Forty years pass. We are older but not wiser. The world has grown cold and dark. Homophobia, transphobia, racism, fundamentalist screaming, evils that we thought long-banished grow stronger and stronger. Every day we thought "It can't happen here -- can it?" Then we realize that it already has. We need a new hero, a new baby-faced warrior in a white robe who can definitively defeat the Darkness.
May 2, 2018: The Youtube series Cobra Kai reunites Danny and Johnny.
Except Danny is no longer a bastion of purity, and Johnny is no longer a sneering, bullying Dark Lord. Both do despicable things, while the younger generation tries to find its way.
Johnny also starts dating Miguel's mom until she starts dating someone else, and he attacks the competitor.
4. And the nerd Demetri (Gianni Decenzo). Fans expected him to come out and start dating Hawk, but the spineless showrunners just queerbaited him.
5. Meanwhile Danny (Ralph Macchio), who beat Johnny all those years ago, has had nothing but good luck. Karma, I guess. He's still teen-idol hot, and he has achieved the heterosexist trajectory of job (car dealership), house, wife, and kid (daughter Samanta).
When he discovers that Cobra Kai is opening again, Danny is livid with rage, and tries all sorts of dirty tricks to shut it down or otherwise harass his old nemesis.
More after the break
6. For example, he talks his cousin Vinny...um, I mean Louie (Brett Ernst) into destroying Johnny's car.
7. And he gives Robby (Tanner Buchanan), Johnny's estranged juvenile delinquent son, a job at his car dealership, just to get Johnny's goat.
Eventually he starts giving Robby karate lessons, and is inspired to open his own Miyagi-Do, based on the principles of Obi Wan Kenobi...um, I mean his deceased sensei, Mr. Miyagi, whom he apparently worships as a Bodhisattva.
When he discovers that Cobra Kai is opening again, Danny is livid with rage, and tries all sorts of dirty tricks to shut it down or otherwise harass his old nemesis.
More after the break
Eventually he starts giving Robby karate lessons, and is inspired to open his own Miyagi-Do, based on the principles of Obi Wan Kenobi...um, I mean his deceased sensei, Mr. Miyagi, whom he apparently worships as a Bodhisattva.
Early on, Robby had a lot of queer codes, but the spineless showrunners queerbaited him, too, leaving Moon the only LGBT character (for a few episodes, anyway).
8. Danny's daughter Samantha happens to be dating Kyler (Joe Seo, left) one of the bullies who was harassing Miguel (#2, above). But not to worry, the romance doesn't last long. Samantha is rather a player, moving on to Miguel, and then to Robby (#6, above), and then back and forth.
It's the eternal triangle: respectable but boring, or wild and dangerous.
10. Johnny is just starting to reform when his old sensei from the 1980s, Kreese (Martin Kove, old photo). returns and pushes him toward the Dark Side again. But then he bonds with Danny, and the two work together to send Kreese back to Mordor.
Well, actually, alliances change so fast, among the adults and teens alike, that you can't really tell who's good and who's evil without a score card. Maybe that's the point.
I only watched an occasional episode. There were too many plot twists and turns for a casual viewer to keep up, the beefcake was limited, and every time you saw a spark between two male characters, they were given girlfriends.
It's the eternal triangle: respectable but boring, or wild and dangerous.
9. Kyler's bully buddy Brucks (Bo Mitchell) wants to join Cobra Kai, but one of his former victim beats him up, so he changes his mind.
10. Johnny is just starting to reform when his old sensei from the 1980s, Kreese (Martin Kove, old photo). returns and pushes him toward the Dark Side again. But then he bonds with Danny, and the two work together to send Kreese back to Mordor.
Well, actually, alliances change so fast, among the adults and teens alike, that you can't really tell who's good and who's evil without a score card. Maybe that's the point.
I only watched an occasional episode. There were too many plot twists and turns for a casual viewer to keep up, the beefcake was limited, and every time you saw a spark between two male characters, they were given girlfriends.
The world has gotten darker.
"My Three Gay Sons and...ugh...Vance Simkins": Jesse finds out about Abraham and Gideon. And Vance. "Cobra Kai" is the favorite tv show of Gideon's boyfriend.
