids, they would be prone to ignore the spirituality and discipline parts and focus on the looking cool and kicking ass parts.

I disagree with this.  We did not witness this in all of the years Mr. Chat was in Tae-Kwon-Do.  They spent a lot of time doing their forms, with a good amount of time on sparring, but it was never about kicking someone else's ass.  This show is highly exaggerated.  The excessive violence is unnecessary too.  Punching someone in the face and intentionally breaking their arm isn't Karate.  

Again, I was enjoying the show up until the last few episodes.  I don't care if I'm a lone voice on this either.  They need to tone it down a bit.  I want to enjoy a show rather than have to get up and leave the room as they beat the shit out of each other.  YMMV.

[norcalgal]

3 hours ago, moonshine71 said:

Although it is a little strange since as far as Amanda knows, her and Daniel had dinner w/ Johnny and Carmen like 8-9 months ago and she knows nothing of whether they are together or anything that had happened since.

It's not really that strange to me.  Amanda and Carmen aren't actually friends.  (Unless I'm missing something...?) They're in each others' orbit only because of her husband and Johnny. So unless Miguel told Sam what's going on with his mom & his sensei, and then in turn, Sam told her mom, why would Amanda be keeping tabs on Carmen?  

But, I wouldn't mind a genuine friendship between the two since there are few female friendships on this show. Maybe with the alliance at the end of S3, Carmen and Amanda will bond if "their men" do in fact become friends in whatever fashion that entails.

[Racj82]

54 minutes ago, moonshine71 said:

Oh, I would definitely not assume that was their original intention for Ali, the movie just took the simplest and quickest route to explain her absence that made Daniel look sympathetic, and ready to love w/ Kumiko. Glad they have used this opportunity to change that and reveal that we were misled by in unreliable narrator

From what I've read, they weren't opposed so much to Daniel falling in love again, as much as once the role was cast and they got to filming, they became very uncomfortable w/ filming a romance(including kissing scenes) between, iirc, a 16yr old and a 27?yr old(not sure of the ages, but seems like it was 10+ years or something of that nature), so they rewrote that part during filming.

I wouldn't mind a cameo as someone Daniel had maintained a friendship w/, or even that she became friends w/ Amanda and include her in that way. But, no, i don't think she would offer much in the way of a person showing up from the past, that now offers Daniel some kind of new perspective on his life or some sense of closure from an unresolved issue.

Yes, the age was part of it too. An important part but why cast an actual teenager to be put with a grown man? She was originally written as a love interest so...why? There were easy fixes they could have done they just ignored. Part 3 is a really lazy movie. That's mostly what I'm going on about. I would honestly want nothing from that movie. Silver and Barnes are complete cartoons. No amount of backstory would change that. 

[DoctorAtomic]

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Anyway, I've always joked that the biggest lesson that high school teaches you is how to work with people you can't stand.

Holy shit, no kidding. 

I don't remember much from the movies at all. I wasn't in high school when the original came out so I didn't see it until later. The flashbacks help. So I assumed that Daniel somehow screwed it up with Ali anyway. I think the retcon fits the narrative of the current show anyway. 

Part of the show is fanservice, so it isn't a big deal fit me if they bring back other characters. On the Spade show, the reason they took so long for Ali was to fit the narrative properly, so the seem to be thinking ahead well enough. 

 

[wmdekooning]

19 hours ago, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

I love the attempts to present Johnny as technologically inept, and Zabka does a great job with the character, but come on: Anyone would know a laptop needs to be plugged in.

That aside, Johnny was going NOWHERE on a computer running Windows XP. He might be able to Google, but Facebook would not allow a user to access with an unsecured/outdated operating system.

 

Appreciate the gag though...

[DoctorAtomic]

My home computer is on Vista and can still do Facebook. 

[moonshine71]

1 hour ago, norcalgal said:

It's not really that strange to me.  Amanda and Carmen aren't actually friends.  (Unless I'm missing something...?) They're in each others' orbit only because of her husband and Johnny. So unless Miguel told Sam what's going on with his mom & his sensei, and then in turn, Sam told her mom, why would Amanda be keeping tabs on Carmen?  

But, I wouldn't mind a genuine friendship between the two since there are few female friendships on this show. Maybe with the alliance at the end of S3, Carmen and Amanda will bond if "their men" do in fact become friends in whatever fashion that entails.

That's exactly what i mean by strange. I would imagine Ali would have to have brought it up

 "So, is Johnny seeing anyone"

 The response would have to be something along the lines of

 ""Honestly, I would have no idea. We bumped into him at dinner last May and he was on a date and we ate together, but I have no clue if they are still(or were ever, really) together"

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

38 minutes ago, wmdekooning said:

That aside, Johnny was going NOWHERE on a computer running Windows XP. He might be able to Google, but Facebook would not allow a user to access with an unsecured/outdated operating system.

