#cobra kai meta

[variousqueerthings]

there’s something hilariously hysterical (in a sort of manic way) about sam breaking up with miguel to discover who she is after having had this revelatory vision in which the only person who knows her is tory and having a symbolic fight with herself-as-tory-who-knows-her

and miguel had bought her this expensive token of their relationship, you see, this octopus necklace, because back at the beginning of their relationship he won her an octopus and since then it’s been brought up a couple of times during one of their early breakups (how many breakups is it now? does the drunken party kiss count? anyway)

and when she breaks up with him this time he leaves the token in the dirt -- sort of a foreshadowing “oh no, that means they may not be really done” concept, because she doesn’t know anything about it, but she’ll probably find it later on in the story

and she does eventually find it, and the thing is that she’s been trying to find herself the whole time, but that’s led her right back into her old patterns, or rather the pattern of the story, because where does a character who doesn’t do karate belong in this narrow narrative box?

and she’s not happy -- she’s not sure why, but she’s not, the “finding herself” isn’t working. she thought she’d feel good if she finally beat tory, as she thinks her story has been telling her to -- she needs to beat tory to feel settled, for things to go back to the way they were meant to, but tory disappears right before the fight and she doesn’t get to have that catharsis

she’ll never have that catharsis it seems, because tory is gone, the fight cannot happen, the story continues to be disrupted and will not be fixed. whatever she was hoping to find in tory, it won’t happen

so when she finds that token instead -- that very expensive octopus necklace that calls back to an easier time when she didn’t know tory at all, when she and miguel were simple, when there weren’t all these other confusing feelings in the way -- she decides, fuck it, maybe that’s the sign she’s been waiting for, maybe it really is her and miguel, despite everything that’s gone wrong with them time and time again. after all, she’ll always feel strongly about him, and things were easy with them once -- maybe this token symbolises that this time for some magical reason, things will be different and won’t fall apart. they can be simple again, she can stop looking for herself, there was no reason to even try

the token sends her back to miguel --

only to find miguel kissing another girl at a party, as he’s entitled to because they’re not together, and it shatters everything, because this token, this physical presence of something was the sign... wasn’t it?

what else is there?

this was the night when she was meant to find out why she wasn’t happy, what was missing, and the token appeared before her on this exact night and that’s why she came to this party to begin with, the token sent her here ---

only to run, sobbing, right into tory, who has come to throw herself upon her mercy and beg her for help

#samtory #sam larusso #tory nichols #cobra kai #ck #cks5 #cobra kai s5 #cobra kai spoilers #truly a crazy piece of narrative that works perfectly to the point that your whole brain is going WOW THEY'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT #THEY'RE GOING THERE! #(only for sam to go back to miguel after all) #(he bought her an expensive necklace you see... it's Only Thing that connects them symbolically... and it was expensive) #ck meta #cobra kai meta

[izzythehutt]

Terry, Kreese, Johnny, what it means to be a Cobra Kai, 'villainous values' and the love of (evil) karate father for his karate son

I've been thinking about this moment:

First of all, ouch.

But it also got me thinking....why does Kreese feel so strongly about Johnny?

And as much as his contempt for Lawrence is motivated by jealousy, Terry's inability to see why Kreese believes Johnny is his best student (and why he loves him more than Terry) says so much about the divide in the two men's philosophy, approach and the fundamental values that drive their actions.

(TL;DR: it's his guts and heart, not what's in his head)

Terry and John could not come from more different backgrounds. Kreese was working class and completely self-made. His mentally ill mother's suicide made him a social pariah back home. His motivations for joining the army seem to have been twofold: a way of bettering himself and a genuine sense of patriotism/purpose. I think we can infer he never went to college and he was field promoted to captain. Kreese is naturally courageous, in his best iteration someone who has no fear of death or getting hurt. In his ideal form this courage is rooted in protecting someone (ie when he got his ass kicked helping Betsy.) In its worst form he becomes domineering and controlling of his loved ones, justifying any number of deranged actions as in their best interests.

Terry, meanwhile, came from money and probably was only fighting in Vietnam because his father wanted to "toughen him up" (if he's rich he could have gotten out of it so this is an extrapolation but I think it fits his character.) He even outright tells Tory that he is different from Kreese in this respect: he didn't have to scrape his way through life, but he did learn to use every advantage available to him. He is both intelligent/a survivor and values loyalty even more than Kreese does—you see this in KK3 and in the flashback of Kreese saving his life. He expects that loyalty to be reciprocated (John disappearing on him for thirty years is an obvious betrayal, John caring more about Lawrence is the nail in the coffin.) He admires the qualities Kreese has he doesn't, while secretly chafing against his friend's condescension even as he longs for his attention and approval.

Kreese is unpretentious, has never cared about Terry's money (and has been borderline too proud to take it since Terry was introduced as a character in KK3) while Silver is urbane, cosmopolitan in his outlook—comparatively "forward thinking," an ambitious, big picture guy. Kreese forms deep and personal connections with students that he has "gut" feelings about and sees himself in—as much as he sees Cobra Kai as his baby and legacy, he will only get emotional satisfaction from knowing that someone he personally loves is carrying it on (though he kicked Johnny out in S2, that was only for compromising what Kreese sees as the core 'principles' of CK, and he spent all of S3 trying to get Johnny to come back and S4 focused on grooming Johnny's son to do so in his stead.) For Terry what matters is the actual philosophy and its efficacy at helping weaklings channel their fear and turn it into power (though he's not beyond connecting with a student on a personal level, e.g. Kenny.) The "legacy" is the Cobra Kai "way", carried on by the ubiquitous nature of dominating a global tournament and making dojos, not any one surrogate son figure.

Kreese is a classic macho American archetype, unironically hanging American flags on the dojo walls and going off on political correctness/'snowflakism' while Silver is buying $500K samurai swords and enjoying stolen fine art before pimping merch on instagram. Silver has intellectual pretensions and business sense while Kreese's brain is rooted in animal cunning. These two are very different types of men and villains.

So...why is Johnny 'it' for Kreese but not Terry?

In S3 Kreese tells Robby the story of when he knew Johnny was "the real deal." What impressed him was not that Johnny won a fight, but rather was willing to go all-in against someone way beyond his skill level. Terry is not wrong that Johnny is not the most intelligent character on this show by any stretch of the imagination, which is something that is central to his idea of what a CK student should be, but I don't necessarily think it's central to Kreese's.

Kreese admires guts more than brains, something he does not think Terry has ever or will ever possess.

Kreese compared young Silver to Johnny in the prison scene, both scared and fearful—it's clear he views them both as "his", dependents that he "made", relationships his attitude towards has ranged from protective to condescending to controlling at various stages. But the difference is that Terry will always be a follower, a number two, whereas, at least in his own mind, Johnny is a true heir apparent, someone who he can project his own legacy onto.

He cares for Terry, in his own twisted way, but there's a fundamental lack of respect. Certainly he often treats Johnny like a child, but he's also his karate son that he believes sincerely is the best and who was "robbed" of his chance by Daniel in '84. Johnny is an extension of himself in his mind, someone who has the potential to carry on the legacy and philosophy he created, which is the thing he cares about most. He really, sincerely believes it helps children, that it helped Johnny.

