Do you ever rewatch a movie or tv show you haven’t seen in a long time and just…I don’t know…love/hate it? This has been my experience with The Karate Kid franchise. I know I saw the first movie a long time ago. Like, a loooong time ago. And I know that I watched The Karate Kid Part II at some point in the past too. But with Cobra Kai on Netflix now, I decided I should go back and watch the movies again to remind me exactly what went down.
The Bearded One and I watched the first movie a few weeks ago. I remembered a lot of it, but certainly not all of it, so it was a delightful little nostalgia bomb for me with some good backstory to prepare for Cobra Kai. Then we watched Parts II & III. I really liked Part II–I was glad that Daniel was out of the high school scene for the most part in that one, and that they were in a different place. In the first movie, Mr. Miyagi is basically the only Asian person represented in a movie about karate, which seems weird. But in the second one, Daniel was the only non-Asian character for most of the movie. I don’t think I had ever seen the third movie before, and…wow. Just…oof. Mr. Miyagi was still good, but Daniel kind of descends into a neurotic man-child. Throw the comically villainous Terry Silver and his goons into the mix? Wow. I don’t even know what else to say about it.
After we recovered from Part III, we started watching Cobra Kai and we actually finished Season 3 yesterday. Again, I think I’m glad I watched the first three movies before watching the show, because there are a lot of flashbacks and mentions of the past that I probably wouldn’t have fully understood if we hadn’t. But I was NOT prepared for what Cobra Kai turned out to be. If you don’t want any Cobra Kai spoilers, STOP READING NOW!! I mean it!! If you keep reading after this and something gets spoiled for you, it’s your own fault!!
So, my general take of Cobra Kai is that it does a great job of mixing in the nostalgia for the fans, while still having its own distinct storylines. The character development is, in my opinion, incredible–even the antagonists on the show get to have their attitudes explained. And Daniel’s wife Amanda steals the show for me every time she puts Daniel (or Tom Cole…or John Kreese) in his place. Are there problematic things about it? Yeah, probably. Johnny Lawrence hasn’t really figured out how to be in the world appropriately yet, but as someone who grew up in the ’80s & ’90s, I have to admit, it makes me chuckle a little bit just because it so accurately portrays how a certain section of humans behaved. Honestly, a lot of people who behaved the way Johnny did probably still behave that way.
The best thing about it, though, is that Johnny starts to realize what he’s doing wrong, and takes steps to do better. That’s one thing I think some people don’t get enough credit for. As much as I would love the world to be open to and accepting of people of all different races and genders and personality types, I think it’s important to recognize where many people started, and when they’ve actually grown and changed their beliefs when they realized they were wrong. If people are perpetually punished for things they said or did before they knew better, but then correct their behavior when they realize that they can (and should) do better, well, that kind of sucks. Personally, I’ve grown and changed a lot over the years, and I cringe to think of some of the things I used to do or say or believe. I’m not saying people should have a free pass for bad behavior. Just that if they’ve taken responsibility for their wrongdoings (this part is important), and started to make an effort to be better, don’t diminish that by continually reminding them of what they’ve done wrong. Recognize that they’re trying.
Season 3 of Cobra Kai has some great lessons in this. Johnny gets to do a lot of growing (one of his great quotes: “Being a badass doesn’t mean being an asshole.“), but he’s not the only one. In the episode where Daniel goes to Japan to try to work out a deal with Doyona, he gets to meet up with the hugely changed Chozen, to whom he showed mercy in Part II. Chozen then teaches him something that helps him in his fight with Kreese later on. Daniel also reunites with Kumiko and, through her, he gets to see the girl he helps down from the bell tower during the storm in Part II again. He rescued her when she was a kid, and then she gets to rescue his business using her position at Doyona.
As Kumiko tells Daniel, “Put good into the world and good will come back to you.” I know this is all a made up story, but I believe that line is really true. It comes back to what I’ve said before in blog posts–how you act towards people can have a huge impact on how they react to you. You can’t go into situations expecting someone to do something specific for you, but generally speaking, it’s a lot nicer to go through life treating people well (and expecting nothing in return) and to have the good come back to you a lot of the time than to live in a negative way. Sure, sometimes bad things happen and there’s nothing you can do to stop them. But please put good into the world, however you can–random acts of kindness, practicing empathy, creating things that bring people joy. I really think good will come back to you.
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