{"id":6876,"date":"2025-02-13T08:38:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/cobra-kai\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T08:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:39:18","slug":"cobra-kai","status":"publish","type":"tv-reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/cobra-kai\/","title":{"rendered":"Cobra Kai"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The biggest lie in storytelling? Two words: The End<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories don\u2019t end, really. Not as long as the protagonists have breath in their lungs. Luke Skywalker brought down the Empire but became a bitter, old dude. Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, grew up and had kids, and still <\/em>came back more than 20 years later to defeat Voldemort again<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kids from 1984\u2019s Karate Kid<\/em>? They grew up, too. Their stories didn\u2019t end when Daniel LaRusso planted a heel in bully Johnny Lawrence\u2019s face. They went on, well after the movie\u2019s credits finished rolling. And maybe the most important parts of their respective stories are still to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ ON, READ OFF \u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been 30-something years since Daniel and Johnny squared off in 1984\u2019s All Valley Under-18 Karate Championship. From that pivotal moment, their lives diverged radically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel leveraged his underdog victory to propel himself to modest fame and fortune\u2014mostly as the cheesy spokesman\/owner of his own line of car dealerships. Meanwhile, Johnny wallowed in self-pity, hating Daniel and vowing to get revenge someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that day comes when Johnny and Daniel each reopen their old dojos\u2014Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do, respectively\u2014to compete (or, at least, have their students compete) in the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championship once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Daniel continues the gentle, defense-only strategy of his old sensei, Mr. Miyagi, Johnny teaches his pupils the same motto his own sensei, Kreese, taught him: \u201cStrike first. Strike hard. No mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yessir. Johnny and Daniel both know how to land punches where they hurt the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then Kreese makes a reappearance, taking over Cobra Kai and reimplementing the hard-hitting training tactics that he once trained Johnny on\u2014and it makes Johnny realize that, you know what, maybe a little <\/em>mercy isn\u2019t such a bad thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and Daniel ultimately team up to take on Kreese\u2019s Cobra Kai dojo, causing Kreese to himself <\/em>team up with an old friend named Terry Silver (the main antagonist of The Karate Kid Part III<\/em>). And Silver is apparently still a jerk, because he gets Kreese falsely arrested in order to take over Cobra Kai himself\u2026before Johnny and Daniel manage to get Terry arrested for his<\/em> (authentic) crimes, too. And that shuts down Cobra Kai altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you (and honestly, Daniel) should know by now that it isn\u2019t that simple. After all, how can a show called Cobra Kai <\/em>not have the titular dojo?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kreese and Silver each finagle their way out of prison. Kreese heads to South Korea to set up Cobra Kai once more, and Silver takes over the Iron Dragons, based out of Hong Kong. Both men then train their students in preparation for the same prestigious tournament the now-allied Johnny and Daniel train theirs: Sekai Taikai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Daniel, it\u2019ll be his swan song in honor of Mr. Miyagi before he moves away from being a full-time sensei. After all, whatever dojo wins tends to influence the karate sphere into following that dojo\u2019s karate strategy. But if either Kreese or Silver has his way, that\u2019ll never happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because in Cobra Kai<\/em>, it\u2019s not about the wax: It\u2019s all about the whacks<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OUT OF BALANCE?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The original Karate Kid<\/em> was relatively innocent and pretty inspirational\u2014a PG film that inspired a generation of kids to flood their local mall-based dojos (and maybe even paint their parents\u2019 fences).