S06.E05: Best of the Best

[paulvdb]

Quote

Miyagi-Do's top students square off to be team captains, but a devastating tragedy changes everything. Kreese reveals his final surprise.

Premiere date: July 18, 2024

[Jediknight]

Why was Devon the only one to ask Tory if she was okay?  Tory was obviously in bad shape, and nobody besides Devon noticed before the phone call?  Robby didn't even ask if she was alright, he just talked about standing side by side on the podium.

I can't buy that, somebody else would have noticed and asked Tory if she was alright.  Especially after hitting Sam late.  That whole thing was an "Oh come on" moment.

Johnny had a point about letting Tory work through the grief, there's another issue by letting Tory fighting Sam.  Sam said it wasn't the time to fight, so Tory would be going full bore while Sam wasn't in it, and possibly holding back.  That could lead to Sam getting hurt.

Miyagi definitely killed somebody in the Sekai Taikai, and that's why he hated tournaments.  Letting Daniel fight in the first one wasn't about a trophy it was about Daniel standing up for himself.  Focusing on winning a tournament and an award led to Miyagi killing somebody, and he didn't want anybody else to do the same thing.

[bettername2come]

Ok, I am now really wondering about the timeline leading up to the Sekai Taikai. Are we actually going more or less straight into the tournament from there or are we going to get some buildup to it? I thought it was odd how quickly they were like "Tory's out, so Hawk's in" but if the tournament were in like, a week, that could make sense. 

Tory's mom's death reminded me of "The Body" episode of Buffy. Peyton List did a great job with the material. I should've known things were going too well with the improvements at the beginning of the episode, and then when they showed her sitting in the hospital I was hoping the mom was still alive just really sick and that would keep Tory out of the tournament.

Johnny talking badly about Mr. Miyagi made me sad. Throughout Cobra Kai, he's never disrespected Miyagi and I really wish that streak had continued to the end. I was with Daniel in punching him in the face.

Miguel getting a hug from both his parents when he was deferred was really sweet. I also really liked Daniel referring to Robbie and Miguel as "your boys." 

7 hours ago, Jediknight said:

Miyagi definitely killed somebody in the Sekai Taikai, and that's why he hated tournaments.  Letting Daniel fight in the first one wasn't about a trophy it was about Daniel standing up for himself.  Focusing on winning a tournament and an award led to Miyagi killing somebody, and he didn't want anybody else to do the same thing.

I think this is true. I just hope everything plays out in a way that feels true to the character because I have trouble believing he would care to compete after WW2 and the loss of his wife.

[Raja]

12 hours ago, Jediknight said:

Miyagi definitely killed somebody in the Sekai Taikai, and that's why he hated tournaments.  Letting Daniel fight in the first one wasn't about a trophy it was about Daniel standing up for himself.  Focusing on winning a tournament and an award led to Miyagi killing somebody, and he didn't want anybody else to do the same thing.

I don't know if they would go as far as death. In From Here to Eternity a boxer being accidentally blinded in the ring was enough to get Private Pruitt to refuse to fight and setting that story into action. And more killing after WWII, even if accidental in sport would be really something to roll into the movie when surrogate son Danial meets Mr. Han in the post series Karate Kid movie.

I wonder what that tournament's age limit is, or was? If Mr. Miyagi fought under an assumed name older than his WWII veteran, both  names and birthdates would have been adults by 1947 in any case the 18 and under All Valley rules are moot.

With the remainder that Lee was a charter Eagle Fang member and her cheating to get by Kenny's greater physicality and acting squirrely for the 4th, and 5th episodes I was sure Lee and not Tory was headed to the mostly Korean Cobra Kai team.

 

 

[juno]

Man, I love this show but there is no grey area.

Enemies or friends, good or evil. You are in Miyagi do or banished forever. They argue, they are enemies, they make up, friends forever. Daniel and Johnny argue, fight. Enemies after the tournament. So many extremes.

Maybe they are doing it deliberately, like wrestling. Heels and baby faces and not much more.

BTW, William Zabka is my MVP for this season. He is showing probably as much or more depth than he did in season 1. Great to see every scene he is in.

[twoods]

Gah, I knew that progress with Tory was too good to be true. Figures Kreese would prey on someone who’s angry and broken. This is not going to end well. I can’t believe we have to wait until November for the second part.
 

