Welcome to Just Curious Media. This is Let's Talk - Cobra Kai. I'm Jason Connell, documentary filmmaker turned podcaster.
And I'm Sal Rodriguez, toy collector and stand up comic.
So now we're on to season one, episode two strike first.
Oh, and I'm still totally cried out.
You are always.
I'm gonna patent that. Can I retro? Sure.
So this episode gets an 8.6 rating on IMDb. And this starts out with a bang, I gotta say with one of my favorite songs of which I have used in a short film before many years ago. And it's Dean Martin's ain't that a kick in the head,
which is the antithesis of the beginning of episode one, where we see Johnny's intro exactly his intro and the beginning of episode one versus Daniel Russo's intro at the beginning of Episode Two is very, very different.
There was a lot of patting each other on the back is the music supervisor found this track because it is perfect. It took a crank kick to the head to change the fortunes of Daniel Russo forever. Yeah. And so this song kicks in. First we see like a sweeping helicopter shot going over the Hollywood sign. And now we are in the LA Russo residence. Yeah,
we are getting the behind the scenes sneak peek of Daniel Russo's life
and what we see right away is that there's no alley no Elisabeth Shue but there's an attractive woman there who is his wife and we're having yet another 80s Montage.
I must say though, I was really trying to see the chemistry with him and his wife, and this is nothing against her as an actress. But then again, maybe that's the whole idea, right? He's been married a while. Maybe they're a little bored in their marriage. Who knows?
This is a great opening. Daniel now lives I'm not sure where but it could be the Encino hills where Ali lived. It's a beautiful home.
Sure. Well, he owns like what five dealerships? And we learned in episode one that not only does he have automotive dealerships, he has auto body shop in house as well.
Yeah, and this montage is great you got not only Daniel at home we see Daniel also at Lusso auto you know helping out guy he's hands on Yeah, I guess it goes back to when he got the car from Mr. Miyagi and which Sal has the actual Karate Kid. Hot Wheel.
I do have the Karate Kid Hot Wheels car the 48 Ford Super Deluxe. It is the yellow car that Mr. Miyagi gave to Daniel son. Here's a little smaller than the it's a it's a 1/64 scale, which is the Hot Wheels and Matchbox size. I would have loved to have seen the car sitting in the LORUSSO showroom as an homage.
You know, that's a really good point, because I have read that Ralph macho owns that. So why not bring that in the show? It's a really good point.
Well, we're seeing Daniel's life. We're seeing him at work. We're seeing him with his family. We're seeing him with his wife. You're seeing a day in the life of Daniel. And again, this is such a dichotomy as compared to Johnny's life from the beginning of episode one. Obviously, we're seeing his pathetic life. And now we're seeing Daniel Russo's fantastic life again. So it seems I mean, we don't know what goes on behind the scenes, particularly in marriages and all that. Oh, we're only seeing a montage. We're seeing a montage, but it's good. And I'm on his montage looks fantastic. The song is
still going on, by the way and deadly kick in the head. Daniel looks to his left. And what is he saying?
He's at a stoplight. Casually glances over to the left. He's in the receipt of flats. Yes. And he sees the new Cobra Kai dojo.
And it's like, Daniel gets hit with PTSD.
I love that moment. At that moment, you're just seeing him start to devolve example back to becoming a
teenage re all Valley tournament.
I love that moment. I really did. I think I even rewind that moment. I just wanted to see him as the song ends on that beat. I wanted to see him deteriorate in that moment. And he does. He's sitting in the car. He sees the dojo has all the flashbacks. And he starts to mentally deteriorate at that moment.
Next thing we're in Cobra Kai, it's the first class and Johnny's kind of had a hard ass.
Yeah. And so far, Miguel was the only student at this present moment and incomes and inspector. He said you got to have everything up to code before you get your insurance and, you know, basically given them a hard time kind of being a little bit intimidating. But then he refers to the emblem on the wall. Cobra K cover k like, like Mary Kay and then he calls the Cobra a he calls a cobra rattlesnake.
It's also quite obvious that Johnny has no idea how to run a business. No. So there's that.
It's almost like when you think about him cashing his stepdads check, probably the equivalent of a lottery winner. Just like Yeah.
The next thing you know, we are back at the Encino oaks Country Club where Danny was once restricted. But hey, now he's a big member. Oh, is that the same club from karate? Or Ali belonged and Johnny was on the scene where he went in the back door and all that this is
bumped into the waiter and all that. I didn't relate the two. That's why I'm here. Okay, so now he's at the party at the country club.
And we meet his younger son, Anthony. He's totally glued to his phone
basically disorders Daniel to get them a drink, right? Yeah. Kind of snarky that.
