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Yes, I wasn't expecting a show this stupid-looking to be a pretty compelling exploration of cycles of parental abuse. I obviously didn't pay for YouTubeRed or wherever this was at first, so I basically assumed it was a CollegeHumor skit from 2009 that somehow got ad funding. Turns out, it's...surprisingly good. It's pretty clever, really, to take the dimensionless rich-kid bully from an 80's movie, and use him as the jumping-off point to a discussion of toxic masculinity and fatherhood. I definitely wasn't wanting for any new Karate Kid media, but it seems like it's merely using the source material to inform a different story that stands on its own. They also manage to strike the right tone for how ridiculous and contrived the plot has to be to function. The sensei of the Evil Dojo has a secret son, and his good guy rival trains him in his own martial art style to symbolically defeat evil in a fighting tournament. It's essentially the plot of an SNK fighting game from the 90's, except NOBODY is Japanese and it takes place in the San Fernando Valley.
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Aug 31, 2020 00:36
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The Bee posted:I think this current arc's heading into its end for sure. But I also think you could get at least a season or two out of a Lawrence-LaRusso Dojo and what it has to go through on its upswing. Any other season of the current status quo, though, and I'll scream. Some kind of synthesis makes sense, sure. I think, before that can happen, they’d have to make it more clear what’s inadequate about Daniel’s philosophy...if Cobra Kai is too aggressive, maybe Daniel is too passive. It’s easy to see how Cobra Kai’s “don’t be a pussy” outlook is toxic and meat-headed, but maybe Miyagi-Do is a way of avoiding necessary conflict. Sometimes confrontation is good. I’m definitely anticipating a point where Johnny learns some Miyagi-Do, though. Maybe to connect with his son, but also just as a corrective therapeutic thing...he could benefit from the stillness and introspection it’s all about. I’m 50/50 on whether or not Daniel’s son is going to wind up in Cobra Kai, though. That soft, lazy little jackass could use a firmer hand than his father is able to provide.
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Sep 6, 2020 10:42
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WSAENOTSOCK posted:The first flick was about the poor kid living in a shithole with an empty pool being taught karate by an immigrant for free while his bully was a popular rich kid with, theoretically, the best karate teacher money could buy. Yes. It's a small thing that only comes up sometimes, but I appreciate how Daniel's victim mindset from his youth blinds him to the extreme socioeconomic power he now has. He wields his privilege like a weapon, but his teenage bias against Cobra Kai makes him feel fully justified. "Cobra Kai are bullies! I'm going to use my business connections to predatorily jack up their rent! I'm going to use my personal wealth to operate Miyagi-Do at a loss just to shut Johnny down!" Like, that's a page out of Wal-Mart's playbook, but his self-identity as a poor Jersey kid supersedes all of it. It's also something I believe is truthful of a lot of real world wealth. "I came from nothing and earned all I have, so there's no way my current perspective is warped!" Some of the most aggressively conservative positions I've heard on topics of social privilege came from people who view themselves as self-made. "Sure, I'm [white or male or straight], or maybe benefitted from generational circumstance to [get an education for cheap / invest in the market at the right time], but dammit: I had to fight for every penny!"
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Sep 15, 2020 02:41
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SardonicTyrant posted:Netflix usually cancels shows after three seasons, but in this case they didn't pay to produce the first two seasons, Youtube did, so that's probably why. This, but also they'll gladly greenlight a show past a 3rd season if it's popular enough. I'm sure Stranger Things is astronomically more expensive now than it was, but it's still going. And it's an effects-heavy period piece whose cast is blowing up. A 30-minute dramedy shot mostly in the Valley, starring a handful of CW-looking teenagers and two 50-somethings known only for some 80's movies, is probably dirt-cheap by comparison. Making 2 more seasons of that right out of the gate makes a lot of sense. They never release data, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cobra Kai is one of Netflix's biggest shows in a while. It's low-investment, mostly a comedy, and has huge cross-generational appeal.
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Oct 5, 2020 20:12
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Spacebump posted:I was also thinking this. At this point, Cobra Kai is probably bigger than anything she's been in for a while. (The Boys is close but I assume Netflix has more viewers than Cobra Kai.) Then again, I have no idea what kind of budget this show has and what they can offer her is probably the biggest factor. Probably a pretty painless shoot for her, though. "On location in Van Nuys." It's probably like 20 minutes from Laurel Canyon or wherever she lives.