Thought that they would find out that Devin cheated and was the reason why Kenny got sick, and he would take her place. 
 

I don’t want to see Daniel and Johnny at odds again. I didn’t see Chozen so did he make the trip? He seems to be their buffer. 

[paigow]

Kreese is the new Red Reddington. Flying to Korea and Barcelona without triggering any alerts. Did he get a new identity last season?

[Raja]

25 minutes ago, paigow said:

Kreese is the new Red Reddington. Flying to Korea and Barcelona without triggering any alerts. Did he get a new identity last season?

We think Mr. Miyagi did. Although in a much easier real world environment 80 years ago 

Edited July 20 by Raja

[baldryanr]

11 hours ago, twoods said:

I don’t want to see Daniel and Johnny at odds again. I didn’t see Chozen so did he make the trip? He seems to be their buffer. 

Didn't Chozen book a ticket to Okinawa a couple of episodes ago?  Presumably he wanted to talk to Kumiko face to face (no Zooming for that conversation) and will return once that's settled.

[Raja]

At this point I think that Chozen and Barnes would just suck time from our protagonists. With only a 4 man team Kenny visiting his father in Germany might end up back with Cobra Kai like Tory.

 

 

[twoods]

4 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Didn't Chozen book a ticket to Okinawa a couple of episodes ago?  Presumably he wanted to talk to Kumiko face to face (no Zooming for that conversation) and will return once that's settled.

You’re right! I forgot about that scene- thank you.

[marinw]

Tory goes to the dark side. Literally with the black gi, in case the good/evil imagery wasn’t obvious enough🙄

I may be alone here, but I am enjoying the exploration of Miyagi’s past. It shows that putting someone on a pedestal will always disappoint. Miyagi was someone, and then became someone else. Cue the inevitable backstory prequel series🙄

Edited July 21 by marinw

[BlueSkies]

3 hours ago, marinw said:

Tory goes to the dark side. Literally with the black gi, in case the good/evil imagery wasn’t obvious enough🙄

I may be alone here, but I am enjoying the exploration of Miyagi’s past. It shows that putting someone on a pedestal will always disappoint. Miyagi was someone, and then became someone else. Cue the inevitable backstory prequel series🙄

If I was younger yeah Mr. Miyagi's past if you will would have really upset me.

 

But too often Daniel came across sanctimonious in the series with all his Mr. Miyagi/Miyagi Do stuff.  It's a nice plot twist.  

21 hours ago, twoods said:

Gah, I knew that progress with Tory was too good to be true. Figures Kreese would prey on someone who’s angry and broken. This is not going to end well. I can’t believe we have to wait until November for the second part.
 

Thought that they would find out that Devin cheated and was the reason why Kenny got sick, and he would take her place. 
 

I don’t want to see Daniel and Johnny at odds again. I didn’t see Chozen so did he make the trip? He seems to be their buffer. 

I love Tory.  Yeah the first episodes seemed to reveal she really isn't a bad person.

 

There's still 10 more episodes left.  Her character arch is the most intriguing aspect of the show now for me.  

 

I always liked Miguel as well but didn't like his whole attitude of Stanford or bust.  

[twoods]

I didn’t get it either. And there are cheaper options like Berkeley and UCLA (even though still hard to get in) that he can aim for instead of it being Stanford or bust. Guess the writers needed to find a way to further his rivalry with Robbie since Miguel isn’t a competitive person.

[marinw]

8 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

But too often Daniel came across sanctimonious in the series with all his Mr. Miyagi/Miyagi Do stuff.  It's a nice plot twist.  

Although this show is ridiculous (in a great way IMO), it does do a good job of exploring the difference between respecting or admiring someone, and worshipping them.

Edited July 21 by marinw

[Kel Varnsen]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:07 AM, Jediknight said:

Why was Devon the only one to ask Tory if she was okay?  Tory was obviously in bad shape, and nobody besides Devon noticed before the phone call?  Robby didn't even ask if she was alright, he just talked about standing side by side on the podium.

I can't buy that, somebody else would have noticed and asked Tory if she was alright.  Especially after hitting Sam late.  That whole thing was an "Oh come on" moment.

