Cobra Kai TV series

[GobBluth]

I watched the first episode last night and how pathetic Johnny became - drunk, odd job, worn out Firebird as the daily car, living in a cheap apartment and eating bologna. LOL @ the scene where he was watching TV (Iron Eagle) and the commercial came on and you guess it, it was about the company of Daniel and Johnny could not change the channel because the remote control broke at the worst time possible.

Love the 80's music. Good time then.

I f-ng love Iron Eagle....

 

[Aikouka]

So, I went and watched season two of Cobra Kai last night, and... I think the first season was definitely quite a bit better. I think the problem is that the first season felt like it had a stronger narrative focus on Johnny coming back to teach karate, but also overcoming the awful mindset that he got from Kreese. Looking at this season, it's really hard to say who had any sort of growth. With the reintroduction of Kreese, Johnny's arc is... kind of the exact same. There's also a stronger focus on the teenage drama, which I thought was one of the weaker parts of the first season.

As for the end...

Spoiler

Ultimately, both Johnny and Daniel failed at teaching karate. About the last 10-15 minutes of the final episode is a huge fight scene at the school, and the only person who had any legit reason to fight was Sam. She tried to leave, which was the correct move, but was pushed back in. At that point, you're just doing self-defense, which is fine in regard to most karate that I've been a part of. On the other hand, pretty much every other kid either gladly instigated a fight, or completely failed to find a way to end the fight. (To be fair, Robby did try to stop the fight between the girls, but once Miguel attacked him, the two were constantly instigating with each other.) I mean... if you seek a fight like that, you haven't learned anything from karate training.

Although, the end setup a potentially interesting scenario where Daniel's wife (Amanda) flat out told him no more karate, and Johnny lost Cobra Kai to Kreese. Of course, it was a bit obvious that someone was going to get seriously injured in the big fight once I saw them climbing stairs, and that ended up being Miguel suffering a horrible spinal injury after being kicked over the railing. It does make you wonder what a season three would even entail. Would Daniel and Johnny get together to take out Kreese?

Overall, I think people that enjoyed the first season may end up a bit disappointed with the second season.

 

[Homerboy]

So, I went and watched season two of Cobra Kai last night, and... I think the first season was definitely quite a bit better. I think the problem is that the first season felt like it had a stronger narrative focus on Johnny coming back to teach karate, but also overcoming the awful mindset that he got from Kreese. Looking at this season, it's really hard to say who had any sort of growth. With the reintroduction of Kreese, Johnny's arc is... kind of the exact same. There's also a stronger focus on the teenage drama, which I thought was one of the weaker parts of the first season.

As for the end...

Spoiler

Ultimately, both Johnny and Daniel failed at teaching karate. About the last 10-15 minutes of the final episode is a huge fight scene at the school, and the only person who had any legit reason to fight was Sam. She tried to leave, which was the correct move, but was pushed back in. At that point, you're just doing self-defense, which is fine in regard to most karate that I've been a part of. On the other hand, pretty much every other kid either gladly instigated a fight, or completely failed to find a way to end the fight. (To be fair, Robby did try to stop the fight between the girls, but once Miguel attacked him, the two were constantly instigating with each other.) I mean... if you seek a fight like that, you haven't learned anything from karate training.

Although, the end setup a potentially interesting scenario where Daniel's wife (Amanda) flat out told him no more karate, and Johnny lost Cobra Kai to Kreese. Of course, it was a bit obvious that someone was going to get seriously injured in the big fight once I saw them climbing stairs, and that ended up being Miguel suffering a horrible spinal injury after being kicked over the railing. It does make you wonder what a season three would even entail. Would Daniel and Johnny get together to take out Kreese?

Overall, I think people that enjoyed the first season may end up a bit disappointed with the second season.

I've watched 2 episodes thus far (did not read your spoiler). It's really a lot worse than season 1. They are just missing the mark on everything. You definitely nailed the nail on the head with Johnny's arc too. And, for whatever reason, while the acting last year sucked (and it was easily forgiven as we know nobody in the original is a master) this year its.... impossibly worse.

 

[Aikouka]

I've watched 2 episodes thus far (did not read your spoiler). It's really a lot worse than season 1. They are just missing the mark on everything. You definitely nailed the nail on the head with Johnny's arc too. And, for whatever reason, while the acting last year sucked (and it was easily forgiven as we know nobody in the original is a master) this year its.... impossibly worse.

Well, my spoiler bit is more of a nitpick, but it does spoil one part of the end.

