Television So PISSED at the Cobra Kai ending!!!!

[cws80us]

I enjoyed the final 5 episodes and thought it was a fitting ending to the series. I agree with most that it has probably run its course and was time to end. They did a nice job of wrapping up most the loose ends.

Spoiler

Regarding the Miyagi - Sekai Takai thread. I read an article that said the storyline was supposed to involve Julie Pierce, but Hillary Swank didn't want to do it. So they had to retool, and I guess just kind of glossed over it.

Also the final scene made me laugh out loud. Perfect ending. Daniel trying to catch a fly with chop sticks again, and Johnny just squashes it with his hands and says "No Mercy!"

 

[ShinkanPo]

They did KSY dirty but we should have seen that coming since all we know about him is that he's an asshole.

Spoiler

The Kreese and Silver ending was perfect. Both guys were pretty much irredeemable so ending each other when they're both old AF and ready to step down anyway was good. At least Kreese made peace with Johnny and handed over the keys to Cobra Kai which is what needed to happen.

Sam retires from fighting because she's too fat. Yeesh I guess it kind of works. I still can't understand how the actress didn't even pretend to get in shape for the role after season 2.

The guy they really did dirty was Axel. He's just a well-meaning kid who's been manipulated his whole life by his asshole sensei. He could have been world champ but refuses to sweep the leg against Miguel because he has feelings for Sam. So he loses fair and square, takes it in stride, gets the Kreese-Johnny parking lot treatment from his sensei, and then just walks away and we don't see him again. They should have shown him walking up to Cobra Kai/Miyagi Do at the end looking for Sam/seeking a proper sensei so we know he didn't just blow himself up on a boat somewhere.

Johnny got the redemption arc he needed and Daniel coaching him off the mat was pretty great. "What dojo are you fighting for? Does defeat exist in that dojo? Now stop acting like a little pussy and go beat the living shit out of this asshole" was spot on perfect. The only thing that would have made it better is if Johnny had actual history or beef with sensei Wolf. We don't really know anything about him other than he's a dick and he ate the last two pieces of steak at the hotel in Barcelona. I guess that kind of makes it more hilarious which could be what they were going for.

Spoiler

I hoped Kresse also reached out to Dany boy and to ask forgiveness for disrespecting Mr.Miyagi.

Like maybe have Kreese visit Miyag's grave and give him a salute.

 

[ShinkanPo]

He might seem like an a hole but consider his upbringing+ he made the same healing potion for his granddaughter which was the same as Mr. Miyagi did for Daniel when Terry made his knuckles bleed.

While he did that, he spoke softly to his granddaughter about not focusing on the past. He showed a gentle side and when Kreese came to talk to him privately he let Kreese know that his granddaughter will be included in the conversation.


Also we never saw his bad ass dark scroll in action. Miyagi has a,secret as well...


Fun fact about Master Kim Sung Yung, that move is used by Ogata isshinsai who i named My username in his honor.


Terry Silver ending PISSED ME OFF!!!

When he came to Lapusso household to talk to him and Johnny, he opened up about his illness. I really thought that he truly just wanted a one last karate hurrah. But they literally turned him in to an evil mob boss trying to get Dennis to kidnap Carmen and the baby like WTF!?

Even Silver mentioned his ridiculous behavior during karate kid 3 and this was uncharacteristically way too evil Even for Terry. Made no sense.

I thought ending would= Kreese and Silver having an honorable duel, fight it out and kind of salvage their old friendship remembering how they used to spar when they trained with master Kim sun Yung dojang.

Fuck now that you mentioned this I like your idea batter...and besides he is already terminally dead.

 

[ShinkanPo]

Pretty much nailed it. But I still think the KK universe sorely needs a Miyagi backstory movie or series. The main challenge would be casting someone who could pass for a younger Pat Morita, who was 5' 3" in KK1 without being laughably short for a protagonist. But considering 6' 2" Hugh Jackman pulled off canon 5' 3" Wolverine, I suppose they could cast some 5' 8" dude and just say that after the Sekai Taikai, Miyagi trained under Shane Carwin's coach and learned how to cut height.

Brabo..

I laugh so hard it shrink my dik

 

[ChickenBrother]

Spoiler

I hoped Kresse also reached out to Dany boy and to ask forgiveness for disrespecting Mr.Miyagi.

Like maybe have Kreese visit Miyag's grave and give him a salute.