That was pretty shitty of them. I mean she disappeared for a few days and no one thought to go by her house? And then after the fight gets called off she walks out and everyone is like "whatever see ya". And then no one sees her again until she shows up in Spain with Kreese. What a bunch of jerks.

On 7/19/2024 at 4:43 PM, bettername2come said:

Johnny talking badly about Mr. Miyagi made me sad. Throughout Cobra Kai, he's never disrespected Miyagi and I really wish that streak had continued to the end. I was with Daniel in punching him in the face.

 

As much as I am tired of Johnny and Daniel bickering about who is in charge that was a great scene. Especially because as much as Daniel talks about the Miyagi way and not throwing the first punch he is still a guy who clearly has issues and hasn't gotten over the shit from when he was a teen.

10 hours ago, twoods said:

I didn’t get it either. And there are cheaper options like Berkeley and UCLA (even though still hard to get in) that he can aim for instead of it being Stanford or bust. Guess the writers needed to find a way to further his rivalry with Robbie since Miguel isn’t a competitive person.

As for cheaper, I found an article after one of the previous episodes that said if your family makes less than $100,000 per year then Stanford is completely free. So unless they count Miguel's dad's cartel money, cost shouldn't be an issue. But I agree with the number of good schools in California it's weird that Miguel is focusing on just one. Do we even know what he wants to study?

[paigow]

7 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

But I agree with the number of good schools in California it's weird that Miguel is focusing on just one.

He might be:

• A college snob... no public / state university is good enough for me...
• Not half as smart as he thinks he is... [cannot take credit- Tywin said that to Cersei]

[baldryanr]

10 hours ago, twoods said:

I didn’t get it either. And there are cheaper options like Berkeley and UCLA (even though still hard to get in) that he can aim for instead of it being Stanford or bust. Guess the writers needed to find a way to further his rivalry with Robbie since Miguel isn’t a competitive person.

He "should" be applying to more schools in general because of the common app most use (there are students who apply to over 200 colleges because of this).  If Terry Silver wasn't rotting in prison they could play with this by having him get all of the Miyagi-Do kids blacklisted. 

[BlueSkies]

2 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

That was pretty shitty of them. I mean she disappeared for a few days and no one thought to go by her house? And then after the fight gets called off she walks out and everyone is like "whatever see ya". And then no one sees her again until she shows up in Spain with Kreese. What a bunch of jerks.

 

Great points.

 

Probably had a lot to do with her re-joining Kreese.  After all he told her something along the lines of They'll be nice to you but you'll never really be in their circles.  When referencing Miyagi Do 

[paigow]

3 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

That was pretty shitty of them. I mean she disappeared for a few days and no one thought to go by her house?

Robby only called 20 times... she just had to answer once...

[anonymiss]

I fell asleep though the Kreese stuff I have no ability to believe or care about. 

I'm glad I stuck with it because this is the first season since season 2 I have enjoyed.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 7/21/2024 at 11:19 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

As for cheaper, I found an article after one of the previous episodes that said if your family makes less than $100,000 per year then Stanford is completely free. So unless they count Miguel's dad's cartel money, cost shouldn't be an issue. But I agree with the number of good schools in California it's weird that Miguel is focusing on just one. Do we even know what he wants to study?

Stanford charges no tuition for low-income families in the real world currently, but a) that doesn't mean the Cobra Kai universe Stanford does too

b) depending on the definition of family he may not qualify for the lowest of the low, or even any discount. I would think that between Carmen and Johnny, they together make more than $100k and possibly above $150k. Google tells me the average salary for a nurse is like $82k and for a California nurse is above $124k. Johnny probably makes above $40k, even being as big a fuck-up as he has been.  

c) there are other expenses that would come with going to school that Miguel and his family might not be able to afford

d) Miguel may not know how affordable Stanford is these days. 

California is chockful of great schools, but there is only one Stanford University. (Said as a proud alum). 

In the timeline of the show, it's early decision time. I suppose that it's possible that someone could apply to multiple schools on an early decision basis, but I thought that the point of early decision is if you get in, you commit to going to that school. It's been a minute since I applied to college, lol, so that is what my Googling says. So now that Miguel has been deferred he can start applying to all the other colleges that are out there.