 

Appreciate the gag though...

 

18 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

My home computer is on Vista and can still do Facebook. 

You likely won't get on Facebook using XP or Vista's default browsers (the now-defunct Internet Explorer), but you might still be able to install recent versions of Chrome or Firefox, either of which would allow FB access (this would be beyond Johnny, but Miguel or another student could easily have done it).

[memememe76]

Amanda would probably know about Miguel’s condition and know that Johnny is present at the hospital and the family. Whether that means Johnny and Carmen are romantic all that time is another story, but I could understand Amanda assuming they were a couple. 

[raven]

I don't see the big deal about Ali and UCLA.  Ali and Daniel were (supposed to be) teenagers when they met.   She goes to college and finds someone else; no one has to be a "bad guy".   Sure Daniel telling Mr. Miyagi would have been from his own hurt POV, but IIRC it was a throw away line from the movie.

It would have been refreshing if Cobra Kai had addressed it this way, that Daniel & Ali were young, went in different directions and broke up.  The end.  Nope, instead they have to frame it that someone was in the wrong.    I am thankful they showed that Daniel & Amanda have a secure marriage and there was no jealousy on Amanda's part, at least.

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, Racj82 said:

Yes, the age was part of it too. An important part but why cast an actual teenager to be put with a grown man? She was originally written as a love interest so...why? There were easy fixes they could have done they just ignored. Part 3 is a really lazy movie. That's mostly what I'm going on about. I would honestly want nothing from that movie. Silver and Barnes are complete cartoons. No amount of backstory would change that. 

Yeah, in Teen Witch her love interest was 26 in real life (and looked every bit of his age) while she was 16 when they filmed. In Ralph's case he had just gotten married so that probably added to the weirdness of it. It'd feel weird to be a married man of 27 kissing on a 16-year old.

4 hours ago, Racj82 said:

I hope they never bring in Robin Lively from part 3. There is nothing there to examine or revisit. They had her friend zone Daniel after seemingly being really into a date with him and wrote her off before the tournament. Like why even have this character here? They didn't want Daniel to fall in love AGAIN but why write that character in the way they did initially or not have her be there for Daniel as a friend?

Robyn has been consistently putting Karate Kid content on her Instagram so I'm sure she really wants it. I feel like you could reasonably put her in somewhere. I'm sure they'll fit her in- they've brought back so many people already.

Edited January 3, 2021 by methodwriter85

[Racj82]

3 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Yeah, in Teen Witch her love interest was 26 in real life (and looked every bit of his age) while she was 16 when they filmed. In Ralph's case he had just gotten married so that probably added to the weirdness of it. It'd feel weird to be a married man of 27 kissing on a 16-year old.

Robyn has been consistently putting Karate Kid content on her Instagram so I'm sure she really wants it. I feel like you could reasonably put her in somewhere. I'm sure they'll fit her in- they've brought back so many people already.

It was always going to be weird anyway. That's my point. The other facts don't really matter. Casting with these types of age differences for love interests is just weird.

Yes, they could push her in somewhere. I don't need it. If they were genuine friends we would have seen or heard from her by now. There is no story there. Daniel has a connection that lead him back to his former love from the second movie and Ali is Ali. 

I just think that they don't have to actually shoehorn everyone in that they can. I wouldn't be mad or anything. Just think it would be pointless. 

I would honestly be more interest in Swank popping up. Within the context of the franchise, she was Miyagi's last pupil. It would be interesting to see her meet Daniel or imply that he had helped her at some point being the star pupil and all. Maybe train Sam a little bit in a different way.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I disagree with this.  We did not witness this in all of the years Mr. Chat was in Tae-Kwon-Do.  They spent a lot of time doing their forms, with a good amount of time on sparring, but it was never about kicking someone else's ass.  This show is highly exaggerated.  The excessive violence is unnecessary too.  Punching someone in the face and intentionally breaking their arm isn't Karate.  

Again, I was enjoying the show up until the last few episodes.  I don't care if I'm a lone voice on this either.  They need to tone it down a bit.  I want to enjoy a show rather than have to get up and leave the room as they beat the shit out of each other.  YMMV.

Let's say for discussion's sake that the kids you saw over the years were representative of the overwhelming majority of how kids in martial arts are generally. As a first thing, it doesn't mean that all kids would necessarily be that way, only the overwhelming majority.

I'm also assuming you didn't follow these kids around to see how they interacted with others at school, at home, at malls and so forth. So it's entirely possible that these kids were perfectly mature and respectful in one context and then closer to the kids in Cobra Kai in looser social settings when no adults were around.