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cobra Kai<\/em> was the first real high-profile show from YouTube\u2019s subscription-based addendum YouTube Red (which was picked up by Netflix in its third season). But it isn\u2019t aimed at young viewers like the original was. At least, let\u2019s hope not. Just as the show focuses on the now-50-year-olds Johnny and Daniel, the content is pretty grown-up, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The s-word flies more often than karate kicks, with plenty of other milder profanities (including the occasional f-word) landing blow after blow. Drinking and drug use land on the screen as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show\u2019s sexual content is also more in-your-face than you might expect: Daniel\u2019s high school-age daughter, Samantha, is subject to sexual harassment and assault. And when she rebuffs her quasi-boyfriend\u2019s advances, she becomes the subject of ugly and graphic rumors at school. A post-prom scene shows Johnny\u2019s son, Robby, getting pretty steamy with his girlfriend, too. And it becomes pretty clear as the series continues that several high school couples are jumping in bed together. Parents and other adults are also caught in intimate moments, and at one point, Johnny searches online for a way to tell his star pupil, Miguel, that he\u2019s \u201cbanging\u201d Miguel\u2019s mom, Carmen. And later, Johnny and Carmen are thrilled to learn Carmen is pregnant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And naturally, Cobra Kai<\/em> has some violent moments. I mean, it is<\/em> a show predicated, at least in part, on beating people up. And sometimes, even characters we ostensibly root for have moments where they\u2019re just plain mean. (Season 3 opens with one of Johnny\u2019s students stuck in a coma after \u201cgood guy\u201d Robby kicked him off a landing in an all-out karate gang showdown at school. And Cobra Kai\u2019s <\/em>final season reveals that Mr. Miyagi may not always have been a defense-based fighter, since he may have been responsible for one man\u2019s death and another\u2019s hospitalization.) But a few characters are murdered, too. And one young karate champ falls on his own blade after allowing his anger to get the better of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, though, it\u2019s in the wake of those difficult moments that Cobra Kai<\/em>, like its characters, finds a certain measure of redemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cobra Kai<\/em> is, after all, a story about folks trying to find their way to Mr. Miyagi\u2019s mystical sense of balance, to find the middle way between being a pushover and being a world-class jerk. Everyone here, from oldsters Johnny and Daniel to their troubled pupils and offspring, is searching for redemption and meaning. Some tap into past hope and past sins, even as some of those hopes and sins are passed on to another generation. Families want to restore relationships, and friends work to make up for their regrets. Netflix\u2019s show does more than simply play off Gen X nostalgia: It has a story of its own it wants to tell. Several, really. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while those stories may have merit, they also come with problematic content aplenty. And that can make Cobra Kai<\/em> a more difficult dojo to deal with than the original. After all, the motto is <\/em>\u201cNo mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Editor\u2019s Note: <\/em>Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there\u2019s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn\u2019t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at <\/em>letters@pluggedin.com<\/em><\/a>, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gen X-targeted nostalgia bait revisits Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry from The Karate Kid \u2026 34 years later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":33219,"template":"","format":"standard","tv-genre":[131,130,186],"tv-rating":[10711],"class_list":["post-6876","tv-reviews","type-tv-reviews","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tv-genre-comedy","tv-genre-drama","tv-genre-sports","tv-rating-tv-14"],"yoast_head":"\nCobra Kai - Plugged In<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Gen X-targeted nostalgia bait revisits Daniel and Johnny's rivalry from The Karate Kid \u2026 30-something years later.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/cobra-kai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cobra Kai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Gen X-targeted nostalgia bait revisits Daniel and Johnny's rivalry from The Karate Kid \u2026 30-something years later.