[Raja]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Stanford charges no tuition for low-income families in the real world currently, but a) that doesn't mean the Cobra Kai universe Stanford does too

b) depending on the definition of family he may not qualify for the lowest of the low, or even any discount. I would think that between Carmen and Johnny, they together make more than $100k and possibly above $150k. Google tells me the average salary for a nurse is like $82k and for a California nurse is above $124k. Johnny probably makes above $40k, even being as big a fuck-up as he has been.  

c) there are other expenses that would come with going to school that Miguel and his family might not be able to afford

d) Miguel may not know how affordable Stanford is these days. 

California is chockful of great schools, but there is only one Stanford University. (Said as a proud alum). 

In the timeline of the show, it's early decision time. I suppose that it's possible that someone could apply to multiple schools on an early decision basis, but I thought that the point of early decision is if you get in, you commit to going to that school. It's been a minute since I applied to college, lol, so that is what my Googling says. So now that Miguel has been deferred he can start applying to all the other colleges that are out there.

I remember a NCIS: New Orleans episode where the kept throwing out the slang "NFG" and I concluded is was to stop people from googling  and finding the Vietnam era "FNG".  Sometimes as with the schools and like the wanted fugitive Kreese avoiding Tommy Lee Jones we just have to let it go and go with the story. I get it that Kreese might be harder.

To the schools, I can see how Eli would have wanted to get as far away from the Valley, which M.I.T would do. But now thanks to Johnny he is Hawk. I think I would have had him turn a bigger traitor to Dimitri and make him now wanting stay close to the Valley at Caltech. But perhaps Caltech doesn't have a big enough name for the secondary characters to have a line about it. Even if given my first comment many will Google and find out.

[paigow]

22 hours ago, Raja said:

But perhaps Caltech doesn't have a big enough name for the secondary characters to have a line about it.

Is the show NOT meta enough for Hawk to be watching??

[Raja]

51 minutes ago, paigow said:

Is the show NOT meta enough for Hawk to be watching??

Between school and karate tournaments who watches network TV?

[Morrigan2575]

I knew Tory would end up with Cobra Kai as soon as she ran out. I just can't believe how quickly they waved over it to get to the reveal at Sekai Taikai.

I get where they were coming from with stopping the fight momentarily but, it all just blew up in a crazy way. Like I don't get why they didn't do anything after she stormed off. 

Unless the ending was a flash forward to the contest and, Episode 6 picks up after Tory storms off and shows us how we got to the Sekai Tekai Flash Forward. 

I get how Kreese could show up in Spain without issues because US would have to know where he is AND work with Spanish police to detain/extradite him.

That actually made more sense to me than Tory 😆

[Kel Varnsen]

5 hours ago, Raja said:

Between school and karate tournaments who watches network TV?

Not to mention all the time you would have to spend keeping track of who your friends are, who is your rival and who is your straight up enemy on any given day.

1 hour ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I knew Tory would end up with Cobra Kai as soon as she ran out. I just can't believe how quickly they waved over it to get to the reveal at Sekai Taikai.

I get where they were coming from with stopping the fight momentarily but, it all just blew up in a crazy way. Like I don't get why they didn't do anything after she stormed off. 

Unless the ending was a flash forward to the contest and, Episode 6 picks up after Tory storms off and shows us how we got to the Sekai Tekai Flash Forward. 

I get how Kreese could show up in Spain without issues because US would have to know where he is AND work with Spanish police to detain/extradite him.

That actually made more sense to me than Tory 😆

In the sleepover episode they super foreshadowed Tori joining Cobra Kai when Kreese said something how the team was only missing one thing and then it faded to a close up of Tori's face. And I also thought it made no sense that no one went after Tori when she left the fight. Not her boyfriend, or Johnny or even Amanda who was supposed to be close to her. Like not even to check if she is ok, or find out if she needed help planning a funeral or anything.

As for Kreese getting to Spain, I also wonder Tori is on probation and Robby got out of juvie and how easy it would be for them to get into another country.

 

[paigow]

4 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Not to mention all the time you would have to spend keeping track of who your friends are, who is your rival and who is your straight up enemy on any given day.

These valley kids know nothing about pirate streaming sites or stealing passwords

[BlueSkies]

Kreese was really the only person I think in the series exposed or aware of what Tory's daily battles in life were.