I like the idea but that would be too try hard. I think Kreese's apology tour was about right. He made peace with Johnny, Tory and Kim Da Eun, the characters he "sponsored" and had a soft spot for. But dude was still an anti-hero/sympathetic villain and had he apologized to Daniel and Miyagi, that would have been Daniel level goody good, which he never was.

 

[Ogata]

Maybe the Sekai Taikai didn't have a point system back then. They just fight until someone gives up or gets knocked out. The guy running the tournament said it was a different time back then. So clearly a more brutal era.

Leaving politics out of it, I think it would be very cool and true to KK canon if the movie referenced Karate's Chinese roots and some tie in to kung fu. Would be a bold move though, given current times and WR posters would latch on and have a field day.



This could be it, but also Miyagi and his opponent probably had some off-the-mat beef possibly connected to MIyagi's family being in the Japanese internment camp. Maybe dude had a connection to the guard who stole Miyagi's necklace (or was that dude), and he hated MIyagi for some reason and literally wanted to kill him. The set up would be like if Miyagi and Sato had fought and it was kill or be killed.

Problem is that, Master Kim sort of brought the politics to it by mentioning Japanese occupation.

That said, we are owed an appearance of sensei Serano. Also when sensei wolf bowed after defeat, that was the kung fu way.

Him being from Hong Kong he probably was exposed to southern styles like hung gar which is extremely similar to karate.

 

[CoolB]

I hated about 80% of this season but I did like the last few episodes. All in all it was a pretty ok show.

 

[toasty]

My two big problems with the ending

1- Chozen Chosen however you spell it ends up in love with a murderer.
2- Daniel turns his back on Mr. Miyagi's training telling Johnny to go beat that ass Cobra Kai style.

But as a light the candle kinda guy I'll give you my alternate ending.

Wolf is up 2 to 0- he goes into crane stance openly mocking Johnny and threatening his greatest fear, not losing but humiliation,,,,,

Daniel calls the only time out of the fight.

Angry Johnny and Daniel loudly fight....Daniel is begging Johnny for restraint and defense. Johnny is screaming I'm going to kill this asshole. Johnny walks out on the mats. Wolf goes into Crane stance, Johnny looks at him and shouts "Strike First! Strike hard! No Mercy!

referee FIGHT!

Johnny races forward just like in KK1, cut to terror stricken daniel, Wolf goes for crane kick, Johnny uses the advance Miyagi technique Sam was showing Tory to redirect kick knocking Wolf down and dazing him, Johnny grabs him from behind, threatens to do the Miyagi knife hand strike to the throat No Mercy style, LONG DRAMATIC PAUSE then winks at Daniel and honk honks Wolf's nose.

Johnny lets wolf fall to the ground, ref awards Johnny a knock out victory since 10 seconds has passed without wolf re-engaging him. Everyone rushes to celebrate........

Johnny bows to Daniel, Daniel bows to johnny, they smile at each other....fade to black.

Johnny gets his redemption and is proven to have grown wiser and learned something from the loss to Daniel and all their time together.

Wolf gets humiliated, Kreese and Silver are dead, Iron Dragons lose tourny, bad guys all lose, good guys all win.

And most importantly, Daniel doesn't sell out all of Miyagi's teachings just to win this stupid tournament.

 

[Cajun]

Oh no

anyway

Hahahaha nice!

 

[Ogata]

Maybe the Sekai Taikai didn't have a point system back then. They just fight until someone gives up or gets knocked out. The guy running the tournament said it was a different time back then. So clearly a more brutal era.

Actually they did have a point system:

 

[Ogata]

Fuck now that you mentioned this I like your idea batter...and besides he is already terminally dead.

I mean its about going full circle. Kreese starts out as a good human being and then finds that decency once again. So why not have that decency be also extended to a person who also was good to him. Bought him the building of cobra kai, bought 20 locations, offered him a job after karate kid 3 and returned to help him out despite being ghosted.

To honor that, their final fight could have triggered happier times and they would fight and slowly go from hostile to friendly like how you see UFC fights start touching gloves in later rounds as a mutual show of respect. The scene ends here and it ends in ambiguity of not knowing what happened afterwards.

I like the idea but that would be too try hard. I think Kreese's apology tour was about right. He made peace with Johnny, Tory and Kim Da Eun, the characters he "sponsored" and had a soft spot for. But dude was still an anti-hero/sympathetic villain and had he apologized to Daniel and Miyagi, that would have been Daniel level goody good, which he never was.