By his own admission, he wanted Johnny to be better than him.

And he is—in spite of Kreese, not because of him.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the parallel of the S3 finale Vietnam and S5 finale fight. Contrast this:

With this:

The loss of Betsy (the metaphoric shedding of his humanity) gave Kreese the motivation to let go of all moral questions ("No mercy!") and the strength to kill Captain Turner, whereas the hope of his family, his children and need to live the rest of his life protecting and caring for them—the most primal human urge, embracing his humanity—is what gives Johnny the strength to keep fighting against all odds, people with greater strength and technical ability than him.

Sound familiar?

Johnny has become the man Kreese might've been, he has the same core values, heart and guts, as the man still buried deep within him.

At some primal, deep and subconscious level Kreese sees his own best self in Johnny, even if he doesn't understand that it was through rejecting the worst of what Kreese gave him—learning from his mentor's mistakes—that has made him a better man.

That's the tragic irony.

Well, that and the fact that Kreese can only get the emotional satisfaction of Johnny understanding what he tried to do in therapeutic hallucination form.

#cobra kai #cobra kai spoilers #johnny lawrence #john kreese #terry silver #cobra kai meta #this essay started one way and ended up a love letter to kreese's effed up love for johnny #martin kove #william zabka #thomas ian griffith #this turned into a treatise

[emletish-fish]

So I need my feminist card revoked because I want Carmen to have a girl so Johnny can have a daughter, and Robby and Miguel can have a sister, and the 3 of them will be over protective idiots.

The baby is absolutely a girl. That's what the whole sonogram scene was foreshadowing - so you will probably get your wish.

Honestly, if you like the babyplot and think this would be sweet - then that's completely fine. You do you. I'm not going to tell you that you aren't allowed to enjoy media a certain way.

I mean, I have a wildly different take, but that doesn't mean you're wrong - just that we see plot devices differently.

The babyplot makes me legit sad for Johnny on many levels. (I mean, I'm sad for a lot of the characters involved because they've been narratively misused- but it's actually a tragedy arc for Johnny).

There is something sweet in big doofus men being protective of tiny lil baby girls and this trope can be done well and be heartwarming - but it's also a common trope because:

1) big doofus strongman type characters are only allowed to show softness and vulnerability with female characters.

2) little boys are often treated 'less soft' than little girls in media (even though at that age, their need for snuggles/attachment is identical).

So for me, since the show has already tried showing Johnny outgrowing his sexism, I don't need to see him playing princess teaparties with a toddler to prove he's not sexist anymore (as adorable as that would be).

And like, wouldn't it be even more wild and meaningful and engaging if Johnny was allowed to show softness around his own son? Wouldn't that help him build a more meaningful connection with Robby? Wouldn't that have been a more powerful way of showing that he's grown past his toxic masculinity?

That's the story I was more excited for.

(RIP my hopes and dreams for this storyline).

#emletish answers #cobra kai meta #Johnny Lawrence #baby lawrence diaz #robby keene #I'm not here to be the feminist police or anything #and I am glad that some people are getting something good out of the babyplot #but for me #I just can't get behind it #It's terrible on so many levels #and I've seen takes about why it's terrible for Robby Carmen and Miguel #but I haven't seen many about how it is also a #massive disservice and flat out tragedy for Johnny

[bonsai-babies]

A testament to Samantha LaRusso's heart (3/?)

Cobra Kai - S05E09

For the first time, Sam is seeing with her own very eyes how messy and awful Tory's home situation is. She looks around in sheer surprise and controls her reactions, this was beyond anything she would've imagined. At last, she's one step closer to knowing just as much as the audience and this instantly affects her.

Tory sees the truth in Samantha's willingness to listen. Tory doesn't even question it because I'm sure she could feel in Sam's voice it was genuine. She proceeds to confess how the All Valley went for her. She's filled with regret. She even confesses she wanted to get back at Silver and chose to listen to Kreese -- which was revealed to be a mistake.

Sam embraces her distress and doesn't accuse her anymore. Sam doesn't blame or lashes out against Tory. She feels for Tory, she sympathizes with her. Now that she knows, Sam exhibits her forgiving and kind nature, by not even holding up any of the wounds that had nothing to do with All Valley or Cobra Kai. She just listens, she understands her rival's situation.

Then she welcomes Tory, who had been standing on the enemy line all along, to join the fight by her side. To join Miagy-Do and Eagle Fang's mission to defeat Silver. She's quick to suggest that now they could help each other, which means accepting Tory's help and admitting Tory as a vital ally.

Sam doesn't hesitate to openly show that she believes in Tory and her growth.

Sam proves to be capable of understanding, opening up, and moving past very hard pains, because she believes in good changes.

#cobra kai #cobra kai analysis #cobra kai meta #cobra kai spoilers #sam larusso #samantha larusso #tory nichols #a testament to samantha larusso's heart #this is for the fans and for the usual viewers #i have no interest in trying to fight the antis with this #this is for me and for the people who care about listening

[resedacitrus]

daniel larusso is not the real villain of the karate kid movies and here's why: a mega post because quite frankly, i am tired

fair warning, this is long and brings up some pretty self-explanatory points. nonetheless, i need to say these things because i have been in daniel's position multiple times and it drives me nuts when people say he somehow deserved what the cobras did to him! i'm well aware how dramatic i'm probably being but i honestly don't care. so happy reading!!!

before i start rambling, i just want to say something: i know the original "daniel is the real bully" video is a joke, and this is not about that nor is it about the people who jokingly use that phrase. this is for the obnoxious people who legitimately believe daniel is at fault for what he went through. also, i know johnny and the cobras were being terribly misled by kreese at this time! that doesn't justify their actions, rather it explains them.

1. the beach fight was JOHNNY'S fault, not daniel's!

daniel had been in california for a day. A DAY. when he met ali at the beach party, he knew absolutely NOTHING about her other than the fact that she was pretty and he wanted to pursue her. he didn't even know her name for crying out loud, how was he supposed to know her dating history?

johnny was the one who was territorial and jealous. johnny was the one who flew into a rage when he saw ali being happy with someone else. that's not to invalidate the heartbreak he felt and was still processing after ali dumped him, because those emotions were 100% real! (and not to mention, kreese was misleading him SEVERELY at this time) but johnny was the one who consciously chose to stir up trouble with ali and disrespect the clear boundary she had set.

daniel was nothing more than a bystander. he saw this nice sweet girl he liked being messed with and his first instinct was to help her. that's pretty gentlemanly if you ask me, and i'd hope a guy would help me out if i was being hassled by my angry ex. he didn't want trouble, he just wanted to diffuse the situation. he approached things calmly and nicely and JOHNNY was the one who decided to get physical. if daniel hadn't helped ali, and he'd just stood there, people would say he "had no balls" and he let ali get pushed around. but when he helps her, he "shouldn't have gotten involved". daniel didn't know who johnny was, or what johnny was capable of. all he saw was a bad situation and he wanted to help.

oh and one more thing, after daniel sucker-punches johnny, you can see him holding his fist but he also has a hand out for a shake whilst saying "ok man, now we're even!" daniel didn't want a rivalry. johnny did. daniel was simply defending ali and then himself. you're telling me you wouldn't fight back if some random guy was beating up on you? ok...sure...

