S05.E02: Molé

[paulvdb]

Quote

Chozen and Daniel hatch a risky plot against Terry. In Mexico, Robby and Johnny look for Miguel, who discovers the truth about his dad.

[bettername2come]

Ah, Chekov's Female Body Inspector shirts. Johnny is better at Spanish than I would've guessed, but to be fair, my expectations were at rock bottom. 

That reunion scene with Johnny and Miguel was beautiful. I think Robby looked concerned for Miguel when he was hugging his dad, which seemed like a big improvement over their prior relationship. If nothing else comes of the Hector storyline I'll be a little disappointed, but I am glad I don't have to watch Miguel staring at him trying to decide if he should say something or not.

I was wondering what would be the tip off that Chozen was Team Miyagi Do.

The casting for Young Sato was perfect.

Edited September 9, 2022 by bettername2come

[BlueSkies]

Just finished the 1st 2 episodes.  Gonna try and pace out the series:

Some initial thoughts:

Silver actually still has some likable traits.  He does seem sincere when he says he wants to teach kids karate because he never had kids his own.  How he goes about it is another story.  He is straight up what happened with Tory about the tournament when she asked about it.  

Miguel's dad (assuming that is actually him) definitely has a very dark side to him.  But I mean I don't think he is full out 100% evil.  He does apologize too Miguel when he gets a little too intense.  it does make me wonder why he's triggered by the FBI do so fast.  If his "business" involved lots of illegal activities.  

The Chozen character is great.  Very interesting to learn the origins of all the karate in the series in general.  He even pointed out Silver's master was an actual person.

Things starting to get intense 

[Kel Varnsen]

I am surprised that Chozen outed himself to Sliver as quickly as he did. Like it wouldn't have been that hard to come up with a fake story about how he still wants revenge against Daniel and making friends with him is all part of his long con. I bet he could have sold Silver on that.

[cambridgeguy]

9 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I am surprised that Chozen outed himself to Sliver as quickly as he did. Like it wouldn't have been that hard to come up with a fake story about how he still wants revenge against Daniel and making friends with him is all part of his long con. I bet he could have sold Silver on that.

Silver still would have looked into him and his backstory would have fallen apart instantly.  I think he's still staying with Daniel, so sending one of his goons to follow him home would have done it.

[Raja]

Of course middle aged man's karate beats a MMA fighter, with the help of a pepper at least. It didn't take long for the hard heel turn from Hector the Salazar. The story moves with the speed of pro wrestling,

While Johnny and Danial San and possibly Kreese are one trick ponies  for their "all-American, or Okinawan karate we have Chozen and Silver come with that 2 second look and proclaiming the X style of karate. I wonder if season 6 brings in some kung fu practitioner to slap back at the Jackie Chan and Smith  movie

[Kate47]

Am I crazy, or did Chozen use Tang Soo Do to demolish the other senseis in the fight? It felt like he was showing Silver that he knew how Silver was trained and was unafraid to meet him toe to toe. But I also haven't seen Chozen fight much and don't remember Sato's style of karate. 

[marinw]

12 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

Gonna try and pace out the series:

I almost wish they would release one or two episodes a week! I can blame only myself for bingeing this. I've watched the first two so far.

Edited September 10, 2022 by marinw

[marinw]

I'm glad the Miguel/Daddy Issues plot was resolved(?)I find the CK/Danny conflict much more interesting.

CK has the makings of a cult, and that always ends badly.

[Kel Varnsen]

13 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

Silver still would have looked into him and his backstory would have fallen apart instantly.  I think he's still staying with Daniel, so sending one of his goons to follow him home would have done it.

I am not sure if would have fallen apart, it Chozen's story was that all he cares about is revenge, and that he lied to Daniel to get close to him and when the time is right he will get revenge. That way he can kind of play the double agent angle while still staying with Daniel. Might not be super realistic, but not much of this show is.

[BlueSkies]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I am not sure if would have fallen apart, it Chozen's story was that all he cares about is revenge, and that he lied to Daniel to get close to him and when the time is right he will get revenge. That way he can kind of play the double agent angle while still staying with Daniel. Might not be super realistic, but not much of this show is.

I am a big fan, as indicated by all comments and looking forward to the show for a while.

But yes there is an aspect of suspending beliefs during it.  lol.  

[DoctorAtomic]

On 9/10/2022 at 5:53 AM, Raja said:

It didn't take long for the hard heel turn from Hector the Salazar. The story moves with the speed of pro wrestling,

I like that the show knows what it is and its audience though. We knew he was going to be a bad guy. They knew we knew. Wrap it up in an entertaining way and we're moving on. 

I have to point out to Robby though; they actually aren't just Cokes because they're in Mexico. Mexican Coke is in fact different and far superior because they use the cane sugar and not the corn syrup. I haven't had a USA coke probably this century once I made this discovery.

[tennisgurl]

I am trying not to just speed through the whole show, but its not easy. Things are moving so quickly, its giving me whiplash, but not in a bad way. Poor Miguel, at least he learned quickly that his bio dad is sketchy and didn't end up getting in too deep with him. 

This now Cobra Kai is even more cult like than the last one. Or the one before that. Or the one before that. 