Someone wrote that the writers mentioned how they wanted to do a scene of Kreese apologizing to Kreese but it felt like that is a bridge too far for Kreese. Also Daniel did not accept Terry's apology and Kreese mentioned how Larusso sure knows how to hold a grudge. Previous scene to that, Terry did have lots of remorse which he expressed to Kreese about how he treated Daniel.

So Kreese probably felt that an apology would not mean anything since Daniel would not have any of it + Kreese gave Daniel time to train back in the 80s and so he showed some honor but then Daniel lied about the Lawyers number and just wrote

"No mercy motherfucker!"

From Kreeses perspective, Daniel could be considered the aggressor. They came to his dojo back in the 80s. Then their union, the first thing Dan said was "Dead my ass!" Like 35 years later and Daniel did not miss a beat to shades at Kreese.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Problem is that, Master Kim sort of brought the politics to it by mentioning Japanese occupation.

That said, we are owed an appearance of sensei Serano. Also when sensei wolf bowed after defeat, that was the kung fu way.

Him being from Hong Kong he probably was exposed to southern styles like hung gar which is extremely similar to karate.

Still, would be deeper down the rabbit hole if they went full "kung fu is OG karate." Korea vs. Japan is something no one <60 gives a shit about anymore and is like arguing between French croissants and German apfelkuchen.

the writers mentioned how they wanted to do a scene of Kreese apologizing to Kreese but it felt like that is a bridge too far for Kreese.

 

[ChickenBrother]

My two big problems with the ending

1- Chozen Chosen however you spell it ends up in love with a murderer.
2- Daniel turns his back on Mr. Miyagi's training telling Johnny to go beat that ass Cobra Kai style.

But as a light the candle kinda guy I'll give you my alternate ending.

Wolf is up 2 to 0- he goes into crane stance openly mocking Johnny and threatening his greatest fear, not losing but humiliation,,,,,

Daniel calls the only time out of the fight.

Angry Johnny and Daniel loudly fight....Daniel is begging Johnny for restraint and defense. Johnny is screaming I'm going to kill this asshole. Johnny walks out on the mats. Wolf goes into Crane stance, Johnny looks at him and shouts "Strike First! Strike hard! No Mercy!

referee FIGHT!

Johnny races forward just like in KK1, cut to terror stricken daniel, Wolf goes for crane kick, Johnny uses the advance Miyagi technique Sam was showing Tory to redirect kick knocking Wolf down and dazing him, Johnny grabs him from behind, threatens to do the Miyagi knife hand strike to the throat No Mercy style, LONG DRAMATIC PAUSE then winks at Daniel and honk honks Wolf's nose.

Johnny lets wolf fall to the ground, ref awards Johnny a knock out victory since 10 seconds has passed without wolf re-engaging him. Everyone rushes to celebrate........

Johnny bows to Daniel, Daniel bows to johnny, they smile at each other....fade to black.

Johnny gets his redemption and is proven to have grown wiser and learned something from the loss to Daniel and all their time together.

Wolf gets humiliated, Kreese and Silver are dead, Iron Dragons lose tourny, bad guys all lose, good guys all win.

And most importantly, Daniel doesn't sell out all of Miyagi's teachings just to win this stupid tournament.

Da Eun murdering her grandfather was indeed some cold blooded shit and I think Chozen will end up like Barney Stinson in Gone Girl.

But... I don't think Daniel turned his back on Miyagi's training. He just learned to embrace "balance." And his words coaching Johnny in his last fight were full of qualifiers. "What dojo are you fighting for? Does defeat exist in YOUR dojo?" He never says MY dojo or OUR dojo, he's merely telling Johnny what he needs to hear to work his mojo. It's like a sensei who is familiar with different games advising a student to use his own game, even if it's not the sensei's preferred one.

 

[toasty]

Da Eun murdering her grandfather was indeed some cold blooded shit and I think Chozen will end up like Barney Stinson in Gone Girl.

But... I don't think Daniel turned his back on Miyagi's training. He just learned to embrace "balance." And his words coaching Johnny in his last fight were full of qualifiers. "What dojo are you fighting for? Does defeat exist in YOUR dojo?" He never says MY dojo or OUR dojo, he's merely telling Johnny what he needs to hear to work his mojo. It's like a sensei who is familiar with different games advising a student to use his own game, even if it's not the sensei's preferred one.

No matter how you slice it,,,the ending they went with left Daniel embracing Cobra Kai ways whereas mine would be Miyagi Do being proven superior.

This ending leaves Johnny still a bit of a jerk talking junk to a bunch of pimply faced kids and leaving the Stingray as the other sensei.

