S06.E04: Underdogs

[paulvdb]

Quote

Daniel and Johnny invite a new sensei to evaluate their students. Friends become foes as the competition heats up for a spot in the Sekai Taikai.

Premiere date: July 18, 2024

[bettername2come]

Them showing the potential competitors behind the Cobra Kai titles looked cool, but how is Penis Breath one of them instead of Bert? If Nate's on the board, you have to have Bert for balance. Love that Demetri actually ran the numbers and ruled he had an 18% chance. Glad Johnny questioned Daniel including Anthony on the list and acknowledged Demetri's reach as an asset in the tournament. I think I would've liked it more if the 12 picked for the first round weren't the exact same 12 Barnes ended up picking. I gasped when Demetri did the arm break hold and said "How do you like it?" Clearly the Binary Brothers have a lot of issues to work through.

Edited July 19 by bettername2come

[Kel Varnsen]

I liked this one, as there was no Kreese. I also liked the return of Demetri's ridiculously hot girlfriend. Her pep talk was hilarious. 

Barnes was good to see back although not sure why he is so messed up. Shouldn't he be rich. Last I remember he was leaving Silver's house with the Storm on the Sea of Galilee painting. It's from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum robbery and there is an up to $10 million reward for the return of the artwork. It was a really good documentary, on Netflix even.

[Morrigan2575]

I like Devon but, that was low.  Plus I can only assume that the 6 members of the team will end up being the OG players (Robby, Miguel, Sam, Tory, Hawk and Dimitri).

 

[Dobian]

Ugh with this show and its lame tropes.  Even after what happened last season, Johnny can't help himself reverting from a middle-aged man back into a teenager when antagonizing Mike Barnes (who's just doing the job they asked him to do).  Dimitri with the Barbie girlfriend continues to be unbelievable.  Maybe if he had a winning personality it would be plausible.  It was ridiculously obvious which four would automatically get spots on the team.  And everyone knew the last two spots would be between Dimitri, Hawk, Kenny, and Devon.  The challenge to find the two flags and bring them back was silly.  Devon found hers and brought it back unscathed.  How does that prove superior karate skills?  I could have run into the woods, found the flag first, and evaded the others while making it back to the group.  Big deal.  I was hoping one of them would wait at the starting line and then fight whoever came out of the woods first with a flag.  THAT would have been cool.  Of course, we have Devon cheating and Dimitri cheap-shotting Hawk.  And then Devon lets Kenny think Anthony sabotaged him.  Gee, how will this all turn out?  I Fully expect Hawk and Kenny to be in the final two spots after the show resolves this mess.

Edited July 26 by Dobian

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Dobian said:

Ugh with this show and its lame tropes.  Even after what happened last season, Johnny can't help himself reverting from a middle-aged man back into a teenager when antagonizing Mike Barnes (who's just doing the job they asked him to do).  Dimitri with the Barbie girlfriend continues to be unbelievable.  Maybe if he had a winning personality it would be plausible.  It was ridiculously obvious which four would automatically get spots on the team.  And everyone knew the last two spots would be between Dimitri, Hawk, Kenny, and Devon.  The challenge to find the two flags and bring them back was silly.  Devon found hers and brought it back unscathed.  How does that prove superior karate skills?  I could have run into the woods, found the flag first, and evaded the others while making it back to the group.  Big deal.  I was hoping one of them would wait at the starting line and then fight whoever came out of the woods first with a flag.  THAT would have been cool.  Of course, we have Devon cheating and Dimitri cheap-shotting Hawk.  And then Devon lets Kenny think Anthony sabotaged him.  Gee, how will this all turn out?  I Fully expect Hawk and Kenny to be in the final two spots after the show resolves this mess.

Devon knew she was physically outmatched so used a different form of attack. Not the way of the empty hand or the fist and possibly a war crime if an army poisoned their enemies food without a warning.

I never considered Dimitri and assumed 3 boys and 3 girls so was looking at Kenny or Hawk.

Edited July 26 by Raja

[DoctorAtomic]

I take the dramatic point about limiting the number of kids that go to the tournament, but six seems a little limited. I think it's a good idea to bring in an outside observer. I don't know if I'd give him total authority, but it was a good idea. 

I still like my idea of Sam going Apollo Creed. 

Someone else commented in the prior episodes that Devon goes Cobra Kai. I don't see how she doesn't with Tory and Sam ahead. I didn't like her being so defeatist the whole time. 

Note to Hawk - you liked the fraternity party? MIT would kill that safety school with one hand tied behind their brain. I don't really know why Dimitri even cares about the tournament at this point. I don't understand this one shot application process. I applied easy to 50 places between undergrad and grad school. Keeping your options open would actually be applying to MIT and other places. Then, wherever you get in, ok, you have to make a choice. Hawk gets into UCLA and MIT, then there's drama. Not applying at all is just shortsighted. 

I know it's only the first third of the season, but I would have liked if some of the kids just were enjoying the training but just weren't interested in going farther. I would have rather Dimitri just concede to Hawk. Maybe he will in the second third of the season. I can't see their rift lasting too long. 

Why couldn't Kenny just go behind the tree?

There's no strategy to the capturing the last two flags. Just wait until someone else gets one and fight them for it. 

 

 

[SoMuchTV]

15 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't understand this one shot application process. I applied easy to 50 places between undergrad and grad school. Keeping your options open would actually be applying to MIT and other places. Then, wherever you get in, ok, you have to make a choice. Hawk gets into UCLA and MIT, then there's drama. Not applying at all is just shortsighted. 

I feel bad trying to justify anything in this karate-verse, but early decision (or early action? I forget which is which) is actually a thing. Where you apply to one school and basically pledge that if they accept you, you’ll go there and rescind any other applications you’ve made to other schools. The upside being you might have a slightly higher chance of acceptance, the downside being you can’t compare other offers. Maybe someone with more recent experience can explain it better. Not that it really matters. 

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, SoMuchTV said:

I feel bad trying to justify anything in this karate-verse, but early decision (or early action? I forget which is which) is actually a thing. Where you apply to one school and basically pledge that if they accept you, you’ll go there and rescind any other applications you’ve made to other schools.

Fair point there. I forgot that detail. That's always been a thing in real life. To the point though, why go early then? Also my main point was that he should have applied to Cal and this wouldn't have been an issue. 

[Virtual]

I don't get how Barnes wasn't impressed with Devon winning the endurance challenge. She outlasted boys that were twice her size and more muscular. At least he was impressed with Kenny catching the chicken, because that's also hard to do.