[Dobian]

It was kind of sad that everyone could see Hector's reveal as a violent criminal drug lord coming from a mile away.  That trope is so old and so cliche.  How many times have we seen the debonair Julio Iglesias guy who transforms into Scarface at the drop of a pin?  Let's just look at recent examples like Javier in Ozark and Lalo in Better Call Saul.  No more recycled plots, show.  Sheesh.

The one thing I did like about the episode was Terry Silver.  He is such a good villain, and I almost like him at times.  You know he's evil, but then you objectively look at his dojo that he wants to expand or franchise, and it's hardly the "threat" that Daniel calls it.  So his big goal is to create the Crunch Gym of dojos.  So what?  Not like he's drug trafficking or anything.  Miyagi-Do vs Cobra Kai is starting to look like Average Joe Gym vs Globo-Gym in Dodgeball.  Except Dodgeball was funnier.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Dobian

[BlueSkies]

1 hour ago, Dobian said:

It was kind of sad that everyone could see Hector's reveal as a violent criminal drug lord coming from a mile away.  That trope is so old and so cliche.  How many times have we seen the debonair Julio Iglesias guy who transforms into Scarface at the drop of a pin?  Let's just look at recent examples like Javier in Ozark and Lalo in Better Call Saul.  No more recycled plots, show.  Sheesh.

The one thing I did like about the episode was Terry Silver.  He is such a good villain, and I almost like him at times.  You know he's evil, but then you objectively look at his dojo that he wants to expand or franchise, and it's hardly the "threat" that Daniel calls it.  So his big goal is to create the Crunch Gym of dojos.  So what?  Not like he's drug trafficking or anything.  Miyagi-Do vs Cobra Kai is starting to look like Average Joe Gym vs Globo-Gym in Dodgeball.  Except Dodgeball was funnier.

I liked your point in the 2nd paragraph.  However warped he is when he said he wants to teach karate to kids to better themselves because he never had any...  there's something admirable to that in some weird way to me.  

Also, I am not sure Mr. Miyagi would find it his mission in life to bring him down if he was still alive.  It was only really at the last moment he intervened to train Daniel in KK3.  

[DoctorAtomic]

2 hours ago, Dobian said:

Let's just look at recent examples like Javier in Ozark and Lalo in Better Call Saul.

To be fair though, we knew those guys at the start were criminals. Here, sure, we watch tv, and we know it's going to go south. Miguel didn't though, and we're basically watching from his pov. 

[Kel Varnsen]

6 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

Also, I am not sure Mr. Miyagi would find it his mission in life to bring him down if he was still alive.  It was only really at the last moment he intervened to train Daniel in KK3.  

I don't think he would either. I mean in the first movie when Miyagi took Daniel to the Cobra Kai dojo the bet he made with Kreese was that if Daniel won the tournament, Johnny and his friends had to leave Daniel alone. It wasn't that CK had to be shut down even though Miyagi knew the type of karate Kreese was teaching. The only group I am aware of that Miyagi was ever interested in shutting down was the Nazi's and I am not sure if he volunteered or if he was drafted.

[Virtual]

Man, that was really lucky how Miguel found out his father’s true nature without his father finding out who he was. Even luckier that Johnny showed up immediately afterwards and he was able to jet out of there.

As for how Miyagi approached Cobra Kai in the movies, he only did so if they were going after Daniel but left them alone otherwise. Daniel just goes after them nonstop.

[CeeBeeGee]

Does Silver's face ever hurt from that perma-smile?

[Raja]

On 9/24/2022 at 9:29 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

The only group I am aware of that Miyagi was ever interested in shutting down was the Nazi's and I am not sure if he volunteered or if he was drafted

If they are playing real to life with the 1925 birth date on Mr. Miyagi's headstone then technically he couldn't have been a volunteer as volunteers where not accepted after 1942 and everybody inducted from 1943 on was drafted and parceled out to the various services as needed on the schedule they needed.

Since the 442nd fought in Italy they saw less of the Nazi horrors of those who survived  and discovered the concentration camps further north but fighting the Germans in total warfare would have been bad enough..

[Raja]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:51 PM, Dobian said:

It was kind of sad that everyone could see Hector's reveal as a violent criminal drug lord coming from a mile away.  That trope is so old and so cliche.  How many times have we seen the debonair Julio Iglesias guy who transforms into Scarface at the drop of a pin?  Let's just look at recent examples like Javier in Ozark and Lalo in Better Call Saul.  No more recycled plots, show.  Sheesh.

The one thing I did like about the episode was Terry Silver.  He is such a good villain, and I almost like him at times.  You know he's evil, but then you objectively look at his dojo that he wants to expand or franchise, and it's hardly the "threat" that Daniel calls it.  So his big goal is to create the Crunch Gym of dojos.  So what?  Not like he's drug trafficking or anything.  Miyagi-Do vs Cobra Kai is starting to look like Average Joe Gym vs Globo-Gym in Dodgeball.  Except Dodgeball was funnier.

The other old trope. The security guard ready to kill after an order. Or in this case the senseis applying to Cobra Kai.   You would think the senseis of the Valley were more Kreese than Danial-san  even without Cobra Kai being open for 35 years.

When Chozen was tearing through them I started thinking of Jack Reacher when the last  of the gang outside the bar ran away from Tom Cruise. Especially after the cowardice talk with Silver earlier I was hoping the last thought the job wouldn't be worth it.