Season 2 Primer
Wow. That is all I can come up with when I think about how truly great the first season of Cobra Kai was. This cannot be overstated. There were so many ways it could have gone wrong, and triple the ways it could have been just okay. Honestly, the only thing about season 1 that I truly didn’t like was the character of Anthony. The actor did a good job as I was supposed to dislike him and find him annoying. Going forward, I would like to see him serve some other purpose than to be an annoying troll to everybody and continuously make Daniel and Amanda look like pathetic parents. That’s literally my only real gripe.
The show runners did a great job of setting up a fairly intricate plot that initially seemed like a bunch of random events that ended up playing out in one focal event pretty well. Check out my review of the final episode of season 1 here. You can also find all of the other individual episode reviews there.
Additionally, they also did a really great job of setting the stage for season 2 with a lot of questions that need to be answered. Here are the questions that I think are the most important going into season 2 taking the trailers into consideration, and my thoughts on them:
Will Miguel be a villain the entire season?
Last season had us fall in love with Miguel’s character and then expertly turned him dark at the 11th hour. I wonder if he will maintain an antagonist role throughout the season, or if he will realize his errors and redeem himself?
Will Daniel experience growing pains as an instructor of multiple students, something he has never done before?
The end of last season saw Daniel introduce Robby to Mr. Miyagi’s home from the original movie with the implicit intent to turn it into a full-on Miyagi-do karate school. This is really exciting, but it raises questions. Daniel has never really experienced a group-class set-up as a student or an instructor. Will there be growing pains for him? For the students?
Will the Miguel/Sam/Robby love triangle continue, or will it mirror Daniel and Ali?
I wonder if Sam will end up being torn between Miguel and Robby, or will Miguel take on the Johnny role from the original movie, while Sam and Robby mirror Daniel and Ali’s story? Or will the show runners take us on an altogether different journey?
Did Johnny really think Kreese was dead, or did he lie to the All Valley board? Will it matter?
When Johnny told the board that Kreese was dead, did he really believe that? Now that Kreese is most definitely alive (or at least undead?), will there be any consequences with the All Valley board?
Will Johnny throw in with Kreese, or will he break away?
Johnny didn’t seem to miss his former Cobra Kai teacher too much throughout the first season. Now that Kreese is back, what will Johnny do? I feel like this will be a fork-in-the-road dilemma at some point for Johnny.
Will Johnny alter his teaching style?
It was fairly obvious that Johnny was not totally happy with the way his students represented themselves and Cobra Kai at the tournament last season. I wonder if he plans to adjust his teaching methods to include a little more sportsmanship and respect, or if he will double down on the three rules of Cobra Kai? Will Kreese’s presence affect that?
Will there be another character from the original movies that will show up as a surprise?
There have been all kinds of rumors of actors from the original movies potentially showing up in season 2. I wonder if any of that is true. The obvious ones could be Mike Barnes, Terry Silver, Ali. Less obvious could be some of Johnny’s old fellow students, or maybe Chozen or Kumiko. The show runners have even said that The Next Karate Kid is canon, so it’s technically possible that Julie could show up. It’s entirely possible that they could surprise us with no other original characters and just play the season out.
Whether they do or don’t do any of the things I listed above, I just want them to give us another really well executed season that is on-par or better than season 1. What do you think about my questions for season 2? Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments section below!
You can watch both seasons of Cobra Kai on Youtube.
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