And we meet his wife. Yes. Who is Amanda? Then they go to the bar and get a not just a drink, but an ice cold Dirty Martini. Let me just tell you so there's nothing like an ice cold Dirty Martini from Musso. And Frank's him and Amanda are enjoying their drink. And you know, they're interacting with the guest.
This guy comes over with his daughter, correct. Who's around the same age as Danielson. His daughter, Samantha. Yeah. And they chat for a little bit, you know, catch up, maybe they haven't seen each other in a year, but they know each other through the club. And then that moment when Daniel drinks that martini, with his elbow up at the bar that encompasses everything, he's a man at a country club, drinking a martini,
somewhere, he did not used to have the keys to get into. We cut to Cobra Kai dojo, and Johnny's pulling on Miyagi and having Miguel do some dirty work. Yeah. And it's a pretty funny scene. He's drinking Coors, of course.
And he's love was like, the anti Miyagi.
And how much is Coors paying the show? Are they the loan sponsor to the YouTube Red show. They're like in every scene that Johnny is in?
Well, but the funny thing is, is that if you are Corps, and this guy who's at this moment in time, a low life, and he's drinking your beer, that doesn't really paint your beer in a positive light. That's true. I liked this moment, because a it's obviously a homage to Miyagi, and Daniel son, he hasn't cleaning. But this is where you start to see a little bit of the bonding is a little tender moments like when Miguel reveals that he doesn't know his father. Exactly. And then you start to wonder, well, what about Johnny's dad, obviously, we know that he had a stepdad. So what happened is real dad. So you start to kind of put pieces in Chinese
kind of fighting that till you see that beneath it, there's a decent guy, and we've seen him show up sometimes, but he's definitely suppressing that. Yeah. So then we cut to Samantha, who didn't go to the country club, she's still in an all out party. To get in with the cool girls at the LA Russo residence.
I thought that was pretty daring, because it's not like your parents are out of town or out of the country. They're just at the country, the country club, and she has a pool party, with all kinds of teenagers. They're taking videos for their YouTube channels, and so forth. Just having a great time with his pulpit
and lots of guys wearing Danny's swimsuits. I would
be so pissed if my daughter gave my swimming trunks to a bunch of her friends. Because guess what, you don't wear underwear with swimming trunks? No. I think even references it later is like, just make sure your friends bring their own swim trunks, Nick.
Oh, he tells them yeah. So Daniel comes home, immediately shuts the party down. Samantha obviously crossed a line. And we learned from that scene at the country club with her friend. She's kind of going through a Mean Girls Heather's phase when she's trying to get in with the cool kids and giving her more nerdy, bookish friends a pause. And that's kind of what's happening with Samantha. She's kind of caught between two worlds starting to like guys doing things unorthodox during the ill advised and unauthorized pool party. Yes.
But that was also I did want to catch that one moment where we hear a mention of Daniel's mother, right? Where he's made some reference to that his daughter doesn't even call his mother. Yep. I don't know if that's maybe a foreshadow. Maybe we're gonna be seeing his mother at some point. Is the actress still alive? who played his mother originally?
Yes, she is alive. And she does make her parents really? Yes.
Oh, that's so cool. Okay, so just want to be clear to the listeners that I have only seen Episode One and Episode Two. Where as Jason has seen what all two seasons already
I did. It's what gave me the inspiration to do this podcast. So it is true.
Okay, but I have not jumped ahead. So anybody who's along the same lines as I am, I just finished episode two. We're doing this show here on Episode Two. I have not seen Episode Three and beyond.
And I don't do spoilers to you either. I'll say things if you ask me a direct question, I
will tell you, I think that's cool. If the mom makes an appearance. I do too. And it's been fun to
go back and watch it a second time before we do the podcast so it's fresh because it does start to bleed together watching two seasons of a show. Sure. But Samantha she's evolved when she's a teenager, you know, she's late in the high school a rich
teenager. Very rich. That means you get to do bad things. Batter. Okay. I mean, if you don't have a pool, you can't have a pool party. Right? You got to pull rich people
problems. Yes. So we see Daniel cleaning and putting things away and we see a photo of Mr. Miyagi, which is a nice little moment. And you can tell that in his house. He has a dojo his own little personal Dojo that's become more of a storage closet. So obviously we know right then and there, Daniel hasn't been practicing Mr. Miyagi has passed on. Yes. And it's a nice little like, Oh, there's more to learn from this. So now Daniel and Samantha have a very 16 Candles father daughter type scene and ironically, both characters are named Samantha. And they have trivia, little trivia. And that's when you kind of see and they do have a bond. And there's even like a little bit of a flashback to when Daniel was training Samantha in the dojo. Yeah,
so ittle bit of that in that moment when I'm watching that he is wearing a black belt. So that's what I'm thinking is that a legitimate black belt is at the same black belt that Mr. Miyagi stole from the tournament. I'm wondering at that moment how far Daniel has progressed to become an actual karate mask and I would
say he earned it from Karate Kid to Karate Kid three having a dojo in his house. I think he's legitimately earned a black belt.