2. the soccer tryouts incident with bobby...again, NOT daniel's fault!

how people manage to blame daniel for this one is laughable and embarrassing to me honestly. daniel was simply minding his own business, playing soccer and waiting to try out for the team. he probably saw soccer as an opportunity for him to find his place. as someone who has struggled to fit in and make friends for years, i totally get where he was at in this scene.

ali comes up and initiates a conversation with him and he smiles, despite having just gotten the crap beat out of him the previous night for interacting with her. he didn't want trouble, he just wanted to find connections with people.

it's JOHNNY AND THE COBRAS who ganged up on daniel. they were the ones who plotted against him. they were the ones who sent little hand signals to each other. daniel was in his own little world, kicking the ball around and not bothering anyone. BOBBY was the one who came after him, as we hear daniel loudly shout to the soccer coach.

"but daniel shouldn't have tackled and punched bobby!" nope. don't wanna hear it. if bobby didn't wanna get tackled and socked in the face, maybe he should have left well enough alone. if bobby didn't want daniel getting angry and fighting back, he should have left daniel alone. he picked the wrong hothead to mess with. again, daniel had every right to defend himself. if he hadn't, everyone would call him a pansy and make fun of him even more. the kid can't win!

this is why bullying victims don't speak up 🙈

3. the bike accident

do i even need to go into detail for this one? the cobras were 100% to blame here yet again. daniel was minding his own beeswax and they decided it would be appropriate to push him down a hill on his bike??? come on you snakes, give it a rest! daniel could have been severely injured here if not dead and i don't think anyone really acknowledges how scary that truly is.

let's put it in context: johnny and his gang were doing this to daniel over a girl. a girl! is a high school girlfriend really worth someone's safety and life? i don't think so!

4. the halloween fight. oh Lord.

this one is perhaps the most controversial since daniel did have a bit of a fault here. let me explain.

up to this point, and after the bike incident, the cobras had been leaving daniel alone. granted, daniel had been fleeing the scene any time he saw them and he avoided ali like the plague because he didn't want himself beaten up, but they really didn't bother him too much.

so i get it when people say daniel shouldn't have pulled the water prank. i really do.

but, think about it. wet clothes and hair and a ruined joint (all very fixable things!) are nothing compared to the amount of bruises, bleeding and torment the cobras had given daniel up to this point. the memories of this torture aren't exactly the easiest to get rid of, and you can't just dry them off with a towel. water is harmless. being beaten and bullied over a girl isn't.

daniel should have considered the outcomes before he did it, and i think one of his flaws is definitely his impulsiveness, but he had a right to give johnny a taste of his own medicine. even then, what he did to johnny isn't even an iota of what johnny did to him! so was medicine even served?

johnny flew into a murderous rage all over a harmless prank. johnny could have killed daniel that night and the producers confirmed that. if it weren't for mr. miyagi, daniel would have been dead or severely hurt and the cobras would have been facing charges. serious ones, at that. all over jealousy and over-protectiveness for a girl who didn't belong to them.

sure, daniel should have stayed away from johnny. he knew what johnny and the guys were capable of, and he wasn't stupid. he knew the potential risks. but johnny had no business overreacting the way he did. it was water, johnny. the kid didn't murder your family (or anything else that would warrant that type of reaction).

that's all i have to say, i think. in conclusion, yes daniel was a little punk. yes he was impulsive and it got him into trouble. however, johnny was the clear perpetrator here and none of what he did to daniel should ever be justified. 😁

#the karate kid #the karate kid (1984) #cobra kai #karate kid meta #cobra kai meta #daniel larusso #ralph macchio #johnny lawrence #billy zabka

[diningwiththeasquiths]

Johnny seems to be very physically oriented in life, pursuing careers with a strong physical component. I wonder if that's got to do with how he excelled in karate back in high school but not in any school subjects. Therefore internalizing that his strength lay with utilizing his body. (Because that's where his self-confidence came from.) Which explains the fact that he was a stripper for a while. As well as his career as a handyman, where he worked with his hands and did a lot of physical labor. We came full circle when he became a karate teacher.

Just something I was thinking about today.

#idk if this makes sense #maybe this is just common knowledge #in that case please ignore this #johnny lawrence #cobra kai meta

[mythicalmongoose]

So, trauma and Cobra Kai… Or, more specifically, mostly trauma and Daniel, I guess.

And, PLEASE, if you disagree so hard you absolutely must discuss it with others, don’t call me names and vagueblog about how “embarrassing” my opinions are. Just reply to the dang post or start a private group chat like an adult. This fandom ain’t that big. Stuff that specific gets back to me and is depressing/anxiety inducing to read. At the end of the day, these are fictional characters and I am not.

So, anyway, I don’t think the writers are failing Daniel by not addressing his trauma. I feel like fandom kind of overestimates how much events from the movies affect him as an adult. Anonymous asks are still off because of the last time I had an unpopular opinion, so let’s goooo…..

Trauma is a big, broad subject and, to be perfectly honest, my opinions on this subject might be largely fueled by my inability to figure out wtf people mean when they use the word, “trauma” these days. The word feels like it’s lost its meaning, tbh. And being frustrated by that feels like such a slippery slope bc you don’t want to gatekeep trauma. You don’t want to risk invalidating people’s experiences. But, at the same time, it’s frustrating to see the word bandied about for any and everything that’s even mildly unfortunate… And then used for meme purposes by people already playing fast and loose with the word.

One of the super fun conditions on my medical chart is c-ptsd. Which I’m mentioning just as context for where I’m coming from and not, like, “Do you even have a doctor’s note, bro? You can’t sit at the table with the ptsd cool kids without a doctor’s note.” Everyone’s circumstances are different. If something from your past is impacting your ability to function in your day-to-day life, you know it. You’re valid.

That said, Daniel is a fictional character. If you identify with him because you can project your own problems onto him, again, totally valid. But Daniel, in my reading of the character, is not an especially traumatized dude.

When we meet him in the show, he is THRIVING. Great life, loving family, a job he loves, wealth. And, while there was, unarguably, a significant amount of karate-based drama in his past, there is no indication that it meaningfully impacted him in a negative way.

When he’s blindsided by Cobra Kai, that’s completely reasonable. As is his response to most of the karate supervillains reemerging from his past. Like, the threat is RIGHT there. It’s healthy human behavior to react to that. Less healthy is how Daniel approaches those problems. But, imo, that comes more from a place of grief. Specifically, complicated grief, which is its own thing.

Daniel doesn’t have flashbacks apropos of nothing or outwardly innocuous triggers based on high school, Silver, ect. I imagine that death matches and being dangled off a cliff take their toll, but that feels like something Miyagi would have spotted and helped him address. Which is the healthy thing to do. To take traumatic events and move past them or use them as a sort of stepping stone that shapes you in some positive way. Which tracks with how lost Daniel seems in knowing how to deal with the events of CK without Miyagi.

Cobra Kai outliving Miyagi is untenable. It’s in trying to maintain Miyagi’s legacy that he gets mired in the past.

