Blue @bluektw - Tumblr Blog

Jan 18

Hi, so I think it's been quite a while CK is done, I wanna point out a few things I disliked about the show as a whole, that are kinda nitpicks, but they are stuff that deeply bothers some to the point I haven't been able to rewatch the show ever since the ending.

Be warned, this is a full-on rant to anyone still in the fandom. I would also like to point out that while it may sound like I'm hating certain characters, I'm actually hating the writers and how they chose to portray those characters. Like I said before, those are mainly nitpicks, so if you don't agree, you don't, no one's forcing you to.

Tory's clothes and hairstyles in S6 part 1 and 3 are weirdly similar to what we see Sam wearing in previous seasons.

I know this is probably some fault of costume departament + themes of the season as Tory is finally at the supposed “right” dojo, therefore she should wear its colors, blue and white, however, it feels unnatural to her (which is saying something cause she was in greyish colors when she was introduced), and the style chosen for those said clothes is weirdly similar to Sam’s wardrobe, even looking richer than Sam at some points this season.

Similarly, her hair, I know she used a few braids in S2, but you could clearly see the braids were loser, and she favored ponytails and half ups, in S6 we see her constantly in those braided updos that are somewhat similar to what Sam used in S2 and S4, and her last hairstyle being dutch braids just like Sam used the whole season (which I know was more of a bubble braid in episode 10, but during episodes 5-7 she was in dutch/french braids), and a fishtail braid on episode 14, just really felt off to me, it felt like they were trying to turn her into Sam 2.0 and I hated that, cause I liked the idea of both having such a different style cause it made sense with the background showed to us, that Tory would go for more practical and easy hairstyles while Sam would go for more showy (but decent) for sports ones. Personally, the one braided updo Tory had in S6E3 was the worst one, and I feel like it doesn’t suit Peyton at all.

Curiously, as side note, the one moment Tory’s wardrobe is similar to her original one (which here means S2 before she fully got in karate war, so eps 4-5) is when she’s back with Kreese, I feel like those clothes while being used to say she’s on the “wrong side” thematically, are the most genuine version of her, and while in Miyagi do it felt like she was trying to copy Sam to be accepted in that environment.

2. The lack of storytelling revolving around the previous connections established in seasons 4-5, especially.

Here I wanna talk specifically about Robby-Kenny and Tory-Devon.

For Robby and Kenny, I hate how we have probably one interaction between them per part of S6. I also despise how they made Kenny join Miyagi Do by essentially beating him into joining.

I think it would have been a lot better for their dynamic to let Kenny either be away from it or have Robby seek him out through Shaw, and not go against him. He could have explained to Shaw what happened, asked for help, and that would have made a great 2-3 episode arc for Robby and given him something to do that doesn't revolve around Tory.

Also, I believe Kenny and Anthony also becoming kinda friends makes zero sense, and I'm a firm believer that they, just like Sam and Tory, should have never become friends, they should just be able to be in the same room and respect each other. I also hate how Robby doesn't even show concern about Kenny after the laxative thing. It truly feels like they wanted his character to be Tory and Miguel-centered, and because of that, he can't have moments of his own.

Now onto Tory and Devon, I think they should have had at least ONE conversation just the two of them, preferably in part 2, about their moms. For example, let them talk in the aquarium without Sam showing up. They have so much in common, and for me, at least, trying to make Tory's friendship with Devon seem like "less" than her friendship with Sam was a bad move. I think we should have moments of them hanging out, even if it's in the back of the scene. Devon would've been the perfect way for the Miyagi Dos to talk to Tory, but because Tory's character needs to be Robby and Sam focused we got half a scene that was interrupted by Sam who had no business in the matter whatsoever especially when we could have had a scene about both opening up about their mother's as Devon KNOWS what's like to lose a parent and could help Tory deal with it (different than Sam, as she herself says she doesn't know what's like to lose a parent, and ends up making Tory's grieve about herself and their “friendship” even if it's not intentional)

3. Sam and Tory's codependent friendship makes absolutely no sense and ruins both characters.

I can’t think of a better word to describe that “friendship”, only codependent. It felt really weird to see Tory longing to be with Sam while in Taikai, as if they were besties forever, same with Sam trying all the time to involve Tory in every conversation she had. I never liked the idea of them as friends, but I think this season cemented it as a bad writing choice, cause you suddenly get two characters who were mortal enemies turned into reluctant allies to whatever that was in the span of one episode (3 to 4 in that case).