Okay, and then there he is, like being a sensei for his young daughter in this flashback sequence. She looks like she's about six color was she wearing what she learned black she was wearing a white ghee with a white belt.
Okay, good. See, they put a black. That's all what have some problems.
There was also this one moment, I think it might have been back at the country club. When Daniel and his wife were talking about their kids. And Daniel said something to the effect of, I just don't want my kids to be privileged and senile brats. That's the quote. And in that moment, as a viewer is where I go, Ah, he lives in Encino. That's where he lives. You know, Hill Encino Hill. So this is where the tables turn. Yeah, because now Johnny, who grew up in Encino now lives in receita. A very seven C's S Yes. And then Daniel lived in receita. now lives in Encino, where he
felt like such an outcast going to pick up Ali on that date back Karate Kid
when they had to jumpstart the car, pop the clutch. Yes, the tables have turned.
Now we are at school for the first time and we see Miguel and he is befriending to Outcast Dimitri and Eli. Dimitri is kind of a funny, sarcastic guy and Eli's the quiet type. Yeah. So Miguel has had a lesson with Johnny about. Don't be afraid. Don't get in your own way. So
the Cobra Kai terminology is strike first. So when Miguel gets up to go rap at this chick, Eli or Demetri says What are you doing? And he says, striking first.
I loved that. It was good. Yeah. So he spotted Sam. And it was all a spark there, if you will.
There was a little bit when he started walking over, smiled at her, you could tell that she was kind of into it.
Because Sam was at the table with the cool kids, Yasmin and Moon who are kind of the influencers at the school, who probably talked her into having the party at her pool. Yeah, she
remember she made a reference at the pool. She goes, it's better to host the party.
And so you can tell that she's new to this to be in the elite, if you will. But Miguel starts to make his move, but he has stopped by Kyler Kyler and crew, the rowdy kids who bested him at the mini mart. There's not another fight sequence it just abort
the mission. Yeah, he doesn't about face and walks back to Eli Demetri so now
we're back at Cobra Kai dojo, you know, so I gotta say, seems like Miguel is there every day?
Well, it's cool. You remember going back to the original Karate Kid where you were doing the math and realizing that Daniel son didn't go to school, he just went to go clean for Mr. Miyagi for a while.
Exactly. There's a lot of that. Yeah. So there are these
lapses in time? I guess.
It's like he's bootstrapped. It's a startup. Yeah. So he's going out there to help him out. So he's in there, and there's a phone call. And now we learn that Johnny has a son.
Yeah, his son is wearing a misfits t shirt, which I found very interesting.
And he's kind of a real jerk on the phone,
while the vice principal calls up Johnny, and says Your son was found with Molly. And for those of you who don't know, is what we used to call ecstasy.
And immediately he says, why you call me call his mother? Yeah. So he's like the estranged dad. He's got no relationship with this guy.
Oh, and the son just says, Hey, you're a loser. What the hell we calling you for the son just like, totally dismisses and the principal's
like. Yeah. Yeah. His son's name is Robbie, by the way. And so that was a big reveal. And now we're back to the lesson. He's continuing his training with Miguel. And you start to see Miguel tap into his anger a little bit. Oh, that's
when he hasn't punch that torso that you punch, right? Oh, yes.
And this was a little bit of Star Wars and tapping into the dark side. Miguel is a good kid, a good hearted kid, he doesn't have a father is very impressionable. And Johnny doesn't know another way. And you can tell he's pushing him to be a little bit dark.
Well, when I started seeing Miguel start to punch remember when Johnny says picture your enemy, and then all of a sudden Miguel starts throwing those punches and given the Ha ha, ha. At that moment, I was like, I wouldn't want to take that punch.
So now we are back at the LA Russo residence. And I forgot to mention this in the 16. Candles father daughter thing. Daniel took the highroad after the party and let Sam invite the boy that she's interested in. Who is also Kyler, who's also the bad guy. He invited him over to dinner on Friday night with the fam Wait, yeah.
Because she said they had been texting they've been text and there was sexting. No, because he asked he goes, only words right? And she's like, ah, gross. Yeah.
And Daniel's made a feast of it. He has his knife from Okinawa and yes, got fresh sushi.
Well, it's kind of like you're watching this going. Is he offering sushi to Kyler? Because, you know, once upon a time, Tyler's Asian, okay, when I was in middle school is a true story. I went to a friend's house for dinner. So white family invites their son, Aaron's friend Salvador for dinner. I get there. Never forget, the mom said, Sal, I knew you were coming for dinner. So I made enchiladas. Never forget that. And so when I watched this scene, I'm like, is that what Daniel is trying to do? Like because he's Asian? I'm gonna give him sushi.
But he's not Japanese. No Korean.
He could have been any. I think
it was just a fancy thing that he was trying. Okay, so
he wasn't trying to give him sushi because he's Asian. No, I don't because remember also, when he says to kinda goes, Oh, Where were your parents from? In college like, Irvine? I think
he's like, Oh, okay. So he's making a big production out of it. And you can kind of tell by seeing Kyler his face like, something's off with this guy. He's not enjoying it. And then it happens. He doesn't even eat fish. Yeah, I think that I would accept sushi in the moment. You're trying to win over the parents. Yeah, you've got the girl there that you like. And so Samantha says, Yeah, but you'd like fish sticks. And he says, Do you have any of those?
Yeah, and then I remember Daniel goes, Oh, no, I just have this fish I picked up from the Japanese market this morning. So I don't have any Gordon's fishermen, which sucks. Sorry.
So then Amanda and Samantha both leave to get something that Kyler would eat, which is ridiculous. So now we have a scene with Kyler and Daniel. Yes. Which is very uncomfortable.
Oh, I remember once I picked up a girlfriend on a date, her dad invites me in to say hello. And he was polishing his rifles. And he's like, So what time you think you have my daughter back? I was like, whatever time you tell me to is what I will have her back. Wow. Well, yeah, happened. That really happened. But
Daniel wasn't even being intimidating. Kyler is just kind of duck
collar wasn't trying to impress him. Otherwise, he would have said, sure. I'll take the sushi and just muscled the down. Instead, he's like, No, don't like it. No thanks. So he didn't care.
It's kind of an uncomfortable scene. But just because they didn't know how to connect with each other until Daniel asked Kyler where he got the black guy from Kylo squirms in his chair and says he got it from wrestling.
No, but then Daniel notices his fists,
and then he shares the fact that he was jumped and a mini mart by a guy. And that's it. It just licked in Daniels mind and he knew that Johnny was responsible. So we cut back to the Cobra Kai dojo. Yeah. And Miguel is still working. Late in the evening. He's still working, is washing the window. And he asked Johnny, any particular way you want me to wash these windows? Johnny just says, Nah, don't give crap. It doesn't say crap. It's very funny. A call back to karate kid
because we're thinking there should be some sort of official karate method.
You know, wash right, wash left. But no. Daniel knows that Johnny attacked Kyler and his friends. And now Daniel opens the door and enters the Cobra Kai dojo. Yeah. To confront Johnny about beating up Samantha's friends. Yeah. So what happens here?
Well, Daniel walks in there thinking that Johnny attacked these teams. So obviously, he was just sort of being a good dad at that moment, right? Hey, what are you doing attacking my daughter's friends quit being a jerk. But this is where then the truth comes out.
So Johnny shares the fact that Miguel had been jumped by multiple friends. Have Samantha's Daniels taken aback with this information? Yeah. And it's a great sequence because you got Johnny on the left Daniel on the right. And there's the Cobra Kai creed.
Daniel steps into that frame. And you're like thinking here we are again in 1984. Here we are. It's happening again. Yeah. And then I think right around that time, then Miguel comes out because he was cleaning the bathroom cleaning the toilet to be exact addresses Johnny a sensei. And that's when Danny goes sensei. He says, Really, sensei.
He knows that in there that Cobra Kai is beginning to develop students. But what cracks me up about the sequence two is that they just don't take an extra like beat to explain the facts. You can tell that both of them have these predisposed ideas of one another and they're always going to assume the worst because Johnny can come out and really explain the facts. Yeah. And much like Daniel, he's hanging onto his own resentment even though he has the better life now. He still is affected by Cobra Kai.
Well, you know, you may look at the surface and think automatically Daniel has the At her life fine. There's something missing in Daniel's life that he may actually envy. How he started breaking down when even saw the Cobra Kai dojo. So obviously there's some things stirring inside of him maybe some regrets. Maybe some dissatisfaction with his life.
He's also not trying to cry anymore. Yeah, that may be a moment we're
also Danny's like, this guy's opening up a dojo I own car dealerships What the hell am I doing with my life?
That's probably a lot of it. They're very similar characters. Yeah, they're very hot headed. They're almost to a like,
Daniel then walks out gets in his car, they have another face off. And I love this ending where they have that 20 guitar music. And then you see Johnny, then give us a little smirk at the end. Exactly. At that moment in time is where Johnny thinks to himself. I got him because it's like you see the tables turning again?
Yes. And that's it. Episode Two. And we have eight more episodes in this season. Wow. So this has been let's talk Cobra Kai, please subscribe to us on iTunes or anywhere else you get your podcast.
I'm really excited. I haven't seen Episode Three yet. I love it. Alright,