 

In a way it makes a bit of sense she would go run to him after him a tragedy.  

[DoctorAtomic]

Aaaaaand Tory's mom is going to die. As I'm sure literally everyone here said when they saw the opening 5 seconds of the episode.

I cannot imagine how Miguel isn't into Stanford with a bullet. Of course, had he applied to Cal he wouldn't have been deferred. Just saying. 

I love the ridiculousness 80s this show is. Kreese escapes jail and gets to South Korea. Ok. Then he comes back to the USA and tracks down Tory. Oookaaaay. 

I'm with Dimitri - you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. 

I don't even care - shooting the bottles was hilarious. 

I still don't think just fighting it out is the best way to choose the captains. Leave it up to the kids first. It is about the training from now up to the tournament. The Dream Team was good because the 'b team' ran them up and down the court. It's only the first third so maybe this works itself out. It's not like if you're not the caption you're not fighting at all anyway. 

With the constant Johnny/Daniel. Thank you, Amanda. She should be talking more trash to Johnny and Daniel. 

The boys need to shave their heads and knock it off with the floppy style too. Great fighting though. 

I don't get why if Tory walked that Devon didn't get a shot at captain.

How does Kreese get to Spain unscathed? 

I think Tory going back to Cobra Kai is a poor narrative choice. It kind of reduces her character by a dimension. 

Anyone watching "Inside the Dojo?" The actors are just having a blast. 

Who pays for all them to fly and stay in Spain? 

 

Edited July 27 by DoctorAtomic

[DoctorAtomic]

On 7/19/2024 at 7:07 AM, Jediknight said:

Johnny had a point about letting Tory work through the grief, there's another issue by letting Tory fighting Sam.  Sam said it wasn't the time to fight, so Tory would be going full bore while Sam wasn't in it, and possibly holding back.  That could lead to Sam getting hurt.

Daniel could have also spoken to Johnny privately too and they could have talked it over like actual adults for a change. 

On 7/19/2024 at 2:43 PM, bettername2come said:

I was with Daniel in punching him in the face.

I thought Daniel was out of line, and he knew it too. The credit goes to Johnny who didn't escalate. 

On 7/21/2024 at 12:07 AM, twoods said:

Guess the writers needed to find a way to further his rivalry with Robbie since Miguel isn’t a competitive person.

Again why my Apollo Creed is a better narrative choice. You're still competing in the world karate tournament. They're making it out like it's captains or nothing. Given the 50,000 espn channels that show people *playing cards* as a major primetime event, it's not like Miguel not being captain is a loss at all. You're missing the whole teamwork building aspect. Any university is eating that for lunch in spades. 

[bettername2come]

There’s no cash prize for the Sekai Takai, right? I’m suddenly realizing Tory’s custody of her brother is likely in jeopardy, so any cash prizes or sponsorship would help her case that she can provide for him. If she’s fighting for her brother, I can absolutely see her choosing Kreese if she thinks she can win with him. It also seems like the fight is the day after we see her sitting on the floor not answering Robbie’s call, and with the hospital calling Amanda I think we’ll hear more about whatever happened in the hours preceding that fight. 

[DoctorAtomic]

You have to think that Cobra Kai has the odds to win. If she's going with them to win cash, then I can completely understand. 

I'm rooting for Daniel, Johnny, and the kids to all win, and I know the show is what it is, but there's got to be a major buy in for me if anyone is beating that Korean kid. He's bigger than both Robbie and Miguel. Not that you need to be bigger, but longer reach. 

[Raja]

7 hours ago, bettername2come said:

There’s no cash prize for the Sekai Takai, right? I’m suddenly realizing Tory’s custody of her brother is likely in jeopardy, so any cash prizes or sponsorship would help her case that she can provide for him. If she’s fighting for her brother, I can absolutely see her choosing Kreese if she thinks she can win with him. It also seems like the fight is the day after we see her sitting on the floor not answering Robbie’s call, and with the hospital calling Amanda I think we’ll hear more about whatever happened in the hours preceding that fight. 

Devon is the character shown to chase the win above all else. She was one of the first ringers recruits Johnny landed for Eagle Fang while Kreese got the bg atheletes for Cobra Kai.. To contrast with the Johnny built Cobra Kai return full of the valley's social losers that we got to start the series. I think Devon would have been fine with Terry Silver paying off the referee.