For me personally, it took away both girls' personalities to make it about their “friendship”, this also happens with Keenry, but that’s another topic. The moment they became friends, especially for Sam’s character, it became about that relationship, Sam not having a clear reason to fight, wishing Tory could be with them every scene they talk about the other dojos, calling Tory a “bonsai badass”, it loses all the stuff that was her, including her “title” as we had “Queen Cobra” for Tory and “Bonsai Badass” for Sam, but now in canon Sam considers Tory another “Bonsai badass”, like i said it ruins Sam’s individuality as a character. On Tory's side, being so connected to Sam creates a writing block on how she could have other relationships with other characters, especially her friendship with Devon as the two don’t have not even ONE scene where Sam isn’t present with them, and something the writers never cared but it would have made the story more compelling, Tory’s reluctant/grounded relationship with her Dojo, aka CK Korea, not mentioning Kwon, which I know people will say I’m saying this cause I shipp them, it would've been nice to show at least her "friendship" with Yoon, but no, because her “only” friend is Sam and the only characters she can care about are her and Robby we get Tory isolated from her own team.

4. On the same topic, their "making-up scene" is extremely bad.

I think you can tell I'm more of a Tory fan than Sam fan, but I think that scene is bad for a few reasons that revolve around Sam: mainly, I don't mind her apologizing first, I do have a problem with the show trying to equal her accusing Tory/her being mean in S4 to the School and House fights.

I wanna point out I have been a massive Sam hater in the past, and the fact that I, someone who doesn't even like Sam and is mostly indifferent to her since S3, think it was a bad idea speaks for itself.

They could have done it many ways, and personally I would have that talk not end in them being “best friends forever” but being able to respect each other and be around each other without arguing (something apparently they have been doing since episode 1) I would keep it that way, cause if you think about how they show introduced them there's NO world where they become best friends, they are too different, and have essentially different views and livings. And especially after the house fight, I don't think Sam should be able to even look at Tory without flashbacks of the school/house fight which is some deep trauma that was resolved with “talk to your dad and close your eyes and deep breath” plot device, and honestly, Tory shouldn't be able to look at Sam without thinking of Silver bribing the ref, as while isn't trauma like Sam had, is something that deeply affected her, and would take a lot more than a bad double date and sleepover to get over all of that.

5. Making Tory and Robby’s characters revolve around them being a couple and not as solo characters, while giving them a solo story, comes out shallow.

Similarly to what I said about the girls' friendship taking over them as individual characters, the same happens with Keenry, and this is said as someone who loved them up to S5.

I feel this happened in two instances in S6: Tory's grief about her mom being sidelined for her missing being with Robby, and Robby having his whole “distraction” arc. On Tory's first, I feel like this was when I really started to dislike them as a couple, the moment Robby (and the Miyagi Dos) try to make her grieving her mom about them I got an icky feeling, and it got worse as the show continues presenting Tory being sad cause she's not with them, and not because her mother died, for Christ sake in part 2 and 3 there's NO MENTIONS of her mother apart from the aquarium scene that Robby (unintentionally, I hope) makes it her being sad and going to CK about her not trusting him, when it has NOTHING to do with him. And at the same time they wanted Tory to be this outstanding fighter that was getting attention, they needed to make EVERYTHING about the fact she and Robby are a couple by having her looking longingly at them when she loses (which i have post about how I feel that scene was terrible), her “rivalry” with Zara being set up as a fighters only thing, turning out for it to involve Robby, making her scared/not motivated to fight in Sakai Taikai after the tournament is back because she's scared Robby won't talk to her instead of focusing on getting her brother, or even not wanting to deal with it again since her mom died and she saw someone else die in a short period of time, it just made her really shallow in this season as EVERYTHING she did had to revolve either around being with/pleasing/affecting Robby, while she's supposed to be a teen grieving her mom and trying to get her brother’s custody, which is a set up for an INDIVIDUAL character, that is thrown out the window for couple drama.

Same with Robby, the fact that he's at a bar sulking about her being able to fight and he's not, when literally his half-sister (like sure, he's not obligated to like Carmen, or the blended family, but that's still his half-sister) could be in danger is an example of reducing his character to hers. The Zara thing (aka him being assaulted and/or raped at worst) is about Tory, not about him, the Kwon teasing is about Tory, not about him, even his fight with Kwon that's supposed to be his main moment is about Tory telling him she's not with Kwon and the Zara thing, and not him. And to salt to injury, he had a great setup AGAIN for an individual arc of overcoming the second place trauma, but it's thrown out the window cause he needs to be suffering he broke up.

Another sidenote: it's not unrealistic he was like that, however it contradicts season 5, where he literally broke up with her, BROKE UP, not pause and he didn't feel anything, he wasn't even looking at her in the Taikai qualifications, only noticed when she was gone, so I would say it's contradictory, unless you wanna argue Robby only accepts a break up/pause when he's the one setting the terms/ending the relationship, which creates a whole new argument about how this behavior in a relationship is not healthy but that's not my point. The point here is, it's contradictory that he's so distracted over a PAUSE, considering they BROKE UP before and he felt nothing.