Being bullied for several months in high school is a story that Daniel exaggerates to his family in a, “When I was your age, I used to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways” fashion. Which isn’t something I associate with trauma. Talking about or making jokes about their trauma to cope, sure. This doesn’t read like that, though.

He doesn’t talk about Silver to people, but I’ve always felt like this is because he’s ashamed. He wasn’t gaslit. He barely knew Silver. Being tricked into punching 2x4’s wasn’t the part that affected him. He’s ashamed of that part of his life. He genuinely upset Miyagi; he feels like he betrayed him. For all his hatred towards Cobra Kai, the fact that he joined them isn’t something he likes thinking or talking about. And, shit, we all have that. Not karate drama, but periods of our life that we’re not proud of, moments you really don’t want to bring up unless pressed. Especially now that the person you hurt the most is no longer around.

Which is already plenty depressing and complex without insisting that it was also traumatic in other ways? I don’t think alarm bells going off when you see the unhinged man who bullied a high school kid returning to Cobra Kai to teach children is a response that screams unprocessed trauma. Again, that’s exceedingly reasonable. Which is, perhaps, why it bugs me so much that people harp on Johnny for not being sympathetic enough.

Johnny grew up in Cobra Kai. Kreese was his sensei/father figure. I don’t think Silver registers as particularly egregious in a way that warrants him suddenly turning into a character with a way higher emotional IQ than the one he’s got.

People complaining that they wrote Johnny, Kreese, and Terry with considerable trauma-based issues as if this is something unfair to Daniel is what gets under my skin more than anything. It feels very, “Hey guys, mom said it was my turn to have the trauma.” Like it’s a desirable thing to have. Which is all well and good in fanfic, but demanding a character have trauma that’s explored and addressed because it’s not fair that the writers address the trauma of other characters is just… Ugh. It reminds me of the, frankly alarming, number of people who have told me that they envy the traumatic things I’ve been through because they feel I have more life experience than them. A lot of the talk I see around Daniel and trauma feels romanticized or fetishistic in a way I have a hard time putting my finger on.

Johnny’s c-ptsd and Kreese and Silver’s PTSD  is not the writers playing favorites. Daniel has his own, no less compelling, problems and I feel like those are already being touched on in ways that are plenty emotional… As evidenced by the fact that I have cried no less than twice over how much he misses Miyagi this week. It was that time of the month. Don’t look at me. It’s sad, okay?

/wall o stream of conscious text that was hopefully coherent.

#cobra kai #daniel larusso #johnny lawrence #cobra kai meta #ramblings

[selenestarmoon]

Grace and Simon, Kreese and Terry: A Destroyed Friendship

What would you think if I told you that this friendship

is similar to this one?

So that you can understand it better, here I will explain the similarities between both friendships and the possible fates of Kreese and Terry if they follow the same route as Grace and Simon:

GRACE MONROE AND JOHN KRESSE - PURPOSE, GUILT AND REDEMPTION

Grace came from a home where she was ignored by her parents and she could only get their attention through standards that they put on her and she got into trouble just to get their attention and the train picks her up and the fact of being in an unknown place without knowing what besides almost dying if it weren't for the fact that the false conductor (Amelia) inadvertently saved her, makes Grace consider that the train belongs to the passengers and that the denizens of the train have no value and are just decorations.

Kreese on the other hand had a hard life: her mother committed suicide and she had to work to survive and her girlfriend Betsy gave her hope for a happy life. Then comes the Vietnam War, Betsy's death and the rejection of both the government and American citizens towards the soldiers who fought in Vietnam and this ends up marking him for life with his ideology: peace is just an illusion, if not you attack first and hard or if you just don't win then they will kill you.

They both had a difficult life and had traumatic events (Grace being saved by the fake driver from almost dying and Kreese because of everything she lived through during the Vietnam War) that shaped their way of thinking (with Grace it is that the passengers are the only ones that have value and the denizens are only accessories and with Kreese it's that if you do not win and attack first they kill you) but you will wonder why they create Apex and Cobra Kai? The answer is simple: they seek to give meaning to their traumatic experiences and, by extension, they seek purpose in the current environment they find themselves in because if their traumas and pain are meaningless then they will have suffered for nothing.

Also during their stays on the train and in Vietnam respectively, they meet Simon Laurent and Terry Silver who will be their closest friends by sharing their trauma and therefore end up sharing their ideology and will spend years spreading their toxic ideologies to their friends (Simon and Terry) and the younger generation. Grace and Kreese think they're helping the younger generation survive when in reality they're harming them with toxic ideologies that will only bring them trouble in society.

Grace and Kreese continue with this way of life until they meet someone who will not have much of an impact at first but as time goes on will start a snowball effect that will make them question their ideologies: Johnny Lawrence and Hazel.

At first Grace and Kreese have a good relationship with Hazel and Johnny and even come to love them like family (Grace loves Hazel like a little sister and Kreese considers Johnny his son) but they constantly let them down to the point of that Hazel and Johnny don't trust them and want nothing to do with them anymore, this makes Grace and Kreese realize that they have ruined their relationship with them to an irreparable level but these aren't the only relationships they ruined to that level because they also failed in their relationships with Simon and Terry by manipulating and lying to them all the time not to mention that they feel displaced by Hazel and Johnny until they (Simon and Terry) get tired of Grace and Kreese, betray them and lock them up in prisons (Grace is locked in a tape with her memories and Kreese is arrested for a crime he didn't commit). All this, plus the guilt they feel for all their mistakes, forces them to recognize that they have failed and that they need to change for the better, Grace recognizing her mistakes and wanting to change not only herself but also the young people she has failed and lied to and Kreese will (possibly) have to do the same thing Grace did if he wants to fix his life and his relationship with Johnny because if he doesn't, Kreese will live miserable and alone for the rest of his life.

SIMON LAURENT AND TERRY SILVER - LOYALTY, DENIAL AND MADNESS

On the other hand, Simon and Terry have followed Grace and Kreese for as long as we've known them, but why are they so loyal to them? That's because Grace and Kreese saved them from dying in the past and Simon and Terry feel indebted to them but Grace and especially Kreese share their views with them and create Apex and Cobra Kai as a result, teaching them a dysfunctional ideology. In addition to taking advantage of Simon and Terry's loyalty by abusing it, manipulating them and (especially Kreese) mistreating them.

Simon and Terry are willing to prove their loyalty to Grace and Kreese to the point that they do horrible things to do it (Simon kills Tuba behind Grace's back and Terry almost kills Johnny) and this makes Grace and Kreese angry and they don't know. This is because Grace and Kreese are inadvertently changing due to their relationship with Hazel and Johnny, and by extension, are doing the opposite of the ideologies that govern their lives and their respective organizations (Kreese has compassion for Johnny and saves him from dying and Grace shows grief and pity for Tuba, a train denizen) so Simon and Terry feel like they were lied to all along and as King said in The Owl House season 2 episode 16 Hollow Mind:

King: No one wants to think they've wasted their life following the wrong person.

And this is what happens with Simon and Terry, they don't want to change because that would imply recognizing that they have been following a flawed ideology, a lie and they don't want to feel that their loyalty was for a lie, was for nothing and they choose to blame Grace and Kreese for betraying what they want to believe is the truth.

