Cobra Kai

 

Cobra Kai season three dropped these past couple days, and after a straight binge watch, I'm all caught up and ready for season four.

I've got to be honest with you. After sitting through three seasons of this show, the only reason I keep coming back is for the nostalgia. If this show didn't have that aspect carrying it, I wouldn't watch this at all. The acting is awful. Really awful.Not only that, but this show is plagued with terribly written scripts that carry the weight of some of the worst "B" movies.

In terms of the characters, none of them are likeable. Both Johnny and Daniel have explosive tempers that often show how ignorant and immature they have both developed into as adults. Yet these are the people we're supposed to trust to be nurturing and training the children in the ways of karate. At least with Kreese, you know he's a jerk, and he doesn't deviate from this. In fact, he embraces it. He's a jerk and he knows it. Meanwhile, Daniel and Johnny are jerks, yet are so self deluded, they see themselves a good people. Which they're not.

As for the children, spoiler alerts ahead, they are all a bunch of bullies. Regardless of what side they may feel they're on. They constantly antagonize each other, start fights, and then play the victim when the tables are turned. At the end of both season two and three, they have what equates to an all out gang war against each other, almost killing one of them. Yet the most they get is suspension from school for a few weeks, with only one of them getting expelled and another being wanted for assault charges. How about slap all of them with assault charges, and put them all in juvenile hall?

This all comes back to the writing. The series runners either have a very delusion mentality of what constitutes someone as a bad guy vs. a good guy, or they simply wanted to write a show about a whole group of bad people confused by who exactly the victims are. Not only that, but they really expect you to suspend disbelief in terms of the consequences not only the kids in this show, but the adults, would face for their brutal violence towards each other.

However, it's not all just about the way the characters act, but also how they talk. They have conversations with each other that no human being would have - especially considering the circumstances. A perfect example of this is, again, spoilers, Ali returns in season three, and tells Johnny all the life lessons he needs to hear in a few sentences. This woman hasn't seen him in over twenty years, and is on the cusp of a divorce herself. She is in no position to bestow any kind of wisdom. It's awkward, and so out of place for the series. It's there simply to say, "Hey, Ali's back, but now we have to right the course of our plot points."

This is also not the first occurrence in season three where nostalgia is utilized to conveniently solve a problem. Look, at this point, if you're not aware there are spoilers in this write up, I can't help you. Anyway, Daniel randomly decides that the answer to all of his car dealership problems is to take a trip to Okinawa. He has no game plan. No idea why he's going, but he jumps on a plane and goes. Upon arrival, and within minutes of returning to Tomi Village, he comes across Kumiko.

Kumiko takes him to a bar the next day, where she, for some reason, invites Chozen. You know, the guy that held a knife to her throat in 1986 and told everyone he was going to kill her. Um...Why would she keep in touch with that person? Well, nostalgia. That's the only answer. Why else would he show up?

As Daniel randomly trains with Chozen, Kumiko goes off to do her own thing, coming back later with more nostalgia in the form of Yuna, aka the little girl ringing the bell during the storm in the second film, who Daniel saves. She's risen from town bell ringer, to the VP of sales at the car company that Daniel just so happened to lose his contract with. She of course reinstates this because it's a convenient and quick bow tie to the entire problem, while sprinkling it with nostalgia. Let's not forget the massive plot hole it creates. Daniel has been doing business with this company for years, but never met the VP of sales? Okay...Moving on.

Let's get back to those crazy kids. They switch allegiances more frequently than most people change underwear. One second they're Cobra Kai, the next second Miyagi-Do, and on and on and on. This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't so random. The perfect example of this is the character Hawk. Over the course of three seasons he established himself as a brutal villain. He beata on anyone he can get his hands on, and showed zero signs of any remorse. In fact, he often displays signs that he's enjoying it. Yet randomly in the season three finale fight, he switches sides on a dime to help Demitri. Yes, the same Demitri who just a few episodes prior to that, Hawk broke his arm in a vicious attack. His sudden change of allegiance is so out of place that it derails the remainder of the entire episode. Mind you, he's not the first flip flopper among the students. His just stands out the most.

It just keeps coming back to the writing. It's just terrible. It's as if they want to cram as much nostalgia in there as possible that the writing is formed around who can we bring back now as opposed to how can we develop these characters while sprinkling nostalgia around it. Even season three ends with a hint that more nostalgia is around the corner in the shape of Thomas Ian Griffith's character, Terry Silver, returning in season four. I mean, who's next? Are they going to try and work Hilary Swank into this?

Don't get me wrong. I like the nostalgic aspect to the show. As I said from the start, it's the only reason I watch it. But that doesn't mean it's a good show.

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