Obviously, the violence is hyped up because it's Hollywood. 

[Raja]

22 hours ago, nomodrama said:

 

Also a more petty nitpick but this took me right out of the show....when they showed Kreese in Vietnam, one of his war buddies had super long hair. No that would never in a million years have happened. That doesn't happen in the military now, it would especially not happen back them, particularly because the military was so again hippie culture and hair like that was associated with it. They couldn't just hire an actor for that very small part with short hair....come on!

Today I was just say that the hair was premature as they were being recruited for a special forces mission and now the hair more so than the green berets and SEAL tridents  are now their visual recognition.  That Ponytail had it before as Kreese was being recruited would be the anomaly, if he was a 21st Century special operator.  I do remember Captain Dale Dye as a consultant talking about an actor showing up with a Marine high and tight haircut that he scoffed at for being so long. I do wonder if Ponytail knew someone because all the other soldiers were more in line.

I was watching the NetFlix after show and Ralph Macchio saying that the Cobra Kai show runners were like Star Wars nerds and some things tracked like Identifying Kreese/Johnny's style of Cobra Kai karate coming from Korea as opposed to Miyagi-Do's Okinawan roots as I had seen some martial artist channels coming to that conclusion about the movies.  But then straight to a Star Wars homage was Tory making the use the power of the dark side and hate pitch to Robby, followed by Hawk's Darth Vader like turn  at the Christmas Eve fight.

Chozen never marrying and only having his students seems to be a slightly better version compared to Johnny's story, but sadder in a way as he has no Robby to try to make amends with. And seems that there will be no Carmen in his future either

[paigow]

41 minutes ago, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

(this would be beyond Johnny, but Miguel or another student could easily have done it).

Dude has bigger issues than browsers and OS - difference between wireless & cordless & rechargeable batteries 

[Kel Varnsen]

13 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Come to think of it, one would think that the school would have been bending over backwards to pay for Miguel's care to avoid the lawsuit that would have inevitably been filed if this was the real world.

I am about half way through the season and more than the lack of cops, Miguel's family worrying about paying for his bills seemed like a stretch. Because it seemed like there would be a giant line up of lawyers offering to represent the family for free to get the school to pay for his care. When you add in the press the story was getting and things like go fund me, it seems like a lot would be covered.

Also I am interested in seeing if there is any more Kreese back story. Since based on his attitude and personality in the flashback I saw I am not sure I see him doing well in the army. Mostly because he doesn't seem like the type of guy who would be good with taking orders without question from a 24 year old lieutenant.

 

[Chit Chat]

32 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

So it's entirely possible that these kids were perfectly mature and respectful in one context and then closer to the kids in Cobra Kai in looser social settings when no adults were around.

Again, I disagree.  I never saw this kind of behavior from any martial arts student (we had a few) when I was in school back in the day.  That shit would've been dealt with quickly!   In Mr. Chat's later years in Tae-Kwon-Do, there were lots of get-togethers of the students outside of the dojo, and they were all decent human beings.  I hate that Hollywood has taken the martial arts to this extreme.  We see so much violence in the real world.  They don't need to amp it up for a TV show.   It's not necessary.   

[memememe76]

1 hour ago, Racj82 said:

I would honestly be more interest in Swank popping up. Within the context of the franchise, she was Miyagi's last pupil. It would be interesting to see her meet Daniel or imply that he had helped her at some point being the star pupil and all. Maybe train Sam a little bit in a different way.

I am going to assume that Daniel and Johnny will be butting heads over their different karate philosophies. I would like to see Johnny bring his buddies to support his case. Daniel can bring Chozen and Swank (I never saw that movie, BTW) to support Miyagi-Do. As the only woman in that entire bunch, Swank can provide more representational mentorship for Samantha (and Aishia, they really need to bring her back).

Edited January 3, 2021 by memememe76

[threebluestars]

I figure Robyn Lively's character provides all of the pottery for Daniel's bonsais at the dealership lol.

I don't know why they'd bring her on because I can't think of many reasons why and how she'd affect the plot. Unless she and Mike Barnes ended up burying the hatchet and got married lol.

[Quilt Fairy]

Hey, anybody miss Daniel's son Anthony this season?  

Yeah, I thought not.  

[DoctorAtomic]

He was in like one scene.

[Raja]

14 hours ago, norcalgal said:

Ok thanks. I never saw this advertised anywhere so didn’t know I should stick around post credits. 

I think it is a new stand alone aftershow type series. I turned off as they were about to shift to Queen's Gambit and another NetFlix original

5 hours ago, Racj82 said:

 

I hope they never bring in Robin Lively from part 3. There is nothing there to examine or revisit. They had her friend zone Daniel after seemingly being really into a date with him and wrote her off before the tournament. Like why even have this character here? They didn't want Daniel to fall in love AGAIN but why write that character in the way they did initially or not have her be there for Daniel as a friend?

