Spoilers Cobra Kai Final Episodes

[Stalker0]

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.

Yeah when you watch the scenes with zara and then compare it to some of the other kids its really apparent that she has real skill. Her scenes are both smoother, but just a lot FASTER, everything is quicker.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Yeah when you watch the scenes with zara and then compare it to some of the other kids it’s really apparent that she has real skill. Her scenes are both smoother, but just a lot FASTER, everything is quicker.

Yeah, here moves looked very sharp. They also don’t seem to care about weight categories in cobra Kai so you get sharp contrast between lighter and faster and heavier but stronger opponents

 

[Stalker0]

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

Ultimately, I don't think Kreese was truly "redeemed", which I was actually very happy about. Silver and Kreese at the end of the day were murderers, are at least serial attempted murders. It would be easy to do the classic "well they do a good thing and now everything is hunky dory" that often happens with villains, but I appreciated the show stuck to its guns.

Silver died a straight up villain. Kreese died remorseful, but even he fully acknowledged that he couldn't change, that he was a villain, and while he died protecting johnny....he still died a villain. He did get forgiveness from Johnny which was a great moment for both characters, but I don't think the show ever let Kreese off the hook for what he had done, which again I greatly appreciated.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah when you watch the scenes with zara and then compare it to some of the other kids its really apparent that she has real skill. Her scenes are both smoother, but just a lot FASTER, everything is quicker.

Watch her on YouTube: She was taking it very easy on the actors. At full speed, she's kind of terrifying.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Ultimately, I don't think Kreese was truly "redeemed", which I was actually very happy about. Silver and Kreese at the end of the day were murderers, are at least serial attempted murders. It would be easy to do the classic "well they do a good thing and now everything is hunky dory" that often happens with villains, but I appreciated the show stuck to its guns.

It is an interesting discussion. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here as we are going by what the show gave us. I was watching an interview with Thomas Ian Griffith where this topic came up and apparently a number of people online are using the phrase "atonement, not redemption" for Kreese. I think some of this really depends on your own personal views of redemption. It is a show also so you are kind of reading the cinematic language rather than assessing it if he were real. For me, it felt pretty redemptive, in that it was a sincere acknowledgement of what he had done wrong, and even an acknowledgement that he could never really be a good guy (which was a pretty interesting self assessment). I do think it would be have been more redemptive if he had tried to connect with Silver and drag him out of the hell he was in. The key for me was there was a genuine change of heart the character displayed. Real change. Which doesn't mean there aren't real world consequences he still has to deal with, but more that he seemed spiritually redeemed (in the end he dies, which I think is the price they have him pay to be the good guy).

Silver died a straight up villain. Kreese died remorseful, but even he fully acknowledged that he couldn't change, that he was a villain, and while he died protecting johnny....he still died a villain. He did get forgiveness from Johnny which was a great moment for both characters, but I don't think the show ever let Kreese off the hook for what he had done, which again I greatly appreciated.

I don't think it let him off the hook. He had to die to get redemption, but I would say he was no longer a villain but the end of the series (which is kind of the message of the show: the whole show has been about Johnny not being the villain that he was in the first movie). Silver definitely died a villain. Again, that is just my view of it. Not saying you are wrong.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Watch her on YouTube: She was taking it very easy on the actors. At full speed, she's kind of terrifying.

I am sure the stunt choreographers are very careful in planning everything that happens so no one gets hurt. I was watching some demos of her and she looks great. Brand H Lee is also very good. It is interesting they got a lot of TKD people for the show. This video is a pretty insane kick. It looks like they got a lot of people who are more on the demonstration team side of things which is smart because they can make it better for the camera than someone who is more focused on sparring

 

[jian]

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).

IIRC Morita actually learned some martial arts during filming, mainly from his stunt double, and I think it shows in his scenes - he’s just more polished and practiced than Macchio ever was. Macchio (now about the same age as Morita was) apparently didn’t really do the same for Cobra Kai. Zabka had carried on with tang soo do at least after the films, so he’s better.

I think Mariduena (Miguel), Buchanan (Robbie), List (Tory), Bertrand (Hawk), and O’Brien (Devon) all showed huge improvement - the Miguel-Robbie fight in season 5 is a real showcase of how much better they’d got.

Rayna Valladingham (Zara) is of course the MVP in martial arts terms - I think Tory put it well when she said, “How am I supposed to fight a human tornado who blows kisses to her fans while kicking me in the face?”

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Rayna Valladingham (Zara) is of course the MVP in martial arts terms - I think Tory put it well when she said, “How am I supposed to fight a human tornado who blows kisses to her fans while kicking me in the face?”

If Disney doesn't use her as a lightsaber-wielder in something, they're missing an obvious bet. Her bo staff videos are really compelling de facto audition tapes.

 

[Bedrockgames]

IIRC Morita actually learned some martial arts during filming, mainly from his stunt double, and I think it shows in his scenes - he’s just more polished and practiced than Macchio ever was. Macchio (now about the same age as Morita was) apparently didn’t really do the same for Cobra Kai. Zabka had carried on with tang soo do at least after the films, so he’s better.

But everyone learned martial arts during the making of the movie. I wasn't knocking Morita. I just meant they filmed around his skill level very well. I agree Pat Morita looks much better than Macchio, largely because he just has a more solid looking build and he is just more naturally able to pick up what they showed him. But he had no martial arts training before the movie and you can sense the film working around that. I don't think that is a knock against him though. I wouldn't want anyone else in that role because it is really about the acting anyways. I also think they did an excellent job editing those scenes with him and would liked to have seen them take a more restrained approach like that with Daniel in the series.

Rayna Valladingham (Zara) is of course the MVP in martial arts terms - I think Tory put it well when she said, “How am I supposed to fight a human tornado who blows kisses to her fans while kicking me in the face?”

She was great but I think there are a number of MVPs. She is great but they have had a lot of people come in as competitors who did an astounding job, including Brandon H. Lee as Kwan. A lot of the folks I don't even think had names but you could tell they were talented in martial arts. I thought Lewis Tan looked like someone who really knew how to fight, which made him very believable as Sensei Wolf. He wasn't doing crazy athletic stuff, but what he was doing looked like real sparring

I also thought Alicia Hannah Kim was very good. I don't know what her martial arts background is but her kicks were very convincing

And for me Silver is kind of the Gold Standard in convincing. He stood out in part III and in the series he looks like he still trains a lot

 

[Bedrockgames]

...Zabka had carried on with tang soo do at least after the films, so he’s better.

I really like Zabka in the show. And I like his style of physical performance. One of my frustrations with the series, even though I give all the martial artists who do this in the show praise for their athleticism, is it has moved very far away from the more grounded fight choreography and gotten very stunt team flashy. Which I get and accept but I really loved that first fight scene in the first episode with Johnny where he says he was using old school karate. It looked great but not super flashy. Not super gymnastics, but basic karate athleticism. I remember thinking "I miss seeing old school Chuck Norris style karate on screen". So I had hoped the show would go that direction. I am sure if they had, it wouldn't have done as well so probably for the best. But Zabka kind of continues to embody this aspect of the show for me

I think Mariduena (Miguel), Buchanan (Robbie), List (Tory), Bertrand (Hawk), and O’Brien (Devon) all showed huge improvement - the Miguel-Robbie fight in season 5 is a real showcase of how much better they’d got.

I agree they all look like they improved a lot. Devon and Kenny were also quite good