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/cobra-kai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Plugged In\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-13T15:39:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cobra-kai.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"860\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cobra Kai - 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Lee as Kwon; Paul Walter Hauser as Raymond\/Stingray; Martin Kove as John Kreese; Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver; Yuji Okumoto as Chozen; Alicia Hannah-Kim as Kim Da-Eun; Lewis Tan as Sensei Wolf; Patrick Luwis as Axel; Rayna Vallandingham as Zara"},"tv-show-network":{"type":"textfield","raw":"Netflix"},"tv-show-intro":{"type":"wysiwyg","raw":""},"tv-episode-reviews":{"type":"wysiwyg","raw":"<h3>Feb. 13, 2025 \u2013 S6, E11: \u201cInto the Fire\u201d<\/h3>\r\nFollowing the events of the previous episode, wherein a karate student was killed during an all-out brawl, the Sekai Taikai is cancelled, sending the senseis and their students home to ponder their futures.\r\n\r\nKreese and his co-sensei, Kim Da-Eun, bury their student with regret. They realize that they were the ones who fueled the teenager\u2019s anger, which ultimately led to his death (a flashback shows he fell on his own blade during an unsanctioned fight). And each of them resolves to change their methods to prevent further harm, both physical and mental.\r\n\r\nA sensei teaches a fatal fighting technique to her students. She\u2019s heavily criticized by her grandfather, who heads their dojo, as she does so. He demands that the students practice the technique on each other, stating that they will learn by punishment. The students and other senseis are clearly disturbed by this demonstration. And later, the man is killed when someone decides to use the technique against <em>him<\/em>.\r\n\r\nA flashback shows Kreese kicking a man to his death into a snake pit. Two people fight with their fists and blades. A flashback shows a man holding his granddaughter by the neck as he trained her. Several people sport cuts and bruises that are still healing from the disastrous fight that ended the Sekai Taikai. A man drives recklessly but arrives at his destination unharmed.\r\n\r\nDaniel is deeply distressed by the Sekai Taikai, because he had tried to stop the student who died but couldn\u2019t get to the boy in time. People are motivated by revenge, hatred and hubris.\r\n\r\nCouples kiss. We see a man\u2019s chest and back as he receives a massage. A few women wear cleavage-baring outfits. Someone says he used to clean obscene paintings off billboards.\r\n\r\nA man takes an unknown medication for a disease that is killing him. People drink champagne (and it appears that teenagers partake alongside their parents). We see bartending supplies on a boat.\r\n\r\nThere are five uses of the s-word. We also hear \u201ca--,\u201d \u201cd--n,\u201d \u201cd--k,\u201d \u201ch---\u201d and \u201cp--ck.\u201d Someone makes a crude hand gesture.\r\n\r\nA man doubts if he can ever become a good sensei, let alone a good man, but he realizes his mistakes and tries to make them right.\r\n<h3>Feb. 13, 2025 \u2013 S6, E15: \u201cEx-Degenerate\u201d<\/h3>\r\nJohnny and Daniel gear up for the final fight that will determine the winner of the Sekai Taikai.\r\n\r\nWe hear someone tried to drown a man. Daniel is told that a guard stole a necklace from Mr. Miyagi\u2019s wife after she died in an internment camp during a war. Years later, Miyagi stole the necklace back, but the guard attacked him, and Miyagi put the man in a hospital while acting in self-defense. Someone asks where a character is, not realizing the man was killed in a previous episode.\r\n\r\nJohnny fights Sensei Wolf, leader of the Iron Dragons, during the final fight of the Sekai Taikai. Johnny only delivers sanctioned karate punches and kicks, but Wolf hits Johnny with illegal moves twice, causing Johnny to bleed.\r\n\r\nJohnny takes a swing at a guy for calling him and his newborn daughter \u201closers.\u201d The guy twists Johnny\u2019s arm, nearly breaking it, but stops since he would prefer to defeat Johnny in the tournament instead.\r\n\r\nKids ask Tory, one of Johnny and Daniel\u2019s students, for her autograph, calling her the \u201cTooth Fairy,\u201d since she knocked another girl\u2019s teeth out during a fight. A man flinches when he\u2019s approached by someone who knocked him out previously. However, the former attacker makes amends. Threats are issued elsewhere.