I think Miguel will have plenty of opportunity to straighten up in later season(s). His character has such potential for growth that I don’t see him as someone who will turn out to be the bad guy in the end. I think Miguel will eventually learn that while he was able to take control of his life, he can’t be an jerk, but we will see.
Hawk… I can tell the director had fun with his character. What a total turn around. Here’s this wimpy kid that decided to go all out and re-write his own image. I like how in the final episode, one of the popular girls is gushing over him. Its everything he wanted and it appears he’s going to get it. It will be interesting to see how Season 2 plays out for him.
More fun is the reaction of his friend, who’s astonished that a mohawk, tattoo, and karate lessons could turn someone’s life around. When someone says Hawk’s name is just Hawk and he mumbles “Eli Moskowitz - his name is Eli Moskowitz. I can’t believe this.” I was cracking up.
I’ve got to say, it’s kind of hard to see Danny as a good guy throughout this; if the positions were reversed and Johnny pulled that crap, he’d be seen as irredeemably bad. Almost everything bad that happened to Johnny could be traced back to a LaRusso, directly or indirectly. His only bad act was drunkenly vandalizing a billboard.
I think what the directors were going for is that Danny is a good guy, but he is not without some blame. In fact, Danny admits that he tends to be a hothead. Johnny is trying to redeem himself, but he is also not without blame. He’s trying to use the karate skills he learned to turn his life around, but the method he is using is flawed and will ultimately come back to bite him.
The characters are complicated and each have their own journeys that will help develop them within the story. This is the type of storytelling that makes this series great.
Interesting how the cobra kai is now the one that teaches kids to stand up to bullies.
I like how Johnny admits his old sensei was out of control. No doubt he hasnt forgotten getting assualted by him for losing. I wonder how he will accept his return? Also if he was a vietnam vet, he must be in his 60’s now.
I would like to see the relationships between these 2 and all the other karate dojos out there.
Except they’re on the verge of becoming bullies, which I hope Johnny addresses with them. Seeing what the new Cobras are turning into likely lead to the scene with his old sensei at the end.
I don’t think Kreese (Martin Kove’s character) has returned, but rather that Johnny was hallucinating him. He mentioned in the episode where he fought the lifetime competition ban that Kreese was dead. He was having a sort of flashback because he’s conflicted about the direction the dojo is taking. The Cobras are learning little about discipline and honor, which is why Robinson threw a tantrum when they lost and Hawk got disqualified.
I see SOME of the new Cobra Kai’s turning into bullies (Hawk, for example), but others not so much. With Miguel, I see him perhaps turning into a bully briefly, but then realizing that he can’t live his life that way. He does seem to be the one that is changing Johnny to not be quite so hotheaded.
That is a very interesting take. If it were the case, it would speak volumes on what is going on inside Johnny’s head. Personally I don’t think its the case. I think Kreese is back and it will force Johnny into making a hard decision of running Cobra Kai with honor, or running it Kreese’s way.
I assume that Kreese is there only to demand payment for using the Kobra Kai trademark without permission. Johnny will argue that the trademark had been abandoned and was available for his use, and all of season 2 will be a courtroom case.
Which of the characters do you identify with?
When I was about their age in the original movie (continuing through my mid-twenties) I identified with Daniel- smaller, more frail, but determined. Then I grew and had success I would have never imagined as a teen. I even married a wealthy woman, and while we were not car dealership rich—we were country club rich. I also put on fifty pounds of bone and muscle during 25 years on construction sites and became known as something of a badass- especially for a guy only five- nine. At that time I might have identified with 1980’s Johnny if I had considered it.
Now I am old and fat; my best days are behind me, I am no longer wealthy (there was a time when the bank president would jump out of his chair to shake my hand when I walked into the bank-- that would be current day Daniel I guess). All of my days of glory are behind me, but I still have some residual toughness I earned over years of hard work. While I never find myself waking up on the carpet with beer cans littering my abode—I do feel a kinship with modern day Johnny Lawrence.
(Just a middle aged [post middle aged in my case] guy whose life did not turn out ideally and finds himself wondering how the hell a decent hardworking guy like me ends up here – knowing the only chance for redemption is embracing the thing he once was successful in- - - but it betrayed him.)
Oh please I hope they dont turn this into something like on Battlestar Galactica with Baltar and the blonde Cylon in his head. No, I think Kreese is real and will try and retake Cobra Kai. Maybe he has some info on Johnny he can hold over his head?
Johnny worked too hard to get his dojo going (remember at the meeting where he got city permission) where he basically had to promise to reform the reputation of the dojo.
Plus I dont think in this reincarnation they will just handwave away all the real legal issues that would come with the earlier cobras. Anyone who trained little nazi stormtroopers would be held liable.
Plus I was once into karate. Its a business. Students pay fees and that goes thru parents. Would parents pay for and allow bully training?
That meeting is when Johnny said that Kreese was dead.
Remember who the modern Kobras are: the formerly bullied misfits of the Valley. From a parental perspective, you’ve got a withdrawn kid that used to come home beat-up or crying half the time who’s now happy, confident, socializing, and winning trophies/praised; they’re not seeing a problem. Mrs. Moskowitz likely thinks blue hair and the nickname Hawk is a small price to pay. “It’s just a phase” after all.
Kreese does have a hold over Johnny, despite his bad behavior after the tournament—he is the closest thing Johnny has to a loving father figure. He sure invested in Johnny more than his stepfather did (except monetarily). Perhaps not take it away—but step in as the “Grand Master”; reassert his standing as Johnny’s sensi- and therefore the Master of the Master.
He is significant enough to be more than a figurehead also. Johnny has been imitating Kreese’s style, but once the kids get a load of the real deal they will emulate Kreese and view Johnny as a creation of Kreese. Johnny has finally pleased the disapproving authority figure—been accepted. Is he going to bask in the approval, or bitch about one misunderstanding? Probably both; tell him he was a dick and give dad…. I mean Kreese an opportunity to appoligize. Once Kreese makes nice (or better yet makes a justification Johnny can live with) Johnny might be willing to be recognized as Kreese’s star pupil again.
Just as Daniel and Johnny are growing, maturing, and learning to respect each other----- here comes combat sensi to mess it all up. Johnny does, and should know better—but how tempting must it be to pick back up from right where his ideal life started to go into the shitter?
Kreese lives!!
At the end of the season, Johnny experienced his son losing at the tournament first hand. That experience was starting to make him seriously evaluate his life. He was starting to realize just how his behavior was affecting others when suddenly, Kreese shows up. I think he’s going to make Johnny do bad things again with the Dojo.