I think Johnny called it, in that Tory needs to fight. Even if it clashes with the Miyagi-Do way.  If put in a situation where you have to fight the emotions will be there, so strike first,  strike hard,  but show mercy 😇

[DoctorAtomic]

This was handled sloppily just to get Tory to go over to Cobra Kai. Tory may need to fight, but the adults should have known what was going on. Or, Robbie calling her constantly and not getting an answer, tells Johnny or Daniel. Then you talk to her and gauge what's going on. 

She wasn't actually fighting either. That was just all rage, and if she got too out of control, which she did, either she or Sam could have been injured. You could have still got there with Sam beating her because she was all over the place and then she goes over to Cobra Kai. 

I can get she's not answering the phone, but everyone else being 'ok' when she stormed off seemed a bit much. It's not like her mother being sick is a big secret. You'd think one of them could have put 2 and 2 together. 

[paigow]

18 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

You'd think one of them could have put 2 and 2 together. 

Johnny would get that wrong...

[DoctorAtomic]

I meant the kids. 

[Kel Varnsen]

On 7/27/2024 at 12:35 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

I thought Daniel was out of line, and he knew it too. The credit goes to Johnny who didn't escalate. 

I like that we get regular reminders that Daniel is kind of a jerk and just because he took over teaching like Miyagi he didn't become him.

On 7/27/2024 at 12:35 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

They're making it out like it's captains or nothing. Given the 50,000 espn channels that show people *playing cards* as a major primetime event, it's not like Miguel not being captain is a loss at all. You're missing the whole teamwork building aspect. Any university is eating that for lunch in spades. 

Yea Miguel's story is so amazing that it seems like the kind of thing where any university would be bragging about having him as a student. Between being raised by a single mom who escaped Ecuador and a drug cartel, then being bullied and learning Karate and winning the all valley. Then getting paralyzed, recovering and almost winning the all valley again all while apparently getting marks that make him competitive for Stanford. Not sure that being team captain for an international tournament really adds much more to that.

11 hours ago, bettername2come said:

There’s no cash prize for the Sekai Takai, right? I’m suddenly realizing Tory’s custody of her brother is likely in jeopardy, so any cash prizes or sponsorship would help her case that she can provide for him. If she’s fighting for her brother, I can absolutely see her choosing Kreese if she thinks she can win with him. 

I have no idea how that would work but would Tori realistically have any chance of being her little brother's guardian? I mean she is still in high school, so she is maybe 18. The only job we have ever seen her have is that creepy mermaid thing. And she has a juvenile criminal record. Rather than the Sekai Takai (which is a once a year thing) it seems like if she wants to fight for money she would be better off figuring out how to convert her karate skills to MMA fighting.

[Raja]

14 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I have no idea how that would work but would Tori realistically have any chance of being her little brother's guardian? I mean she is still in high school, so she is maybe 18. The only job we have ever seen her have is that creepy mermaid thing. And she has a juvenile criminal record. Rather than the Sekai Takai (which is a once a year thing) it seems like if she wants to fight for money she would be better off figuring out how to convert her karate skills to MMA fighting.

It seemed that she was her brother's as well as her mother's guardian the entire series. Even after the assault with a deadly weapon or attempted murder during the school karate riot. I guess mom had child and spousal support plus SSI coming in to add to Tory's part time jobs.

[DoctorAtomic]

31 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Not sure that being team captain for an international tournament really adds much more to that.

He's still competing at that international tournament. It wasn't like win or go home. I'll give him and Robbie credit for being reasonably adult. Robbie said 'no hard feelings' and Miguel seemed to me to be ok. The show needs a stable relationship among the kids. The plot is just screaming for Apollo Creed/Rocky. It's right there to pick up. I baffled how this is being missed. 

I'm disappointed by now that Johnny and Daniel aren't more stable, and at this point, grow up. Maybe because my high school experience was banal and uneventful, and I'm still friends with a lot of them, my ex gf, even. I think the show needed to resolve that better by now. 

44 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

it seems like if she wants to fight for money she would be better off figuring out how to convert her karate skills to MMA fighting.

