Observations On The Villains of Cobra Kai
The Three Senseis Who Have Taken Cobra Kai This Far
Introduction
Although I am enjoying Cobra Kai and am halfway through series five, I am hardly an expert on the whole thing, but I love how the series is developing. Its genesis is in the Karate Kid films of the eighties and two of the protagonists in those films (Ralph Macchio - Daniel LaRusso and William Zabka - Johnnie Lawrence) got together to develop “Cobra Kai” for Youtube.
This was picked up by Netflix and became one of the most streamed series on that platform.
It often feels like it’s back to the eighties but that does not spoil the series at all and is very enjoyable for fans of “The Karate Kid”, those nostalgic for the eighties and its music and for new fans too.
It always scores extremely highly on IMDB which you can see in the link below.
On Villains
In my opinion, the two greatest fictional villains are Joffrey in “Game of Thrones” and Homelander in “The Boys”. The reason for this is that most villains have some redeeming feature, some kind of skill despite being evil. Joffrey is nothing but a spoilt teenager with the power to do harm because of his position in society, and Homelander has been given powers and support but again just acts like a pilot privileged bully.
The villains in Cobra Kai are not in that class of evil but are nonetheless excellent villains and I will list the ones I am aware of so far. These are just the senseis that have been the foe of Daniel LaRusso leader of the Miyagi-Doh
Cobra Kai Villain #1 - Johnny Lawrence
Johnny entered the All-Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament for the first time in 1981. He failed to make the finals after losing to the much more experienced Darryl Vidal. Following this defeat, he took his training more seriously and won back-to-back championships in 1982 and 1983. Johnny was under Sensei John Kreese in Cobra Kai, a more aggressive brand of karate than Miyagi-Doh that LaRusso studied under.
He made the finals for a third time in 1984, after avenging his defeat in the 1981 tournament over Vidal in the semi-finals, and then took second place to Daniel LaRusso after suffering an "illegal" kick to his face. This, paired with a violent clash with John Kreese, led Johnny to abandon Cobra Kai and karate until 2017.
After spending several years working as a handyman in the Los Angeles area, Johnny chanced upon a teenager named Miguel Diaz being targeted by a group of bullies. After Johnny successfully fought off the attackers with karate, Miguel convinced Johnny to reopen the Cobra Kai dojo.
This brought him into conflict with a still-wary Daniel LaRusso because of their past., although the two later reconcile. This seems to be a possible theme running through the Cobra Kai series especially with the minor “villains” but while Johnny and Danny have an uneasy relationship , they are generally on the same side.
Johnny starts the series as a villain but becomes one of the good guys and so does have a sort of redemption.
Cobra Kai Villain #2 - John Kreese
John Kreese, or simply Kreese, is the main antagonist of The Karate Kid. He returns as the main antagonist in Cobra Kai.
He is a deranged karate sensei who founded the Cobra Kai dojo after his experiences during the Vietnam War. However, he taught his students to be merciless and cruel, picking on the weakest.
He becomes the arch-nemesis of Johnny Lawrence (who was also his former best student) and Daniel LaRusso.
After being defeated by Daniel and his teacher Mr. Miyagi two times, Kreese retreated into obscurity but resurfaced years later when Lawrence restarted the Cobra Kai dojo. Kreese is even more violent than Lawrence and manages to retake Cobra Kai and set his beliefs in a new generation of students, ousting Johnny Lawrence who sets up his Eagle Fang Dojo.
Under Kreese Cobra Kai becomes more aggressive and more violent but Kreese needs another sensei and calls on Terry Silver who he was with in Vietnam to aid him. Silver is now very rich and at first does not want to join Cobra Kai but is eventually persuaded.
Cobra Kai Villain #3 - Terry Silver
Born to a wealthy family, Terry Silver joined the US Army and was deployed to Vietnam sometime before 1968, where he met John Kreese.
In 1975, Silver helped Kreese establish the Cobra Kai dojo. Though he left Cobra Kai to Kreese, Silver continued to provide financial support and promised to help run the dojo one day. Silver would relentlessly practice karate, eventually turning into an expert in the sport. Over time, he developed an increasingly erratic personality, aggravated in part by a cocaine addiction
During a tournament where whichever Dojo doesn’t win will close down, Silver and Kreese give conflicting instructions to their students, straining their relationship, though they eventually win the tournament. Silver later announces that Cobra Kai will be expanding as a franchise all across the Valley, while abandoning the original dojo, much to Kreese's dismay.
Afterwards, Tory Nichols, winner of the female fighters division, discovers that Silver had paid off the referee into bribing the matches in Cobra Kai's favour.
Later, while Silver and Kreese celebrate their victory at Silver's beach house, Silver proceeds to tell Kreese that his weakness is Johnny. A resentful Silver then admits his own weakness for Kreese by pledging a life debt to him and decides to do away with it by ending their friendship and having Kreese arrested for attempted murder and aggravated assault, as Silver had coerced a member to frame Kreese for his beating in exchange for rejoining Cobra Kai.
As Kreese is apprehended, he furiously swears revenge on Silver, who tauntingly promises to recruit some "old friends" to teach at the new Cobra Kai dojos and to defeat Daniel and Johnny once and for all.
With Kreese behind bars, Silver takes complete control of Cobra Kai for himself.
Conclusion
I believe Kreese returns in Series five against Silver , but at this moment in time Silver is the main villain, Miyagi-Doh is closed down although still practised. I am expecting LaRusso , Lawrence and Kreese to take on Silver in the series 5 finale, though I may be wrong in this.
The series in many instances does spread a lot of redemption, and lots of grey areas between good and bad often with some big doses of humour and cheesy eighties music.
I will be watching more and if you haven’t tried it you may love it as much as I do.
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Comments (2)
I love villains who get redeemed. This was a very well written review! I enjoyed reading it!
I enjoyed this review very much. The original Karate Kid movies back in the '80s had my three children enthralled, and I got hooked on them, too. I haven't seen the many of the more recent series, but my daughter has introduced them to my Grandson, so I expect that will change soon. Great reviews.