I'm also curious about Silver because the actor has made it clear that he has retired and has no interest in acting again. He could just be blustering or faking to preserve a secret. Who knows. You also have actors like the sheriff from Twin Peaks that flat out refused to come back for the revival because he was legit done with acting and away from hollywood.

Lastly, I just realized how wrong it feels to write Daniel's name as Danny in the case of Larusso. Just feels wrong. I guess because Miyagi never called him Danny.

Folks have speculated about Tory being Silver's daughter since she came into the story with karate experience. But they also shielded her mother's face from us when the apartment manger was harassing her.  Suggesting they are keeping their story options open for the mom character. Like Ruth was avenged on Ozark that Kreese saved her is just a small justification for her going all in with his Cobra Kai.

Hawk on the other hand was one of the "nerds" from Johnny's Cobra Kai. That he in trying to protect his alpha status there along with Tory were the only ones athletic enough to compete Kyler and the all pros brought in by Reese also left him vulnerable to rejoin his real friends

[Raja]

42 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I am about half way through the season and more than the lack of cops, Miguel's family worrying about paying for his bills seemed like a stretch. Because it seemed like there would be a giant line up of lawyers offering to represent the family for free to get the school to pay for his care. When you add in the press the story was getting and things like go fund me, it seems like a lot would be covered.

Also I am interested in seeing if there is any more Kreese back story. Since based on his attitude and personality in the flashback I saw I am not sure I see him doing well in the army. Mostly because he doesn't seem like the type of guy who would be good with taking orders without question from a 24 year old lieutenant.

 

They gave him an out for that one. Before his Captain "sensei" got ahold of him and made him Special Forces he seemed more like Danial-san and Miguel in the diner. Real world, after coming back from being a POW and if he remained in Special Forces he would never deal with a new Lieutenant as they are not in the Special Forces and somewhere along the way he went OCS. I will assuming that he was still a reservist during the first movie since he introduced himself as a "retired Captain" although stolen valor was part of the story of his contractor status when he was introduced back to Johnny and Cobra Kai.

It does remind me of a story about Magnum PI's "Sergeant Major Higgins "and the differences in culture as those below Colonel/USN Captain in rank the honorarium is rarely used by Americans

[The Kings Foot]

On 1/2/2021 at 4:22 PM, norcalgal said:

 

Nope I skipped it. Now I fear what I put in spoiler tag will have me rolling my eyes come season 4. 

Well you described the plot of Part III  so its not unexpected to that character (and another from that same movie) return.

[Mean Machine]

KK3 was pretty dreadful, but any time I find it on TV I end up watching it.  It's great to watch with others and just Mystery Science Theater the crap out of it.

[DeeDee79]

17 hours ago, nomodrama said:

Maybe but the girl that plays Sam was on that David Spade show on Netflix and she mentioned that she has a black belt. She also said she slept thru her original audition time but she worked everything out thru her agent and rescheduled so I figured they must have really wanted kids with some martial arts backgrounds. 

I read an article a few days ago stating which of the actors have actual martial arts experience. It's an interesting read and here is the link for anyone that's curious that didn't already know this info:

https://www.thewrap.com/cobra-kai-karate-how-much-actors-know-season-2-3-premiere

 

 

 

 

[Jediknight]

11 hours ago, DeeDee79 said:

This made me think back on the scene at Golf N’Stuff in KK1 when he followed Ali around angrily ranting about what he thought happened at the country club before her friend set him straight. It’s totally believable that he would go that route again and lose his girlfriend because of it.

Yeah, in part 1 Daniel's big flaw was acting before he thought.  So it fits that he would misread the situation, and immediately jump to a bad conclusion.

[Morrigan2575]

2 hours ago, DeeDee79 said:

I read an article a few days ago stating which of the actors have actual martial arts experience. It's an interesting read and here is the link for anyone that's curious that didn't already know this info:

https://www.thewrap.com/cobra-kai-karate-how-much-actors-know-season-2-3-premiere

 

 

 

 

Your link doesn't work, gets a 404 Error

[DeeDee79]

6 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Your link doesn't work, gets a 404 Error

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/just-much-karate-stars-cobra-173938119.html

Try this one.

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, DeeDee79 said:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/just-much-karate-stars-cobra-173938119.html

Try this one.

Thanks! That worked.

[wmdekooning]

9 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

My home computer is on Vista and can still do Facebook

I had a n XP computer and one reason I got rid of it?

 

Couldn't get on Netflix anymore...

[DeeDee79]

15 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Thanks! That worked.

Great, sorry about the first one!

Edited January 4, 2021 by DeeDee79