Also Simon and Terry realize that Grace and Kreese's change is motivated by Hazel and Johnny and at the same time they feel displaced by them.

All of the above (the constant exploitation and manipulation, feeling cheated and betrayed, not wanting to recognize that their ideology doesn't work, and feeling that they were displaced by someone else) makes Simon and Terry tire of Grace and Kreese, betraying and locking them up while they usurp their positions as leaders of their organizations (Apex and Cobra Kai) and while this is happening Grace and (possibly) Kreese reflect on their mistakes and are willing to change while Simon and Terry continue to refuse to acknowledge their mistakes to the point that this effort for denying the truth and refusing to recognize his mistakes turns into madness, making Simon turn the Apex into a cult himself and wants to kill Grace when he returns and possibly Terry ends up turning Cobra Kai into a cult himself too and wants to kill to Kreese when he gets out of jail. All this leads to Simon's death and if Terry continues with that same way of thinking he could end up like Simon.

Kreese and Terry are the toxic versions of Grace and Simon because Kreese is what Grace would have been if she hadn't realized her mistakes and that her way of thinking was wrong and Terry is what Simon would have been if the latter had remained alive and would have returned from the infinity train to the real world.

In conclusion, Grace and possibly Kreese recognize their mistakes and are willing to change, taking a step to redeem themselves while Simon and possibly Terry refuse to change and this only leads them to step into the abyss.

#infinity train #infinity train spoilers #infinity train meta #infinity train analysis #cobra kai #cobra kai spoilers #cobra kai meta #cobra kai analysis #grace monroe #simon laurent #john kreese #terry silver

[pigtailedgirl]

Cobra Kai Season 5

Was that a finale? Also prepare for critic because I did not like and it hurts. My Dad however was okay, so maybe me? Sometimes I tend to go off a show for what I want versus what is.

But the reason I was disappointed in this season is two-fold.

I thought the overall storylines were weak. I thought the characters had all become so one dimensional and rather dumb to fit the coming together resolutions that it made them feel unreal. What the hell is with Chosen’s acting like that! With the new lady having no depth. This is not cheese or Karate Kid 3 level, it’s straight up acting like it’s normal for this show to not have layers, which is false. To have Tory and Sam for example resolve their anger so easily, for Miguel and Robbie to be okay with a new Daddy Johnny, or for Terry to go from off his meds rich guy to cartoon villain complete with foreign henchmen, some with eyepatches. 

And this is a season storyline of the exact opposite reasoning I fell for Cobra Kai in the first place. This is a season not of solving or working on yourself to find how friendships and mentorships heal or hurt you, and how you have to step outside this fight against mentality of an enemy is your other, karate is to fight, to learn that no, it’s discipline and a bonding tool and a defense. 

Daniel won his final overcoming fight using Terry’s lessons, crane kick aside, not Miyagi’s!!!

This show has strayed from acknowledging when these people jones for a fight or takedown of the next guy, they are fucking themselves and others up. Gone is Johnny is a fuck up role model to his own current kids because karate and issues he needs to grow up on, not durr cell phone. Gone is Daniel’s fucking up not being there for his current life, kids, and not a karate past. 

Season 1, and arguably 2 and 3, were cautionary of making life a karate rivalry competition. This season leaned far in. 

And once again the class, riches and power isn’t just karate dynamics is gone. Everyone worships strength equals karate fight ability. Which should be laughed at. This tournament greatness! Must control valley! Kenny beats Kyle so he boss now. WTF. Where is outside life for these people and this world? 

#Cobra Kai #cobrai kai #cobra kai meta #critical #it hurts #i want to see happy getting along living gang #but i don't believe this #too easy #too pat #i don't think it's supposed to be a perfect end #which is again why i love season 1 #in oops johnny cycled it

[chestnut-devil]

I thought I had lost my honour. Eventually I understood that no one can take honour from you. Only you can take honour from yourself.

Chozen to Tori, s5ep2, Cobra Kai.

This line from the new season of Cobra Kai strikes me as something that would be very applicable to post redemption Zuko. It’s the kind of reflection that only he (or in Chozens case) is capable of making himself. It sounds like something Uncle Iron would have told him during his Angsty Avatar Hunt (tm) but it would have fallen on deaf ears at the time. It’s a realisation that signifies character growth and delvelopment where in the person [Zuko/Chozen] can move past their trauma.

#atla #cobra kai #zuko #atla textpost #cobra kai text post #zuko text post #atla meta #cobra kai meta #zuko meta

[lanichols]

#cobra kai #cobra kai edit #core four #peyton list #mary mouser #tanner buchanan #xolo maridueña #tory nichols #sam larusso #samantha larusso #robby keene #miguel diaz #kiaz #samrobby #toriguel #keenry #samiguel #lawrusso #daniel x johnny #cobra husbands #sam x miguel #sam x hawk #sam x tory #sam x ​aisha #torisha #ck ​drabble #ck meta #<- prev tags

[variousqueerthings]

I still think it's a shame that we haven't had anything in the show related to johnny and miyagi emotionally -- what I mean by that is that, yes, we've had him mentioning larusso's sensei that beat him and his friends up (during his "daniel was the real bully" rewrite of events), and there was daniel in the training-bit that pointed out that miyagi was a badass who defeated kreese (was it in the training bit, I think so), but johnny had nothing really to say to that, and there's "no be there," which was framed as a joke (that's a whole other tangent)

off the top of my head -- which, it has been a few months since I've gone through the whole thing -- that's all we've had, but miyagi saved johnny's life, and I think that's worthy of writing something about. johnny is consistently derisive about miyagi-do, but quite apart from whether or not he thinks teen!daniel could defeat him at the all-valley, miyagi definitely got kreese without breaking a sweat, and johnny's ptsd-envisioned almost getting choked to death several times on this show, but it always ends before he gets rescued

idk, this is kind of not-fully-thought-out, but it's to do with the way that the show never fully completes the inwards spiral it was doing to bring johnny into the karate kid story (it may in s6... but since johnny's storyline is now "new baby out of nowhere, not at all related to any of his growth and certainly not carmen's" it's doubtful). s1 johnny is supposed to be abrasive and unwilling to have anything to do with miyagi-do (except for when he does, episode 9 my beloved), and then bit by bit he's being brought from his "side" of the narrative into daniel's narrative, which he merely played a part in initially (I say, as if I haven't read 100 fics in which he and daniel got it on at prom) and has been unwilling to see what that part entailed, because if they weren't equally matched nemeses and he did just beat him up several times because he didn't like him, then what does it mean that his father-figure tried to kill him for failing to beat him at a teen karate tournament?