 

[ImpulsE69]

So, I went and watched season two of Cobra Kai last night, and... I think the first season was definitely quite a bit better. I think the problem is that the first season felt like it had a stronger narrative focus on Johnny coming back to teach karate, but also overcoming the awful mindset that he got from Kreese. Looking at this season, it's really hard to say who had any sort of growth. With the reintroduction of Kreese, Johnny's arc is... kind of the exact same. There's also a stronger focus on the teenage drama, which I thought was one of the weaker parts of the first season.

As for the end...

Overall, I think people that enjoyed the first season may end up a bit disappointed with the second season.

That's what I was afraid of based on the trailers. I was hoping it was going to end up more than that. They had something with the first season. I'll watch it anyway of course

 

[ultimatebob]

Wow, I didn't even know that they did a second season of this. YouTube totally dropped the ball on letting me know.

 

[Aikouka]

As for the one scene that I kind of wanted to poke at, it isn't really a spoiler, but since it occurs in one of the last episodes, I'll tag it anyway:

Spoiler

This is really one of those goofy TV sex-related scenes. You know, where the TV shows are totally believable that women wear their bras in bed during sex. Anyway, what made this one raise a brow was that the camera panned over Mrs. LaRusso's clothes on its way to the bed, which included her bra, and then, as is usual, she was wearing one in bed. I just thought it was amusing that the character would take the one off to only put another one on to wear while in bed.

Wow, I didn't even know that they did a second season of this. YouTube totally dropped the ball on letting me know.

There were quite a lot of promotional videos coming up to season two, but there might have been one problem. Underneath most of the videos, I kept seeing the "Premium" tag. I have YouTube Premium, so my assumption is that said paid service would've been required to see those promotional videos. In other words, as a non-paid member, you might have never seen any of the promotion for the series.

EDIT:

Oh, and I think the best part of the whole season was when...

Spoiler

Johnny buys a laptop and tries to use it.

 

[Krazy4Real]

Second season kept me entertained enough. Will resubscribe to premium once season 3 comes out.

 

[Homerboy]

Finally wrapped up season 2. I mean it's horrible but in all the best ways possible. Johnny is just too great of characater. the acting and production is just painful, but they do such a good job of mixing antagonist and protagonist... it's impressive.

Spoiler: WHAT?!

ali mills schwarber in season 3?!!! Holy shit, you sold me YouTube. 12 year old (and now 45 year old) Homerboy just got REALLY excited.

 

[Aikouka]

Finally wrapped up season 2. I mean it's horrible but in all the best ways possible. Johnny is just too great of characater. the acting and production is just painful, but they do such a good job of mixing antagonist and protagonist... it's impressive.

But Johnny isn't really an antagonist in the series. I mean... he sometimes messes with Danny like during the festival, but he doesn't really do anything bad. Thinking about it...

Spoiler

Maybe one of the things that really makes this season awkward is that it feels like part of a story. Your typical hero's tale has some sort of rising action, falling action, the return, and the triumph. Arguably, season one was essentially our "rising action" of this overarching story of Johnny's comeback. However, inside of the rising action, it had its own story. Season two was sort of the falling action or Johnny's stumbling moment. Johnny peaked at the end of season one, but everything just started going downhill and hit rock bottom by the end of season two. This means that season three will likely represent the return (Johnny gets help from Danny and probably Ali) and possibly also the triumph (Johnny beats Kreese's Cobra Kai). But that is likely also why the season felt weaker is because the contained story for the season didn't feel all that great, and it was arguably weighed down by drama, acting, etc.

Also, one thought that just popped into my head... perhaps one problem is that the threats are arguably too small. There are other common story lines that could be used such as a neighboring city's dojo being a problem. I think it would've been more interesting if Kreese wasn't revealed so early, and we found that he was in the shadows of this other dojo. (Although, his motivations could've essentially remained the same.) Plus, one advantage of introducing another group like that is that it can help widen the universe a bit and keep things fresh. The only real additions in season two were Tory and Stingray, which meant we were dealing with a lot of the same drama as the previous season. "Just talk to me, Sam!"

Spoiler: WHAT?!

ali mills schwarber in season 3?!!! Holy shit, you sold me YouTube. 12 year old (and now 45 year old) Homerboy just got REALLY excited.

Spoiler

I saw some rumor that Tory is actually related to Ali in some way. Apparently, they noted the lack of her last name ever being mentioned, and that there was some leak of her last name being listed somewhere (as Schwarber) and then removed. I can't really attest to the last part, but given the "with a 'y'" remark, which is similar to Ali's "with an 'i'" remark from the movie, and her lack of a last name, it does give a bit of a nod to the rumor.

Oh, and I think I heard that season three is already in production right now.