\r\n\r\nA teen girl grabs her boyfriend\u2019s rear. They kiss, and she requests they find somewhere private (it\u2019s unclear what they do, but it causes them to miss the big fight). They kiss again later, and the girl spanks the guy. A woman compliments her husband\u2019s appearance flirtatiously. Several couples kiss.\r\n\r\nA man drinks booze out of a brown paper bag. People drink wine. A crowd drinks at a bar.\r\n\r\nWe hear three uses of the f-word and seven of the s-word. We also hear \u201ca--,\u201d \u201ca--hole,\u201d \u201cb--tard,\u201d \u201cd--n,\u201d \u201ch---,\u201d \u201cp-ss\u201d and \u201cp---y.\u201d God\u2019s name is misused four times. Johnny calls a kid with glasses \u201cfour-eyes.\u201d\r\n\r\nWe see the conclusion of a man\u2019s redemption arc as he finally realizes exactly what it means to have the balance that Mr. Miyagi preached all those years ago. Family and friends encourage him along the way.\r\n<h3>Nov. 15, 2024 \u2013 S6, E6: \u201cBenvinguts a Barcelona\u201d<\/h3>\r\nThe students of Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai karate dojos head to Barcelona to participate in the Sekai Taikai martial arts tournament. Daniel and Johnny try to put on a good show for karate elite. Meanwhile their students navigate the betrayal of Tory, who has left Miyagi-Do to train with Kreese at Cobra Kai once again.\r\n\r\nPeople engage in karate for the tournament. There\u2019s plenty of kicking and punching, but nobody is seriously harmed since it\u2019s all within regulations. Many threats are exchanged. We hear that Kreese\u2019s business partner, Kim, broke Tory\u2019s hand during training. (Tory\u2019s injury has since healed.) A man smashes several flower pots in anger. Kim and Kreese both promote aggression in their students, manipulating Tory\u2019s grief (after she\u2019s just lost her mom). Their students often bully the students of other dojos.\r\n\r\nA man goes to make amends with his ex-girlfriend, but the door is answered by another man wearing only a towel. Johnny makes some inappropriate comments about modeling and pornography in reference to karate students. A photographer tells tournament captains to look \u201csexier\u201d for a photo.\r\n\r\nFriends express feelings of betrayal about Tory. Most of the Miyagi students worry she\u2019s being used by Kreese. Daniel and Johnny disagree about who is responsible for her choice\u2014and Johnny acts out, starting petty arguments everywhere he goes. And Tory\u2019s boyfriend, Robby, finds himself humiliated after letting their strained relationship take his focus off karate.\r\n\r\nAdults drink at a cocktail mixer. But Daniel and Johnny\u2019s fellow sensei, Chozen, shows up drunk and gets them all kicked out. Someone passes gas in his sleep. Robby\u2019s teammates are angry after he loses one of their hotel rooms in a bet.\r\n\r\nThere are a handful of s-words. We also hear \u201ca--,\u201d \u201cb--ch,\u201d \u201cd--n,\u201d \u201cdouche,\u201d \u201ch---\u201d and \u201cp--ck.\u201d God\u2019s name is misused twice.\r\n<h3>July 18, 2024 \u2013 S6, E1: \u201cPeacetime in the Valley\u201d<\/h3>\r\nDaniel, Johnny and rival-turned-friend Chozen debate on what to call their combined dojo\u2014and Daniel worries that the argument might cause unnecessary division.\r\n\r\nPeople fight using karate, throwing opponents to the ground.\r\n\r\nSomeone is mockingly called \u201cpenis breath.\u201d Someone jokes about going to a strip club. A man stumbles into a kitchen in his bathrobe. A boy and girl share a kiss. We hear references to urine, intoxication and male genitalia. A man is shirtless.\r\n\r\nA man drinks wine. Someone smokes a cigar.\r\n\r\nThe s-word is used nine times, and \u201cp---y\u201d is heard three times. We also hear \u201ch---,\u201d \u201cb--ch\u201d and \u201ca--.\u201d God\u2019s name is used in vain once.\r\n<h3>Sept. 9, 2022 \u2013 S5, E1: \u201cLong, Long Way from Home\u201d<\/h3>\r\nWhile Miguel, one of Johnny\u2019s students, travels around Mexico in search of his father, Johnny and his son Robby reconnect while they try to find Miguel and bring him home. Meanwhile, Daniel and previous rival Chozen discuss how to take the crazy Terry Silver out of Cobra Kai.\r\n\r\nChozen swims in the nude, and his rear is partially visible. A woman sees the naked Chozen from the front. A poster shows a woman in skimpy attire. A man and woman kiss. Johnny gets his son a shirt that reads, \u201cFemale Body Inspector.\u201d\r\n\r\nMen steal Miguel\u2019s backpack and rob him. Miguel takes down an attacker. Johnny and Robby beat up a group of thugs. A child is nearly hit by an unrelenting car.\r\n\r\nPeople drink beer at a bar.