they pay lip-service to some of that with the whole miyagi-fang + training montage bit, but of course s5 then does nothing with it, but what I mean is that if johnny really belonged in daniel's story - because this is the miyagi-verse, not the daniel or johnny verse - I really wanted him to acknowledge the role miyagi played in his life, and to be respectful of that. he's acknowledged that kreese was bad for him, and nearly killed him, but that's idk... the anger and betrayal part of it all. on the other side of that was daniel's mentor/father, a story which he didn't belong in (perhaps doesn't feel like he deserved to be in, cycle of abuse etcetc), but for a moment intersected with his, and now deliberately intersects with his, he wants to intersect with his, and miyagi's ghost hovers over all of it

it's unfortunate that they dragged johnny back to a safe place (for them), where his character development barely still applies, and it's probably-definitely to do with getting him away from daniel, so "not-talking-about-miyagi" isn't the highest on the list of things that has jarringly thrown johnny out of the main storyline and into his own weird stepford hellscape, but it's up there for me alongside "you're alright larusso," as the most puzzling omissions from the show, because it's... it's right there. the easiest character development in a show that's all about being incredibly on the nose with its arcs

once upon a time I thought "nah, they'll leave it for the end, because it's the perfect ending," but now we are... here. whatever end s5 was doing. and it's a little bit more *chuckles, you remember that johnny told daniel that he was alright and handed him the trophy right? you remember that miyagi stepped in to save johnny's life when he was a kid right? you remember that those were two significant scenes that happened... right?*

ah well vive le fanfiction, especially with this show 😂

TL;DR I think johnny saying a few words about miyagi (respectful ones, not s1 johnny ones) would bring johnny into the karate kid story properly, by acknowledging the role miyagi played in his life

#johnny lawrence #nariyoshi miyagi #cobra kai #the karate kid #ck #tkk #pet headcanon is that miyagi is the reason that sam happened to be in the car ramming johnny's that night #and that johnny and daniel kept walking into places -- like the double-date in s2 -- where the other person was #miyagi is the deus ex machina and the storyteller and the instigator -- puck and ghost and the ancestor #so you should visit his grave and pay your damn respects johnny! he did all of this just for you to mock his speech patterns?! #cobra kai meta

[izzythehutt]

hey, i was wondering how you were hoping kreese’s arc goes in s6 in regards to his relationships with johnny and tory. i love reading your cobra kai metas and would love to hear your thoughts on this!

There's like........what I want, what Martin Kove, insane John Kreese actor/apologist wants, and what we can reasonably expect the Big Three to actually give us, given what they've alluded to in interviews about where we left the characters at the end of S5. These are all kind of different things, though.

I think we've officially left that character in the darkest place he's ever been, because he's un-tethered from any pretense of following rules (he's a fugitive) and he "hates everyone" (per Josh Heald.) Up until now Kreese has always operated within a system, part of his whole game is hiding his ruthless, Darwinian nature under a veneer of respectability—playing up the retired Vietnam vet who just wants to help kids shtick. No more! He's faked his own death and assaulted people to escape from jail. This is full-on, willing to kill Captain Turner to survive Kreese. I fully expect their to be some guerilla warfare motif in S6 with how he operates from the shadows.

Season 5 kind of played with him realizing his mistakes and the ways he's hurt people but also dismissed the notion of him changing his ways and reaffirmed him as the Big Bad of this universe (even worse than Terry, because he can do what he does without the benefit of money or power.)

So, I see him starting S6 as the most menacing version of himself. I fully expect him to go full-on Hannibal Lecter, weird creepy phone calls to Johnny, showing up at Terry's place like a slasher film villain, etc. I really hope that Thomas Ian Griffith decides to come back for S6 because I feel like the Kreese and Terry relationship is one of the major unresolved plot threads of the show (and the fact that they had no scenes together in S5 felt like they were saving that confrontation for S6.) I would like Kreese to get a giant "I told you so" speech to Silver. He earned that. And then idk, they fight to the death over a snake pit.

As far as Johnny goes...well, I think in Martin Kove's perfect world Kreese would straight up kidnap him until he agreed to come back to Cobra Kai, lol. TB3 basically said that Kreese feels rejected by Johnny, someone he's always held out hope of reconciling with, so I expect some lashing out....though I do wonder if it will be directly or if he'll redirect his anger at someone like, say, Daniel—because it would be easy to blame Larusso since Kreese hates him anyway and blames him for their relationship going south in the first place.

I honestly believe that Kreese's ideal endgame would be dying at Johnny's hand, tbh. I think doesn't want to hurt Johnny, but he wants Johnny to be "tough" and to affirm the rightness of the CK ideology and carry it on. So while I've never really thought that him "attacking" Johnny directly would be an in-character thing for him to do, I could see some provocation (particularly if S6 is the last.)

We're definitely not going to see a "reconciliation" between them, but I do think Johnny has been in denial about the effect of the relationship on his life and the degree to which he's still deeply wounded by it. I think Kreese is kind of his last "monster" he has to slay—that is, coming to terms with that relationship and eventually forgiving him. And idk, maybe Kreese gets a Vader death. I would be down for him going out like a champ, like body slamming Terry into a snake pit because he's about to kill Johnny or something cray cray like that.

(Sidenote—I can't wait for Kreese to find out about the Lawrence Baby and be super weird about it.)

As for Tory...that's a big question I'm on the fence about. A lot of people think she's "done" with CK/Kreese after her awful experiences in S5, which would make sense, but also seems unlikely because at this point her character is his character's only major link to the younger cast. I could see her attempting to be the voice of reason with him if he gives her some of his weird fugitive Hannibal calls (maybe suggesting he turn himself in?) Obviously Robby won't want her to have anything to do with him, but Tory, for all she felt disillusioned with him "giving up" on their plan in S5, is a very loyal kid, and I would like to see her having some mixed feelings about him or a conflict around that relationship. Kreese kind of let her go at the end of S5, so maybe he'll try to stay away. If he gets CK back he's going to want her back as a student, though.

I think the set-up for Kreese and Sensei Kim reconnecting and forming the latest iteration of CK was a pretty obvious foreshadow, so I assume they'll do something with that. It could be interesting to see him work with a woman. If the Sekai Takai is at the end of S6 then I expect it to be in some country without extradition laws to the US so Kreese can emerge from the shadows again to menace our heroes.

#john kreese #cobra kai #johnny lawrence #tory nichols #asks #cobra kai meta

[emletish-fish]

The Lawrence-Diazes in season 5 Or what I would have done instead of karate-baby arc.

Baby plots, eh?

No shade meant to anyone who does enjoy them, but they are very rarely my cup of tea. They can occassionally be done well, and they often come at the very end of a narrative (which I guess is a clear sign that Cobra Kai intends to wind down after season 6).

Pregnancy/Future Baby plots normally are about giving a character a typical ‘nuclear family’ happy ending. (This also a very Christian American outlook, and Cobra Kai is uniquely american in many respects. But as a non-american and non-christian, the nuclear family thing doesn’t always connect emotionally with me.)

Babies in TV are normally used as a blank slate or tabula rasa. They symbolise a hopefully better future  - and I get why the writers would want to give Johnny these things, because they do love him as a character.

But I think this might be a case of the writer’s pet, or the writer’s enjoying a character too much - because they are giving Johnny what he Wants, rather than what he Needs. 

Johnny may want a blank page, but what he really needs is to look at what has already been written (accept his mistakes) and then figure out how to make a better ending  - just like that therapist lady said to Kreese (Johnny’s template that he rebels against and succumbs to emulating).

Damn, I love mirror story-telling motifs.

Johnny’s Wants Vs Needs - Let’s go!

Look, just to get it out of the way  -  The last thing Johnny really needs is another kid.  He’s already got two beautiful boys.

