Cobra Kai

As I said on the film threads for Karate Kid, I guess the 2010 film—tempted to just call it The Kung-Fu Kid from now on—is canon after all.

I thought the way the fifth season ended was great. Finally got to watch it with my dad a few months ago. Expanded the Sequel Hook entry for what leads into Season 6 as well.

Got a few episode title ideas, like "Post Mortem" for the premiere and "The Final Blow" for the Grand Finale and I'll share others I came up with soon too. A couple more I wanted to mention for just now are "More Mercy" and "Whack-A-Mole" as well.

Jackie Chan over Hilary Swank? Shame! At least 1994 was an actual Karate Kid!

Part of me did feel that in addition to Cobra Kai also being Executive Produced by Will Smith that Kung-Fu Kid could easily be in the same universe after all, though I also thought: "What are the chances though?" at the same time too. Haha.

Maybe Next Karate Kid is the one they're ignoring, though maybe it's also because Hilary Swank probably said no. That's what it feels like anyway.

I mean Swank has always said in interviews that she would be interested but, you know, she could have been just saying what fans want to hear.

I can't imagine she's proud of her work there. If she is, I'd be surprised. I'm hoping that they're keeping her return a surprise.

Elisabeth Shue wasn't proud of her work as Ali initially, which is why she was written out of Part II...so there is a precedent.

But I've come to accept that Julie is about as relevant as Freddy the plot device that got Daniel to the beach in the first place.

Yeah. He was built up as a big character and then after the beach, he just disappeared… That was weird.

Be interesting to see what happens in the final season. What it means for Cobra Kai to be so badly on the ropes going into the completion for one thing—and especially because the way Season 5 ended mostly did feel like an outright ending to the show.

Not really since Kreese escaped and that Kim Da-Eun is still at large, with or without Cobra Kai's status hanging by a thread after Silver was exposed for bribing the All-Valley tournament referee and getting arrested for it (with Porter/Stingray now feeling he can testify against Silver).

Edited by HallowHawk on Jan 28th 2024 at 2:38:54 AM

That's what I was basically saying. That was the biggest thing that opened the show to continue despite other things being resolved—that Kreese would be getting out of prison and had actually already broken out. I highlighted more things a few months ago when I edited the Sequel Hook entry—which as is stands now, looks like this:

• Season 5: While Terry is defeated, fully exposed and imprisoned; Cobra Kai's name is disgraced and pretty much everyone who had a problem with each other is now reconciled—except Kenny's not quite ready to talk to Robby about it yet, Kreese escapes jail, fully intent on continuing his war with Johnny and Daniel—and may have the charges dismissed against him with Stingray coming forward—and the competition with the Sekai Taikai—whether or not Cobra Kai's involved—is still on the horizon too.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Jan 28th 2024 at 12:35:53 PM

And made worse is that the production of the sixth season was halted because of the writers' strikes last year. Can stuff like Sekai Taikai, Eun's aspirations, and why Kreese escaped still work with the actors having aged up?

It really hasn't been that big a gap. They're smart to call it now though after a lot of IV felt like it regressed things. III really was indeed the show's peak it seems.

I was primarily referring to the ages of the younger cast as dmcreift warned in the last page. If we have Sekai Taikai in season 6, how will the actors portraying the teenagers still come off as teenagers?

Not only that, we still have Tory's financial situation, a chance that Hector Salazar can still look into the stuff Miguel unknowingly left with him that could let the former know the latter is his son, and Chozen honestly in love with Kumiko.

There were threads that definitely felt they could be revisited. Much of the big stuff was resolved though what with Miguel and Robby becoming like brothers almost instantly, Sam and Tory finally working together and the two couples happily united. That felt very much like a pretty definitive ending.

The announcement that there'd be a VI didn't come right away after V had been out for quite a bit—meaning it's usually faster. That made me think they wrote this with so many plot points totally resolved so that if they had to, they could stop there.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Jan 28th 2024 at 8:56:03 AM

Mind you season 5 was also fast-tracked; they had it greenlit and had completed principal photography on it just before season 4 was released.

That's probably why they slowed things down so much when IV was being made then. They needed plot details for V. Makes too much sense.

If could retool a section of season 2, it would be the roller rink episode and Tory's reasons for going after Sam in the school brawl.

Because the one thing that's unrealistic about the roller rink episode is Sam getting kicked out of the rink and Tory facing no consequences for being a bitch towards a paying customer.

Here's how I think the scene should've gone: Tory trips Sam, and Miguel actually sees this, instead of only seeing Sam's retaliation. So he knows that Tory is the aggressor in this altercation. He yells at Tory, "What the fuck, Tory?! Why are you being an asshole to her?" When other employees arrive, and Tory tries to play victim, Miguel sides with Sam, telling them exactly what happened.