My way proves Johnny has grown and leaves his ending happy but open ended. he could retire, he could take over Miyagi do, he could become a stock bro day trader, he could spend his days collecting interesting bird skulls.
Their way leaves him seemingly still an angry-ish guy about to teach a bunch of kids to become the next generation of Cobra Kai with Stingray being the other "enlightened sensei instead of Chozen being Chosen and not married to a murderess, not a good thing in my mind....

Their way leaves no one to carry on the pure tradition of Miyagi Do with only a bastardized Cobra Do or Miyagi Kai being taught by the aforementioned less than fully enlightended knuckle head tag team of Johnny and Stingray to guide it into the future.

Mine also harkens back to two key moments in KK1, there's was forced tying up of everyone's story which hollywood seem to think is absolutely needed but I prefer a .......kind of ending where the future could hold anything

 

[KnightTemplar]

Seriously no one else is enjoying this show? Sure the kids drama is annoying but excellent writing otherwise and they stuck the landing for sure.

I enjoy the show for what it is: Nostalgia Porn for old farts like me. I thought it was great to see Johnny finally get the big win, and Kreese redeem himself.

 

[ChickenBrother]

No matter how you slice it,,,the ending they went with left Daniel embracing Cobra Kai ways whereas mine would be Miyagi Do being proven superior.

This ending leaves Johnny still a bit of a jerk talking junk to a bunch of pimply faced kids and leaving the Stingray as the other sensei.

My way proves Johnny has grown and leaves his ending happy but open ended. he could retire, he could take over Miyagi do, he could become a stock bro day trader, he could spend his days collecting interesting bird skulls.
Their way leaves him seemingly still an angry-ish guy about to teach a bunch of kids to become the next generation of Cobra Kai with Stingray being the other "enlightened sensei instead of Chozen being Chosen and not married to a murderess, not a good thing in my mind....

Yeah Stingray becoming a sensei was WTF but dude put in the time and got KTFOed into the living death for it so he kind of earned it. I guess. And it's the way of the Johnny Lawrence Cobra Kai to turn the biggest dorks into badasses.

Their way leaves no one to carry on the pure tradition of Miyagi Do with only a bastardized Cobra Do or Miyagi Kai being taught by the aforementioned less than fully enlightended knuckle head tag team of Johnny and Stingray to guide it into the future.

Mine also harkens back to two key moments in KK1, there's was forced tying up of everyone's story which hollywood seem to think is absolutely needed but I prefer a .......kind of ending where the future could hold anything

Their ending is inevitable and shows what happens when you combine the discipline, the timing and the power of gymnastics Miyagi Do with the explosive force of karate Cobra Kai - a new all powerful martial art is born:

Spoiler

 

[ufcfan4]

I enjoy the show for what it is: Nostalgia Porn for old farts like me. I thought it was great to see Johnny finally get the big win, and Kreese redeem himself.

Yeah, I mean, I thought it remained at least good through the whole run. To me, the showrunners (as well as Zabka and Macchio) knew exactly what they wanted the series to be and just leaned into that. In my opinion, if you’re a fan of the Karate Kid series, it’s pretty much a must watch. Maybe sometimes the fan service was a bit too much and it stretched credulity numerous times but it’s not like the Karate Kid 3 was grounded in reality.

The shifting dojo allegiances was so frequent, I’m not sure I can even tell you who was where at what point. It almost felt like WCW back in the day with everyone joining the NWO then the splinter factions coming into play. But it is what it is. Zabka was great on the series throughout.

Fun show. I’d definitely give it a rewatch.

 

[misty gracie]

I loved Johnny’s big win at the end! William Zabka carried the show from start to finish & I feel that he is a really great underrated actor! I thought his acting was especially great in the last episodes! Now that the show is over, I’m hoping we see Zabka in more roles! He deserves it!

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Seemed okay. Seemed like they just had to finish it somehow. Get him a body bag. Yeeahhh!!!

 

[Valhoven]

I enjoyed the show. Reckoned its playful soul a little lost in latter seasons (not sure I really bought into the Sekai Taikai arc) but ended well in the second split of S6 here.

Zabka was a standout. The premise of the show that Daniel was all along the antagonist is such a cool perspective.

Johnny's S6 heart-to-heart with Kreese came off real AF and caught me off-guard. Top-drawer acting and clearly drawing on something inside him from his real life. Will see if I can quickly find scene and throw up below.

e/ Found the scene: