Sometimes you have to learn where others are coming from in order to figure out how whom they are. If there is one thing that we have learned in the Karate Kid franchise as well as in Cobra Kai – Daniel and Johnny don’t understand shit about each other.
In the first episode, the kids are going to build a sparring deck. I love how they all decide to work together, because it’s true. They are stronger together than apart.
Daniel heads to the dojo ready to teach the kids the essentials. Sand the floor. Oh the memories of sand the floor.
But hey, leave it to Johnny to fuck that up. He’s there with an industrial sander and has it all done. Johnny doesn’t see the point in the kids doing it, but that’s because these two have two very distinct ways of doing things.
And neither of them understand the others way. So they make an agreement – they are each going to learn each others style.
And maybe thats the most important lesson that we learn, that it is needed in life that we step outside of our comfort zones so that we can understand others.
JOHNNY LEARNS
Miyagi-Do karate is definitely different that Eagle Fang/Cobra Kai. Daniel and Johnny teaching each other about the differences may be my favorite thing ever.
Daniel goes first to teach him Miyagi-Do. He has Johnny painting the house. I remember when Mr. Miyagi had Daniel painting the fence. That was a good day. Daniel didn’t get it back then, but he is definitely loving teaching it now.
Johnny gets frustrated and wants to give up. I admit I teared up when Daniel showed him what he is learning. It was a Mr. Miyagi thing to do. And then when he broke the bottle and Johnny was impressed, I loved that Johnny then wanted to learn.
It’s nice to see them both grow, and evolve. Johnny is learning and he’s making headway in his learning. Sure, Johnny’s still a dick, but he realizes that he needs to learn and then think outside of what he knows.
DANIEL HAS TO FLY
With the long standing feud between Daniel and Johnny they both are taking pleasure in teaching each other new things. Johnny is excited AF to teach Daniel, Eagle Fang Karate. I laughed when he brought him to an old warehouse and trained him there.
The two may not understand each other, but the beauty of these two is that they are allowing themselves to do something that they never did before – they are allowing themselves to grow.
They are still stubborn old fucks – but both get the hang of and see that they can learn from the other. And they are taking it all in. But them learning from each other and admitting that they learn from each other – in the subtle ways makes me happy.
But Johnny taking him to a hockey game and getting him in a fight with hockey players made me LOL. Also made me not want to fuck with Daniel.
In all fairness he was protecting his wife’s honor – so kick ass Daniel.
AMANDA STANDS UP
Amanda LaRusso isn’t having all that is happening. She’s over it. So Mama bear is coming out.
She goes to Tory’s work and confronts her. She explains to her that she needs to leave her daughter alone or she will put her in jail.
Here’s the thing about Tory – she’s not going to back down from things. A part of her identity is being a fighter – because she’s doing everything that she can to help her family. She doesn’t let people in, but she’s an asshole because it’s all she knows how to be in order to be strong and not fall apart.
The confrontation gets Tory fired and that’s a lot for her. She’s scared. She’s got a lot to figure out.
And when Amanda hears from Kreese exactly what is going on with Tori, she starts to realize what she’s done. She starts to realize that she doesn’t really know what is happening.
And then feels that it’s time to make things better. She heads over and leaves food at Tory’s, but Tory isn’t having it. She shows up at the dealership, dropping the bag of food in front of Amanda and what I am impressed with at this moment is that Amanda made sure to get them healthy food.
Tory thanks her for lighting a fire under her ass and that, well, Amanda was like fuck.
THE NEW KID
In this episode we meet the new kid Kenny. He’s a new kid who LaRusso’s son terrorizes. Like what a little shit Daniel’s son is. And his friends are complete assholes.
Kenny is just doing everything that he can to fit in and because he was dancing when the bus pulled up, all the kids think it’s okay to make fun of him. These kids are little shits and Kenny doesn’t deserve this crap.
They even go as far as to online stalk him online and act like a girl that was nice to him at school and make him think he has a friend. But wha they do is set him up to be humiliated. They beat the poor kid up and make him afraid to live.
I can not even think for a second that these little shits that terrorize Kenny don’t need the shit kicked out of them. It’s not okay. Sorry – they pissed me off.
Kenny visits his brother (who is in juvi) and he says that he has someone who can help him. I wonder who that is.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- I want to kick the shit out of people for fucking with Kenny.
- Little LaRusso is a shithead.
Cobra Kai is streaming now on Netflix.