The roller rink management also sides with Sam in this, after checking the surveillance cameras and confirming Sam's side of the story. Because when it comes to places like this, typically if it's the employee's word vs. the customer's word, they side with the customer.

So Tory's manager orders Tory to apologize to Sam and give her a free drink. Tory begrudgingly apologizes in a very insincere way, since she doesn't think she did anything wrong. This is noticed by Tory's manager, who decides, "You know what, forget about the apology, Nichols. You're fired. Hang up your skates and get out of my sight." Miguel also dumps Tory on the spot for her being an asshole towards Sam. As Tory storms out in a huff, Miguel apologizes to Sam, saying, "I'm sorry, Sam. I had no idea she was such an asshole."

As a result, Miguel is single going into Moon's party. So is Sam, as Miguel standing up for her makes her realize that her relationship with Robby is based on the physical distraction he provides from her feelings for Miguel, so she breaks up with Robby before she can break his heart, and is also single (and it is during this breakup conversation that Sam learns about Robby manipulating her with the medal).

This means at Moon's party, Miguel and Sam are both single. Things are mostly the same, up to and including Miguel and Sam kissing and being seen by Tory.

Tory's anger over getting fired, further escalated by seeing Miguel and Sam kiss, prompts her to attack Sam during the school brawl for basically "stealing" her job and her boyfriend even though Sam did nothing wrong. Rather than the fight being due to Tory's misplaced anger over Miguel cheating on her.

Not a bad rewrite in the slightest. Wouldn't have minded it all playing out like that certainly.

Not sure how to display, but yesterday Netflix posted an In Production video for VI though.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Feb 6th 2024 at 8:18:39 AM

you and all your new perspective now fanfic by schplove02 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51886009?view_adult=true

A fanfic I found and wanted to share from archiveofourown that actually delves into what the Cobra Brats did to Anthony and his struggle to recover afterword. It's a very interesting read but be warned that the start of it is gross.

Edited by Guy01 on Feb 28th 2024 at 5:02:59 AM

Got the latest news for the new Karate Kid movie over on the general film thread for the series, so feel free to go take a look.

With the show in production now, is the final season expected at the end of the year? Apparently the movie is expected then too. Not sure which is gonna come first.

My brother finally watched Season 5 about a month ago finally in case I didn't mention it. I think we both agreed that the show peaked with Season 3.

I still really like Season 5 though. It moved along better than Season 4 did and didn't feel like a regression either.

All constructive criticism by the way. I still really like this show.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Mar 7th 2024 at 8:53:13 AM

Trailer for Season 6 is up.

Hah. Looks like Kenny's actor had his own growth spurt. Not a shock considering how much time has passed out of universe.

Don't even think this includes the new movie either, so this is quite the epic event they're setting up at this point already! Expected one season of 10 at one point and time and now three different times for 15 total episodes instead!?

That's a pretty big wow!

Edited by futuremoviewriter on May 2nd 2024 at 8:44:22 AM

Sorry to say it but I'm out. The series lost me last season and this looks like more of the same.

Edited by Guy01 on May 2nd 2024 at 4:12:55 AM

Why? What's wrong?

I would guess it's probably something to do with how the show doesn't quite feel like the small scale thing it was in the first three seasons. Maybe it's just me, but I think the writing did kinda take a turn for the worse after Netflix picked up the show. I think there's too much in the way of characters doing things based on what the plot entails with little regard for their previous characterization. (Amanda's probably the biggest offender in that regard, though I'd argue she's always been one from the start. I mean, being inclined to do a 180 on her opinion solely on the word of Kreese despite in the previous season seeing firsthand how manipulative and untrustworthy Kreese is was bad enough; but in season 5 we have her leaving Daniel over a minor public altercation with Silver, when she'd previously stayed by his side even after his karate obsession indirectly landed their daughter in the hospital, Daniel's first student in jail, and Sam's ex-boyfriend in a coma. Similarly, Tory's Heel–Face Turn in season 5 comes off a bit rushed and in 5x09/10 I got vibes her face turn was more to do about her own issues with Silver than about feeling bad for her numerous transgressions against Sam.) And I personally think too much screentime got taken up by adding Kenny to the mix and beefing up Anthony's part, and that's screentime that could've been spent giving Sam's PTSD arc more depth in season 4.

That's definitely part of but, for me at least, I feel like The Cobras get away with far too much while the Miyagi-Fang side just feel meek and passive. I'll save you from the rambling rant but there's several times The Cobras went flying over the line and the alleged Heroes just...let it pass and just let them keep doing it. Even when their crimes are brought up it's quickly dismissed and they just move on. The Swirly Scene was the apex of that and the point I stopped caring.

Edited by Guy01 on May 4th 2024 at 6:08:37 AM