Also Johnny really needs therapy, rehab, parenting classes and gainful, secure employment  - like there is a lot that dude actually needs, but that won’t be the focus of this meta.

(That is a whole can of worms on its own).

All that aside, let’s look at what the baby-plot with Johnny is for? What is the purpose narratively?

It’s crucial in several ways.

It serves as a motivation for Johnny to try and get his shit together and clean up his act/get a job.

It completely grounds and focuses Johnny’s story this season on family.

It is dropped on Robby and Miguel after they’ve reconciled to solidify the fact that they are going to be a family and therefore MUST get along.

It is used as an excuse for everyone to go out and celebrate and get drunk (and the party limo shenanigans)

It is used as motivation for Johnny to take out the room of baddies in ep 10.

But...Robby could have been used for pretty much all of these narrative functions.  I’m way more invested in Robby and his happiness than I am in a plot-contrivance fetus.

(Sorry fetus, but you are a plot contrivance to me until proven otherwise. I’ll see what happens next season, but so far my reaction is best summarised by anoush’s sarcastic ‘congrats on procreating’.)

Motivation for Johnny  -

Johnny and Robby just reconciled! Like, they’ve just had this really fun roadtrip,  They got some great stories, got into shenanigans together and had a little adventure together. Some of their issues have been aired but not really dealt with in depth. We haven’t seen them really tackle the elephant in the room regarding their issues - but Robby has made it clear that he wants and needs his Dad in his life.

Imagine if Johnny took this olive branch as the amazing thing it is, and decided he wanted to be more present for his already existing teenage son and turn his life around for Robby’s sake.

 I’d also like for him to realise that he needs to set a better example for both boys because they both need him and look up to him. (Like they’ve both come to him crying and needing dad-reassurance? Neither of them are subtle about how they need Johnny to step into the dad role.) 

Imagine him trying to get a good job so he can better support the boys? Imagine him trying to fix up his apartment so it’s nicer for when Robby comes to stay?

Imagine how much more impactful Johnny’s conversation with Lyle could have been if it was centred around Johnny trying to learn to provide for the two existing teenagers who already need him and learning how to put their needs first?

Lowkey how touched and validated would Robby be if his Dad started making this effort explicitly for him? I think it would ease a lot of his conflict if he finally got treated like he was someone’s priority.

I also think I would help explain his relative chillness in other areas, if his main source of emotional turmoil was being so clearly tended to?

Also wanting to be a better dad to Robby has been Johnny’s Want and Need from the beginning of season 1, so.... you know, follow-through on story arcs and narrative pay off etc etc.

Centering the narrative on family -

I always kinda figured Johnny learning to balance both Robby and Miguel would be a challenge for him, but this was glossed over pretty quickly by the discovery of the baby - which narratively forces both boys into a family situation and they both kinda stop giving Johnny push-back over that from that point on.

but instead imagine if the time was spent on creating a more solid found family vibe? A situation where Robby and Miguel don’t need the spectre of a future half-sibling to get along, but they genuinely connect and feel like brothers of choice?

I love the olive garden and the lame-ass escape room. Dude even roped Rosa into it and I loled. that was all great - I would take a whole episode of this idiot trying to get Robby and Miguel to bond - and how hilarious would it have been if the thing they initially agreed on was how dumb Johnny’s escape room was?

They didn’t need a baby to seal the deal so to speak, when they already share custody of a moron.

I would have preferred it if after Robby and Miguel talk it out on the balcony, Johnny is overly-excited to celebrate them burying the hatchet. I would have him do something off-the-wall like take both the boys to disneyland or whatever. They will bitch and moan about how lame he is (but secretly neither of them have been to disneyland and are actually super excited too.)

I’d have a fun scene or two in disneyland, they boys jointly roast Johnny and discover they actually have a simmilar sense of humor. Maybe the fact fighting over this idiot was the main reason for their antagonism towards each other could be vaguely alluded to. We could see the start of their emerging friendship. They’d take a picture with all three of them and we’d still get our hug.

I would prefer this to PC fetus tbh.  Even though we don’t get a baby, a blended family where everyone gets along because they genuinely like eachother and have dealt with their issues  rather than because an accidental pregnancy forced them into the arrangement is just more emotionally satisfying for me personally.

This season, where the importance of children, biological children was really hammered - it feels like PC Fetus was a shortcut to creating a ‘real’ nuclear family. (At the expense of spending the narrative time to establish a more durable found family).  

Like, I’m completely okay with a blended family for Johnny and I don’t think he needs to have a kid with Carmen to make it a ‘more real’ family.

An excuse for everyone to go out and get drunk and celebrate?

Hello, they just won the sepai taki or whatever. That is reason enough. I love the party limo posse and we can still have that.  Just let them celebrate their incredible achievement and have some fun together? Louie can still get his limo guy and get in on the celebrations and everything else can still proceed as planned.

It is used as motivation for Johnny to take out the room of baddies in ep 10.

This is where I would use the disneyland photo instead of the ultasound photo for extra motivation, but otherwise the scene would play the same.  Sprinkle in a bit of wisdom from Lyle (you’re doing it for them) and Chozen (It’s about what you are fighting for, not what you are fighting against) - and Johnny coming to place where he really wants to fight to keep living because he wants to be there for Robby and Miguel. He wants to be present and be a dad for them and have a future?  He doesn’t want to die and leave them.

I would have been in buckets of tears - like that shit legit gets me.

So yeah, that is what I would do instead of PC Fetus. 

All that said, PC Fetus is my only quibble with what was otherwise a pretty strong season. (It was a wild ride and so much fun).  And my biggest complaint is that it is unnecessary narratively because all the functions of PC Fetus can be done by Robby and/or Miguel.

Johnny worked though a lot of his issues because of approaching PC Fetus this season, but PC Fetus is a blank slate. I feel it would have been more impactful if Johnny worked through his issues with Robby - where he has definitely made mistakes - and begun to really make it up to that kid and accept and grown into his fatherhood role to Robby and Miguel. 

I dunno, I just think that would have been more healing for all of them, but especially for both Robby and Johnny.

It also would have added so much extra depth to Johnny’s final rejection of Kreese. (Rejecting the source of his toxic masculinity which led him to have so many fuck-ups in the fatherhood department - yes please).

I’m not even opposed to Johnny and Carmen having kids in the future, but I would have preferred PC Fetus not take up so much narrative space.  Like, PC fetus can be tacked at the end of season 6 and I’d have no issue with it. I guess the writers felt like they needed to give Johnny a ‘motivation’ to really turn his life around, and PC Fetus is what they went with....

but like, the man already has two boys who need him, who have both broken down recently in his arms -  partly due to his actions?  And he loves them both so much? Couldn’t that be motivation enough for him to try and be better?

As always, YMMV and this is just my interpretation.

#Cobra Kai meta #Cobra Kai Season 5 spoilers #Johnny Lawrence #Robby Keene #Miguel Diaz #Robby and Johnny #Johnny and Miguel #Miguel and Robby #The Lawrence-Diazes could have been so much fun #can you imagine how much fun these two will have roasting Johnny at disneyland? #we could have had that instead of PC Fetus

[bonsai-babies]

A testament to Samantha LaRusso's heart (2/?)