I thought she was 18, but that doesn't mean she automatically gets custody of the brother, and where is he while she's in Spain? Going into MMA seems totally legitimate for her. Of course, this is a complete failure on all the adults' part. There's zero actual mentoring while they re litigate their own childhood through kids who have nothing to do with it. I like the show, and I know there's 10 more episodes, but I was expecting more out of the adults by now. 

Everything has been win the next tournament. There's really not any mentoring going on like Mr. Miyagi was. 

Also they're ridiculously short sighted on not incorporating Miyagi-do. They could be selling merchandise, social media, all that.

I like the show, and I'm sure it's going to end so schmaltzy 80s, but I would like the adults to do better. 

[CarpeFelis]

On 7/19/2024 at 10:44 PM, twoods said:

Thought that they would find out that Devin cheated and was the reason why Kenny got sick, and he would take her place.

I’m supremely annoyed that she got away with that little stunt. I was hoping she’d feel enough guilt over it to confess, but no. This is why I can’t stand Devon. She’s a little backstabber with an overinflated sense of entitlement who thinks she’s way better than she actually is.

Then again, I didn’t want to see Kenny win that challenge either. He hasn’t been redeemed enough (or for long enough) to deserve it. And he’s still jumping right to blaming Anthony. I suppose he’ll do something nasty to get even. Too bad it will be to the wrong person.

Tory is so volatile I can’t help thinking she’ll manage to seriously injure either herself or someone else during the Sekai Taikai.

(Am I the only one who keeps thinking of it as the Sekai Tie-Dye because having “kai” at the end of both words just sounds weird?)

[tennisgurl]

I swear, even five seasons in its always one step forward and two steps back. I am so sick of Johnny and Daniel always going back and fourth from fighting and making up, over and over again. Its not even just them, its exhausting to watch characters grow and backslide so many times, I get that growth takes awhile, but its so frustrating seeing the show hit the same story beats time and time again. 

Despite that I did like the season overall, and I am excited to see how the second half of the season goes. These half seasons SUCK. 

Are we going to find out that Kreese has been a ghost this whole time? Or is actually a wizard? Is there any better explanation as to why this wanted fugitive can just fly around the world, presumably pay for a teenager to fly to another country, and coach his own team in international athletic events?

[DoctorAtomic]

I hope they show how it happened, but I'd guess that Kim paid for Tory out of legitimate Cobra Kai funds. 

Kreese, on the other hand, must have a teleporter. 

Spain may also not have extradition treaties with the USA. 

[Kel Varnsen]

19 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I swear, even five seasons in its always one step forward and two steps back. I am so sick of Johnny and Daniel always going back and fourth from fighting and making up, over and over again.

I do enjoy this show, but the one thing I hate is how often they go back and forth between Daniel and Johnny getting over things/being friends and them getting pissed off about something and being rivals. They need to get over their shit. Or have Amanda in more scenes just mocking the shit out of both of them.

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I hope they show how it happened, but I'd guess that Kim paid for Tory out of legitimate Cobra Kai funds. 

Kreese, on the other hand, must have a teleporter. 

Spain may also not have extradition treaties with the USA. 

I can maybe get past him being in Spain and not being arrested. But these kids all have phones. So if episode 6 doesn't feature the kids launching a social media shaming campaign against the Sekai Takai for letting an escaped convict take part in the tournament it will be really annoying. Because this is supposed to be a legitimate, prestigious tournament not some underground Enter the Dragon or Bloodsport thing.

[Raja]

They're to busy on FBI International to do a solid for the US Marshals. That Kreese has a Customs and Border Protection  Agent  on lock is given 

[Dobian]

I was surprised they're already in Barcelona.  I was fully expecting that to be the last five episodes.  I was mixed on this episode.  Johnny trying to lure Daniel's new employees to his new nonexistent car dealership was done for laughs but kind of stupid.  His being pissed at Daniel, I get it.  I would be sick of his Miyago Do this, Miyagi Do that routine too.  Kreese back in the States...sure.  I thought they would resolve the Kenny/Devon thing before they went to Spain, so it will be more awkward to do it now.  Obviously they need Kenny to win this thing.  Devon is a weak link.  Peyton List was great as was the whole fight with Sam, but they left too many plot holes.  Why did Robbie not find Tori and talk to her between then and the trip to Barcelona?  That makes no sense unless they were flying out the next day.