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Oct 14, 2020 19:34
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The high school plot for this show is honestly one evil fighting tournament away from being an SNK fighting game. Like, if next season involves Hawk succumbing to the Riot of the Blood, and Diego must defeat him before he summons the banished spirit of Orochi, it would only feel like a little bit of an escalation.
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Dec 17, 2020 21:11
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I drive a BBW posted:I really like this show, but my hope is that it ends with some kids from an MMA gym showing up, saying wtf is it 1985, and beats all the karate kids up. My wife does a lot of martial arts stuff, and made a similar point. Cobra Kai would just *be* MMA at this point...they're an ahistorical martial arts studio in the Valley with an ethos based around becoming a tough, violent badass. It'd be wall-to-wall UFC and Tapout poo poo inside. When my wife started self-defense classes, it was mostly Krav Maga and then almost immediately random other stuff - Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, whatever. Never just one style. Which I see as a feature, not a bug...it's an alternate reality California where the cops don't intervene ever and karate is king.
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Jan 9, 2021 04:18
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Yeah, it doesn't make sense. It sounded like Daniel's competitor was buying his entire business, but his Audi dealership or whatever it is wouldn't really be on the table. I file it under, "the karate show is stupid; don't ask questions." I mostly find it funny that "Doyona" Corporate in Tokyo would drop a successful SoCal dealership because...*checks notes*...some local teenagers got into a brawl at their high school, and the dealership's owner who wasn't involved in the incident happens to moonlight as a karate instructor for some of them.
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Jan 11, 2021 22:03
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Gaius Marius posted:If she breaks with him cause he took a selfie with a girl he dated twenty years ago, then johnny dodged a loving bullet. Honestly, yeah. "Your high school girlfriend who you haven't seen in 30 years and who lives in Colorado saw you when she was briefly in town?! It's over!" Halloween Jack posted:I mean, c'mon, that guy is wearing a giant neon sign saying that he doesn't deal with poo poo by calling the cops. He calls his Cousins and Nephews. What Daniel asked him to do is extremely illegal. He's not calling the cops to help him illegally shakedown and evict a paying tenant...it'd be like a drug dealer calling the cops because someone stole his cocaine.
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Jan 12, 2021 20:42
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I'm not sure how it'd work for a commercial business, but there are fairly broad protections for renters in CA, or at least Los Angeles. It's not easy to evict tenants without cause, especially if they pay rent on time and are law-abiding. But that's the point: Zakarian didn't serve notice or anything, he just showed up with some goons. It's Mafia poo poo, plainly illegal from the outset. If it actually got in front of a court room, Zakarian would probably get crucified, though. Even if it was "a handshake lease," if Kreese could prove a consistent history of payment, it'd speak way more to Zakarian being a slumlord and probable tax cheat. If they're going to come down on someone, it's not the formerly-homeless Vietnam vet who runs a small business. It's the wealthy landlord who owns half of Reseda and runs it like a fiefdom. Read all about it in my karate-free Cobra Kai fanfic about an eviction dispute.
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Jan 12, 2021 21:26
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ruddiger posted:They should cast Mark Dacascos as Miguel’s father They should cast Mark Dacascos as Miguel's father, but his character doesn't know martial arts and never fights on the show. He's just there for sad, intense conversations about abandonment.
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Feb 25, 2021 21:49
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Flesnolk posted:They obviously weren't going to make the high school girl a stripper, come on This show wouldn't, no. Though apparently that does happen pretty often IRL. Turns out many strip clubs are not ethical and don't look too close at falsified employment forms.
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Jan 4, 2022 21:36
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AndyElusive posted:Forbidden Technique unlocks the Dark Hadou within Johnny and we'll get Violent Johnny in Season 4. Orochi Robbie murders Dimitri in the ring after succumbing to the Riot of the Blood. Hawk must assemble the Three Sacred Treasures to bind Orochi and get justice for his friend.