\r\n\r\nThe f-word is used three times, and the s-word is used four times. \u201cD--k,\u201d \u201ca--,\u201d \u201ch---\u201d and \u201cd--n\u201d are all used. Additionally, people are called \u201cp-ssants\u201d and \u201cd--chebag.\u201d God\u2019s name is misused twice, including one instance of \u201cg-dd--n.\u201d\r\n<h3>Dec. 31, 2021 - S4, E10: \u201cThe Rise\u201d<\/h3>\r\nThe All Valley Championship is under way with a Kreese-led Cobra Kai leading, forcing Daniel and Johnny to reevaluate their strategies for winning.\r\n\r\nA man resists arrest, hitting a police officer. Kids punch and kick each other in karate matches. A woman says she enjoyed watching her grandson kick another child in the face. A young boy gets a bloody nose after getting hit in the face. The same boy later beats up his former bully in a locker room, promising to deliver worse the following school year as revenge. A grown man encourages teenagers to use their anger in fights. A former bully asks her opponent if she is OK after accidentally injuring her in a karate match. A man lies in a hospital bed after beating beaten half to death in a previous episode (which we see a flashback of). He fibs about the person who assaulted him to the police.\r\n\r\nA teenage couple kisses. Two boys remove their shirts for a karate match. We learn a mother never told her son\u2019s father that the son exists. Teenagers teach their parents and senseis to let go of pride. Parents also learn not to live vicariously through their kids (although a few mentors fail to realize this). There are many guilt trips. A teenage girl chooses not to cheat even when her sensei encourages her to. (She\u2019s later devastated to learn her sensei cheated and questions her victory.) A boy runs away from home. Adults drink alcohol.\r\n\r\nWe hear uses of the s-word, as well as \u201ca--,\u201d \u201cd--n\u201d and \u201ch---.\u201d There is also a play on words with someone\u2019s name to sound like a profanity.\r\n<h3>Dec. 31, 2021 - S4, E1: \u201cLet\u2019s Begin\u201d<\/h3>\r\nAfter Daniel and Johnny make a bet with Kreese over the outcome of the All Valley Championship\u2014losers must shut down their dojos <em>forever<\/em>\u2014the two men band together to train their karate pupils for the match.\r\n\r\nWe see lots of sparring between karate senseis and students. Johnny singles out students to act as target practice when they upset him. A few characters walk away sporting aching bones and muscles but are ultimately OK. We hear about war deaths from two former soldiers. We also hear about non-sanctioned fights from previous seasons (including one where a small boy was thrown through a window).\r\n\r\nA homeless teen is taken in by Kreese. (The boy also calls his dad a \u201cdrunk loser\u201d and shows disdain when his dad tries to reconnect with him.) Someone vomits. People drink alcohol.\r\n\r\nA girl wears a mid-riff-baring shirt. A woman thinks her grandson is having sex. Flashbacks to previous <em>Karate Kid<\/em> films show a shirtless man in a sauna. The same man admits in the present that he used cocaine in the past.\r\n\r\nWe hear uses of the s-word, as well as \u201ca--,\u201d \u201cb--ch,\u201d \u201cd--k,\u201d \u201ch---,\u201d \u201cp-ss\u201d and \u201cp---y.\u201d God\u2019s name is abused a few times. There are a few crude terms for male genitals. At one point, Daniel scolds Johnny for \u201cshouting obscenities\u201d at students.\r\n<h3>Jan. 1, 2021 - S3, E10: \u201cDecember 19\u201d<\/h3>\r\nA few days before Christmas, Daniel\u2019s and Johnny\u2019s students are brutally attacked by the pupils of Cobra Kai.\r\n\r\nWe see a flashback to Kreese\u2019s time in the Vietnam War where he and his fellow POWs were forced to fight each other to the death (and we see two men thrown off a platform into a pit of snakes). In the present, Kreese\u2019s pupils fight against Johnny and Daniel\u2019s, wrecking the Miyagi dojo and leaving several teens heavily cut and bruised. While fighting Kreese, Johnny accidentally hits his son, Robby. Kreese attempts to strangle Johnny and later nearly stabs Daniel while fighting. A boy is thrown through a glass window.\r\n\r\nPeople drink alcohol and dance at a party. We hear multiple uses of the s-word, \u201ca--,\u201d \u201ca--hole,\u201d \u201cb--ch,\u201d \u201cd--k,\u201d \u201ch---\u201d and \u201cp--sy.\u201d We hear a few misuses of God\u2019s and Christ\u2019s names. And someone is also called \u201cpenis-breath.\u201d\r\n<h3>Jan. 1, 2021 - S3, E1: \u201cAftermath\u201d<\/h3>\r\nEveryone recovers from the aftermath of the karate showdown at school that resulted in several injured students, with others getting expelled or suspended.