6. Lack of Kreese interaction with his core characters (Tory, Johnny, Silver, and, in season 6 only, Kwon, and the only ones he has more interactions with, but it could be better, are Da-eun and Master Kim.)

This might sound weird to some, but I really enjoy Kreese, and out of the senseis/adults in the show, he's pretty much my favorite. Personally, I loved his weird dynamic with Johnny in S2, and when I really grew to love him was his bond with Tory, especially after S3.

I'm not gonna lie and say he was a good person cause he wasn't, but I think his core characters, which means, characters that are essential to his story in the show, made him a lot more likeable, apart from Johnny but it gave depth to him, cause we saw another version of it with Johnny, like with Tory he was a like a father who supported and protected her and with Johnny you would see the more “evil” side of Kreese.

My point here is, in S6 the characters he interacts most with are Kim and Master Kim, for interactions I'm counting solo talks, like only 2-3 characters at best, we only have 3 moments of him and Tory talking, far as I remember 2-3 of him and Johnny, 2 for Silver, 2 with Kwon, and like 3-4 with Da-eun and 3-4 with Master Kim, which don't get me wrong, are really nice moments, but I think it was lacking in some.

Now you may be thinking I'm pissed cause the show doesn't focus solely on the characters I like, but my point here is how the lack of conversations between especially Tory and Kreese, and Kwon and Kreese, considering the situation they were all in on that tournament is non sense, I don't want a whole episode where only them show up, I want more focus on them and less on Johnny and Daniel arguing about offense vs defense, I want Tory and Kreese to have more moments and talking about grief considering how similar their situations were, and not watch Demitri and Hawk go on the tenth rant about MIT. That's my point.

I know the writers have a “We couldn't add cause we had more important stuff to talk about” motto, but it's bullshit when the more important stuff is Daniel and Johnny arguing for the 10.000th time, or the stupid MIT debate, or trying to make it sound like Mr. Miyagi was a bad guy.

Main point here, Kreese needed to get more interactions, especially after CK loses the tag thing. How was he dealing with that? Did he snap at Tory or Kwon about it like he did Johnny back then? Was he understanding? This is something that could be really well done when we think of parallels in storytelling.

On another topic that's more of a nitpick about Kreese's story, I really wish someone would point out how Kreese’s favorite students (Tory and Johnny) resemble Betsy, maybe have Silver mocking him for it, I don't care, I just think this was too good a parallel to let it go to waste.

7. On the same topic, Kreese and Silver die and have no repercussions apart from an honestly nice callback to Rocky IV and Creed II of Wolf asking where Silver is.

I'm not even sure if it's supposed to be a parallel to Rocky IV and Creed II, but in both Drago and Viktor start to “lose” the fight after noticing characters that are, I'm assuming, either family or really important people to them leaving the fight, that's the moment they kinda crumble. So to have Wolf asking for Silver before the fight, even if it didn't directly affect him like the movies, was a nice little callback.

About the deaths now, I think it should've been done better, mostly because of the potential of the reactions of Johnny, Tory, and Kim to finding out Kreese is dead, and Wolf, Kenny, and Daniel, finding out Silver is dead. We could have gotten gold about the implications of it. Maybe have Johnny conflicted if he should be relieved/happy or sad, Tory being sad and angry cause she lost her mother and now her father figure (and would be nice to have Miyagi Do (or at least Robby, Devon and begrudgingly to me Sam) do the right thing this time and not turn their backs on her and be there for her without waiting for her to ask). Have Kim be shocked and sad, but more accepting of it. Making Daniel happy, his worst nightmare is finally gone, while having Kenny being confused like Johnny about what he should feel, have Wolf find out after losing the fight or during it, and show the audience how exactly the relationship between them was, whether they were business partners? Friends? People even think they feel like lovers, so I wouldn't put it past that. Just give us the reactions to it.

Considering both are LEGACY characters, they deserved a better ending (in execution, not a happy ending, don't get me wrong) cause the deaths were cartonnishly bad and have NO payoff.

8. Making Tory's win revolve around Robby, and on the same topic, about Sam giving up.

Now, this is something people will probably not agree with me on, but bear with me, I have a really valid point.

I made a post on Reddit once about this, but if you analyse the show, none of the victories CK has are completely clean. With that, I mean that absolutely no external force helped the fight.

I'll start with Tory's win first, and Miguel's in the other topic, but essentially, it is the same premise, they didn't win on their own merit.