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Jan 7, 2022 20:04
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Concurred posted:I dunno, both characters have a "do what you can to survive, look after yourself first and foremost" mentality. My issue was with Kreese manipulating people against each other and treating his actions towards other people as transactional and I couldn't come to a clear consensus about that when it comes to his interactions with Tory I think Tory is actually a special case. She has a super hosed up home life with her mom, and has to work lovely minimum-wage jobs to survive despite the constant derision of all these spoiled rich kids in the Valley. That's almost literally Kreese's backstory, so I'd guess he understands and respects her to a degree other Cobra Kai kids can't touch. Except maybe Robbie. I don't think Kreese is a literal sociopath, just so insanely crippled by trauma that he's barely functional. The lesson he gleamed from his youth (in the Valley and in the military) is that nobody will help you, that the world is a cruel and unforgiving place, and the only way to survive it is cutthroat brutality. He imparts this philosophy on children because he's a true believer, but he definitely plays favorites. And I think Tory is his favorite.
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Jan 7, 2022 20:53
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Sega 32X posted:I wonder if part of the Robby/Hawk arc was having the two dudes who seem to actually be good at stunts/TV martial arts square off in the big final fight instead of the kid who plays Miguel, who is a much better actor but always seemed way less athletic. Also, just having an awareness of their audience. Miguel already won, so it's not interesting to see it again. But Hawk is kind of a breakout character, so they embraced it. Glad they did, that was a much cooler choice. Sega 32X posted:So my head-canon is that this is a world where American football was never invented, so "karate" is the main contact sport for American teens. Also, where MMA and UFC don't exist. I've voiced this opinion before, but I'd be surprised if "learning karate" is a thing teens are doing in isolation in 2022. That is, vs. learning a little karate with some Krav Maga techniques and some Jiu Jitsu and Tae Kwon Do and a little Muay Thai. Source: my wife does martial arts for self-defense, and although it started as mostly Krav Maga she's learned elements of a dozen different disciplines, because apparently that's just how martial arts training is done these days (unless you have some philosophical reason to be doing one rigid discipline, which Daniel does but this gang of misfit teens probably doesn't.)
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Jan 11, 2022 20:44
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Spacebump posted:Most of the kids started season 1 at 16 or 15 in the show. I think almost all of them were mentioned as being 16 in season 1 or 2, so most of them wouldn't be able to do the U18 tournament when it comes around again. (Unless they change rules, retcon ages, or add a 18+ tournament). They should be juniors in the current season. They'll probably just write around it. Like, Tory will make some offhand remark about turning 18 just after the next All-Valley. Or, sure, there's an 18-21 CA regional tournament. The biggest deal ever that nobody has mentioned before, much more competitive and important than the All-Valley, with a whole new scope of enemies to defeat. Including the dastardly Okinawa Fists of Orange County, led by corrupted sensei Julie Pierce.
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Jan 11, 2022 21:07
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:William Zabka will prolly still be hot at 80. I wonder how 80s jokes will play with the 2050 crowd. Probably like how 1950's jokes play right now.
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Jan 25, 2022 01:33
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Rhyno posted:She has an Oscar. She has 2, but TBF Pat Morita almost won an Oscar for the first Karate Kid. "Prestige" is a weird beast. And I don't know if Oscar wins 15+ years ago mean she's too good to be in this stupid Netflix show. Winning an Oscar doesn't rocket you to S-tier forever, hence the existences of Adrien Brody or Renee Zellweger or Russell Crow. Or Kevin Spacey, but you know...
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Jan 26, 2022 02:03
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I don’t actually hate III, but it’s clear that its existence hinges on having immense good will for the characters and setting, and it contributes nothing else. But the constant talk of rebooting BttF feels so uniquely empty, because why? You could make a fun time travel story…people do all the time. But BttF specifically is of such a particular time and place, succeeding mostly due to the odd chemistry between Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd. A “modern” BttF already exists: it’s Rick and Morty, and it’s an intensely cynical deconstruction of both the source material and sci-fi storytelling in general. An earnest live action reboot with, like, Tom Holland would be valueless at this point.
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Oct 2, 2022 05:47
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Goffer posted:Cameos from every other 80s karate / action movie as rival dojos in a world cup would be the ideal 👌 I won’t be happy unless Johnny must defeat Frank Dux. While defending the Earth Realm in Mortal Kombat.
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Jan 21, 2023 21:09
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