Spoilers Cobra Kai Final Episodes

[AnotherGuy]

Per end-of-series interviews, she apparently turned them down despite some long pitches by the folks involved.

Ah man.

Her character was apparently going to be involved in the stolen necklace subplot that came up and then was quietly dropped.

As I suspected

 

[Greg K]

I think they dropped the Sekai Taikai thing - it was foreshadowing for the series.

For the other: his wife had a necklace that was stolen from them. Miyagi broke in to steal it back, was caught and attacked by the guy, and injured him in self-defence. That was then spun by the media as him breaking and entering and beating up a guy.

Just to expand on the latter, it was stolen by a guard at the internment camp after Miyagi's wife and the baby died and Miyagi was off fighting in the war. These details are filled in by Daniel's mother whom had been given the necklace to hold on to for Sam.

 

[Mistwell]

I think a new franchise that tried the same tone wouldn't work -- "are we supposed to believe that everyone in America is excited about a San Fernando Valley karate tournament?" -- but as a continuation of Karate Kid, it's perfect.

I love that in this alternate universe, my home is somehow the center of the world. It's absurd. They drove down most of the streets within a mile of where I live, showing places we have gone to many times, as if they were famous places when really only people who live here or grew up here would have any idea what they are.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Finally finished season 6 (was waiting for the complete season to go up and then needed to make time to watch). This felt like a solid season to me. I think overall, seasons 1, 4, 5 and 6 were my favorite. Adding Silver to the mix really rejuvenated the show for me after season 3 (I liked them exploring Kreese and Okinawa in that season but the snake pit stuff really was a disappointment for a character who is supposed to be rattled by the grim realities of The Vietnam War-----I think what made him work so well in the first movie was he could be a bit cartoonishly evil because he was grounded in something very real). But that said, I get the show embraced the over the top elements of part III and II.

Also I do have to say they did a good job of establishing this show could end any number of ways. You really didn't know if the main cast would survive, and they did that very carefully laying little doses of groundwork in earlier seasons and episodes (it is a refreshing contrast to shows like Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, where there was just too much overkill in that respect). Here it was just enough so you couldn't be sure if Johnny was going to win the tournament or have his neck broken.

I liked the Kreese redemption. Not sure how I feel about the boat fight with him and Silver (I think Silver could have had an effective redemption story through Kreese's efforts). On the one hand, it fits the cheesiness the show has established. On the other I would have liked a more grounded resolution for those two character (especially given their background together in Vietnam). But that said, Silver is such a fun, larger than life, villain, I enjoyed every episode he showed up in. And Kreese had a nice send-off with Johnny

Some of the high school drama was annoying, but I also get this is a show that is multigenerational and they are trying to appeal to younger and older audiences at the same time. For example I connected a lot more to stuff like Chozen's quest for love and the relationship that forms with him and Kim Da-Eun or Johnny and Kreese's arc, than things like Demetri breaking up with his girlfriend. However, I imagine for younger people in the audience, they might have the opposite reaction and the show does a very good job of balancing those two sides

 

[Bedrockgames]

Per end-of-series interviews, she apparently turned them down despite some long pitches by the folks involved.

They can always try a Million Dollar Baby netflix series (though getting her back into the plot would require olympic writing)

Her character was apparently going to be involved in the stolen necklace subplot that came up and then was quietly dropped.

This one came back up in the last episodes when Daniel's mom gave the necklace to Samantha

 

[A2Z]

I did enjoy the Rocky montage near the end.

You're the best around, nothing's gonna ever keep you down

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The actress who plays Zara is a real-life martial arts champion. She has a bunch of training videos up on YouTube. They're really impressive.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The actress who plays Zara is a real-life martial arts champion. She has a bunch of training videos up on YouTube. They're really impressive.

I like how they brought in a lot of real martial artists for the other schools. Made it more believable. That is one of the things that makes Silver work as well. Thomas Ian Griffith had a martial arts background when they hired him fro Karate Kid III

 

[jian]

I like how they brought in a lot of real martial artists for the other schools. Made it more believable. That is one of the things that makes Silver work as well. Thomas Ian Griffith had a martial arts background when they hired him fro Karate Kid III

It’s also impressive how many of the younger actors in the series really improved their martial arts game over the series. There are of course notable exceptions, much like Ralph Macchio’s limited interest in learning any in the original films.

 

[Bedrockgames]

It’s also impressive how many of the younger actors in the series really improved their martial arts game over the series. There are of course notable exceptions, much like Ralph Macchio’s limited interest in learning any in the original films.

Yeah, I did notice that and thought it was good. Also some were just well chosen. The actress who played Tory was believable (see just seemed to have power and like that could be easily molded through training). The guy who played Miguel did a really good job too getting better with each season.

I thought Macchio was actually less believable in Cobra Kai, than he was in the Karate Kid (and he wasn't particularly believable in those but they cast him to be a wimp with a big mouth so it made sense). I think they probably could have done a better job working around Macchio's limits in the show (kind of how they did with Pat Morita). Don't get me wrong, I loved the Karate Kid growing up and I do think that was perfect casting. I just feel like they could have played Daniel's fight choreography more intelligently at times

The bigger issue I have with Daniel as a character is how filed down he got over the course of the movies and into the show. By the third movie, he doesn't really have much spirit anymore. If you go back and watch the first and second one again, he is kind of obnoxious, and it gives him a little more strength. But he feels more like Carlton in Cobra Kai: just very stiff (maybe that served the story better though: I am criticizing it now but this is one of the few shows I've enjoyed all the way through to the finale so take with a grain of salt).