\r\n\r\nWe see several karate fights, including flashbacks from the violent school battle that show people getting cut, thrown into glass trophy cases and a boy breaking his back after falling onto a railing. A man smashes a car window before getting into a fistfight with the passengers. Johnny purposely smashes his own head, causing it to bleed heavily. (He also lifts his shirt to show a giant bruise on his back.)\r\n\r\nPeople drink alcohol. There are jokes about porn and masturbation. Teen girls are objectified by their male classmates. We see a man\u2019s infected foot. We learn that Robby stole a car.\r\n\r\nA woman wearing a cross necklace prays with a rosary.\r\n\r\nWe hear multiple uses of the s-word, \u201ca--,\u201d \u201cb--ch,\u201d \u201ch---\u201d and \u201cp--sy.\u201d We also hear misuses of God\u2019s name.\r\n<h3>Apr. 25, 2019 - S2, E1: \u201cMercy Part II\u201d<\/h3>\r\nDaniel LaRusso works with mortal enemy Johnny Lawrence\u2019s son, Robby Keene, to build a new dojo where mercy is the motto. Daniel\u2019s daughter, Samantha, heals from a breakup with ex-boyfriend, Miguel. Johnny tries to reinstate new, more merciful rules at Cobra Kai after his old, ruthless sensei, John Kreese, comes back into town.\r\n\r\nJohnny gets into a fight with his old sensei. The two kick and punch one another in the face, stomach and limbs. Johnny is thrown against a glass mirror and it shatters. Johnny\u2019s son, Robby, tries to forgive his father. An elderly man flirts with and objectifies a waitress. A girl and her boyfriend break up. A man smokes a cigar that, once kicked out of his mouth, starts a fire.\r\n\r\nMen drink beer and two teens are denied alcohol when they present fake ID\u2019s. Grown men utter a few death threats.\r\n\r\nThe s-word is heard once and other profanity includes multiple uses of \u201ch---,\u201d \u201cb--ch,\u201d \u201cp-ssy,\u201d \u201ca--,\u201d \u201cbada--,\u201d \u201cscrew you\u201d and \u201cpr--k.\u201d\r\n<h3>May 2, 2018 - S1, E1: \"Ace Degenerate\"<\/h3>\r\nThirty-four years after losing to Daniel LaRusso in a climactic karate match, Johnny Lawrence has never recovered his mojo. But when the heavy-drinking handyman comes into some unexpected cash and defends a young neighbor from a group of thugs, he discovers a new aspiration: Reopening the Cobra Kai dojo and passing on a passion for karate to a new generation.\r\n\r\nJohnny receives his moment of inspiration from an old 1980s movie, when a narrator intones, \"God doesn't give people things he doesn't want 'em to use.\" Then again, Johnny gleans this insight when he's pretty drunk, too, with empty beer bottles scattered across his table and him pouring more liquor into whatever else he's drinking. He later hops in his Pontiac Firebird, liquor bottle in tow, and drinks and drives. We learn that he's a deadbeat dad, too: He hasn't seen his teen son in years. When a young neighbor, Miguel, tries to befriend him, Johnny dismisses him: \"Great, more immigrants,\" he says. Then he tells the teen, \"The only thing good about being here is I don't have to talk to anybody.\" But when Miguel runs into a group of bullies who pour a bottle of Pepto-Bismol over his head (a bottle meant to help alleviate his grandmother's ailing stomach) and who punch him in the gut, Johnny intervenes, pummeling the lot into submission. (We see lots of hands and feet fly, as well as a couple of chokeholds made.) Johnny gets sprayed with Mace by police.\r\n\r\nIn flashback, we see Daniel and Johnny fight, and Johnny hammers on Daniel's already-injured leg. Johnny and Daniel talk about the fight, with Johnny insisting Daniel's finishing kick was illegal. There's a reference made, in Spanish, to someone's supposedly small male anatomy, and we hear another aside that apparently references the female genitals of an old spouse. Johnny plucks a dead rat from a gutter. There's a reference to smelling like a septic system. Teens visit a convenience store to buy beer and, it's said, condoms.\r\n\r\nCharacters use the s-word eight times. Other profanities used include \"a--,\" \"b--ch,\" \"d--n,\" \"h---\" \"p-ss\" and \"p---y.\" God's name is misused thrice, including once with the word \"d--n.\""}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tv-reviews\/6876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tv-reviews"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tv-reviews"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tv-reviews\/6876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tv-genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tv-genre?post=6876"},{"taxonomy":"tv-rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tv-rating?post=6876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}