Cobra Kai - S05E09

This part is tied to the first post of this series. It's important for context if you would like to check.

We begin this time with Sam showing up at Tory's, and Tory herself is surprised. After all, up till that point, Sam couldn't see her without getting triggered, but there Sam was.

Samantha is ready to jump to the point, but she sees her rival's hand and her reaction to it is horror.

Tory says Sam didn't have to pretend to care. But Sam's reaction had been immediate, it was an honest feeling. Sam didn't think before speaking, she didn't wonder how could she lie. She just blurted it out the moment her eyes caught sight of that nasty wound.

Tory was more than her villain at that moment. Tory was a person who was clearly hurt. And it moved her.

Sam can empathize with pain, she can empathize with serious wounds. She still carries one in her arm. Her empathy wasn't diminished because it was Tory carrying it.

Samantha then admits she didn't want to go there. This sentence is another proof that it was a hard choice. A very challenging choice to commit. Yet she did it anyway, and her reasoning comes right after. She then proceeds to say that if Tory was having problems with Cobra Kai, she was willing to listen. And that's why she went there. Sam went there to give her a real chance, Sam was willing to challenge her own comfort to give Tory a chance.

Sam was willing to listen to her enemy. To listen means to strip oneself of judgment, to put any bad thought to rest, to open your heart, your mind, and your emotions to fully hear someone. Sam was about to do all that.

For someone who already knows a lot about Tory's backstory (the audience), being willing to listen to her is easy. To someone who had been constantly terrorized by her, and knows little of what's happening, it means grace. It isn't frivolous.

Sam showed merit in this simple action. Even if it wasn't framed like that in the script, it is an undeniable proof of growth.

#cobra kai #cobra kai analysis #cobra kai meta #cobra kai spoilers #sam larusso #samantha larusso #tory nichols #a testament to samantha larusso's heart #this is for the fans and for the usual viewers #i have no interest in trying to fight the antis with this #this is for me and for the people who care about listening #her big changes are downplayed by the script but not by me thank you very much

[yenforfairytales]

Might be a hot take, but I’ve always thought that Johnny is Kreese’s weakness, and Daniel is Terry’s. Like, I know some people think Terry’s weakness is Kreese (and to some extent, yes), but Daniel seems to be his absolute obsession, his total undoing. Kreese at least had the best friends/comrades in arms thing, but the Daniel thing is just plain weird from any side. This once 17 year old brat has such a hold on Silver that the man threw away 30+ years of peace at the mere mention of his name. It was never about Cobra Kai. It was always about Daniel.

YES. I completely agree. And as more time has gone by since Season 4 came out, I've noticed even the more casual fans have noticed. Someone took this screenshot from YouTube, but I've seen similar comments on reddit too.

And Kreese, being another master manipulator, knew exactly what he was doing when he brought up Daniel to Terry again in 4x01...

There was literally no reason for Kreese to bring up Daniel LaRusso unless he knew that Terry would care. Why would Terry care. 👀

Kreese knows how to get people to come to him. How to dangle something that they want in front of them that only he can seemingly give.

When no other tactic worked on bringing Terry back into the fold, Kreese brought out the big guns and dropped Daniel's name.

Not to take away at all from the love and friendship that Terry felt towards John. But it became nostalgia and obligation, ultimately ruining their bond.

Little side note-- the fact that we watched Kreese make others do what he says in order to get what they want for three seasons made the prison scene in 5x07 even more satisfying:

AND the first person to play the uno reverse card and use this tactic against Kreese was Daniel. Terry's student. You gotta love it.

There's always been a little Cobra Kai in you...

I mean, we could speak at length about the parallels between Kreese and Terry and their star students Johnny and Daniel. The narrative mirrors and foils. But it's precisely their respective relationships with their students that is more compelling.

Anyway. I'm going to quickly list examples of Daniel's hold on Terry and then focus on the meat of the issue.

Terry falls apart and goes ALL IN on everything Cobra Kai only AFTER Daniel rejects his apology.

Terry gives Daniel multiple warnings to not interfere but never tries to gets rid of him like Johnny or Kreese after no warnings at all.

Terry dated a woman who looked a lot like Daniel with similar values.

Terry treats Kenny near identically to Daniel as a student but in the sincere way he wishes he had with Daniel.

Terry loses his cool when Daniel wants to surrender and walk out of his life.

Terry tells Chozen he considers Daniel his only rival. As in Equal.

I'm sure there's plenty I'm forgetting but you can find posts in the silverusso tag about all these topics and more. x.x

Now, let's get to one of the most important and defining scenes for Terry's arc. And again, it's a direct result of Kreese's manipulation:

Kreese, knowing what makes Terry tick and how to get him further on his side, comments that Daniel really knows how to hold onto a grudge. As if he doesn't. Anyway, it's twisting the knife into Terry again when he's clearly already low.

You don't think Kreese noticed how hurt Terry was at the rejection?

He notices everything. He learned in Vietnam from his Captain how to use love against someone as a perceived weakness. Many thoughts on that.

Anyway

The way in which Kreese says, "So... what now?" Tells me that he told Terry this was going to happen. You also have to remember their conversation leading up to the garden scene:

Terry was damn near close to defending Mr. Miyagi and Daniel over Kreese's own personal grudge. To the point where Terry was rolling his eyes and sighing over his friend being overdramatic about what happened in the past.

He was tired of hearing about it.

I'm sure Daniel told Terry the truth about that Halloween night. And look who Terry seems to side with...

Kreese wanted violent retribution and Terry was the one that talked him down. It was Terry's idea to apologize to Daniel and we'll just allll get along. Easy peasy. Surely, Daniel would forgive him.

But, Daniel proved Kreese right in Terry's eyes. As I'm sure Kreese hoped would happen. Couldn't have worked out better. I bet on the car ride over to Miyagi-Do, Kreese was complaining how this was a waste of time and LaRusso isn't the sweet kid you remember etc.

From that day forward, Terry is determined to prove Daniel wrong. About him, about Cobra Kai, about everything. Terry is going to make Cobra Kai work and help kids and he'll be the best sensei ever and Daniel will be sorry!

You'll be sorry you weren't a part of it!

I firmly believe that Daniel is Terry's true weakness and he didn't even realize it. But Kreese did.

And if Daniel had seen it, then he could've had Terry eating out of the palm of his hand.

The one movie quote they haven't used in the show yet is, "For person with no forgiveness in heart, living even worse punishment than death."

I'm hoping they'll use this with Daniel realizing he can help heal himself, and Terry, by forgiving him. Of course, Terry will have to do something more to redeem himself. I'm just saying.

And then maybe Terry can see that Daniel was his weakness all along, but there's still time to make him a strength.

One could argue that he already felt that way while he was being arrested. The way he was looking at Daniel... That awe. Daniel LaRusso got the best of him, again, all because he couldn't let him go.

Here's to hoping that Season 6 ends our suffering lmao.

I mean, who else has ever given Terry Silver goosebumps?

#this got ridiculously long and i held myself back lmao #don't worry #my clown shoes on standby #thank you anon #i hoped this made sense x.x #cobra kai #ck meta #daniel larusso #john kreese #terry silver #silverusso #asks