Tory's fight with Zara is supposed to be Tory's big moment of winning a fight in the show, however, you can never fully say she was going to win, unless Sam had dropped the tournament. This creates doubt about Tory's ability and if she really would be a champion had Sam and her fought, which is a bad situation to put her in, cause it's S4 all over again, with the exception that instead of a bribed ref giving the advantage, Sam is the one giving her a free pass to the finals.

It makes her win less about her, again it creates doubt about it, which after having S4 and S5 about how Tory main idea of winning and feeling good about herself were tied to her winning a trophy in her own merit, having that dream crushed because of Silver, I don't see how she should feel happy she got to the finals by pity, if anything I think she would have preferred to fight Sam.

Now, as I said before on the Keenry topic, making the “I love you” be mid-fight essentially makes her win about them as a couple and not about her. It's not her winning against Zara, it's the Keenry I love you scene, it's not her beating the big bad, it's the fan favorite couple kissing. It ties what should be her final big moment on the show to Robby, erasing how much that moment should be about Tory if they wanted her to be a champion.

Her win becomes essentially about Robby and Sam indirectly and having all the Larusso family hugging her ties the knot on how the fight was never truly her moment, it's the moment of the couple for her and Robby, and the friendship between her and Sam and how her being friends with Sam gives her Daniel and Amanda as bonus, it takes away the individuality of the win, especially cause there's no all hugging after Miguel's fight, after his win he's the focus along with Johnny, which I can say takes away from that as well, but at least it makes it about 2 characters, not about 5.

9. Making Miguel's win revolve around: Axel giving up the fight, Robby being unable to fight, and changing Sekai Taiaki's rules.

Miguel's win is another topic of taking away his win from himself. Essentially, which people might not agree with, Miguel didn't even deserve to be in the finals.

He won his fight because Axel had his moment of truth of how he would prefer Sam not to hate him more, chose not to cheat, and dropped the fight, he let Miguel hit him and didn't defend himself. Which is such a bad thing cause it makes it again about someone else “giving up” something for the winner to win, it makes the fight cast in doubt, had Axel not cheated by hitting Miguel's back but kept fighting in his own way, would Miguel still win? We can't tell.

Also, making his win about Robby not being able to fight does the same thing I said about Sam giving up the spot for Tory, except in the boys case I think it's even a bit worse, because we see Miguel NEVER was intended to be captain, and had accepted that in part 2, Robby was the captain and it should've been his moment and Miguel knew, he encouraged Robby and was pissed when Robby got his knee broken. My point is, has this not happened? Miguel and Johnny wouldn't leave Miyagi Do, there would be no big win for Miguel. Again, it casts doubt over the win.

Miyagi Do was out of the competition, technically speaking after Robby gets his knee broken MD is officially out, had Yoon decided to fight in Kwon's place, no big win again, for Miguel to win his fight all had to be given to him: Kwon dying, Kim choosing not to come back, Kreese giving back the dojo and Axel not defending himself.

10. On the same topic, how literally no other dojo would accept Miguel and Johnny going to CK at the last minute after their original team had essentially lost the tournament.

Now this is the real nitpick in me talking. What they did with the whole “taking back CK” was 1. Majorly disrespectful to CK Korea, as the ONLY one that can say she had part in the points acquired for CK to tie with Iron dragons in the end is Tory, as Miguel and Johnny basically took Kwon's points and CK’s as theirs.

But also, the precedent they opened would RUIN the tournament, or do you really believe the other dojos would be cheering seeing a guy they all SAW as part of another dojo, get their dojo out of the game only to switch to the dojo in the finals last minute? The senseis would agree that Johnny would jump out the ship while MD sank and just casually got to the dojo that had secluded a place in the finals (that was also not clean may add, as the Russians cheating is a helping force for CK, again making that no achievement of CK is fully clean) last minute just cause he happens to be “friends” with the other dojo’s sensei that left because he felt too guilty his student died.

No, no dojo would accept that, and considering we're supposed to believe some of those dojos have known each other before, they would totally make a few arrangements in future tournaments, since now it's allowed to switch to another dojo at the last minute.

And no, you will not convince me it was ok just cause Kreese agreed, or cause CK was without a sensei. They changed the rules of the tournament in the story to have their moment and ruined the whole thing, which is why Taikai works well on paper, but not in execution. Have it been a fighter and sensei we don't see, let's say, Chozen hadn't gone with them to Barcelona and took over CK while being the front sensei and having Johnny still as a Miyagi Do, but giving tips, it's one thing, having Johnny jump the ship is not. Having some other character take over and be the Captain of CK, not someone who was already on the tournament from another dojo, would be accepted, not someone from another dojo jumping the ship, while gaining a captain title as a bonus, after his dojo was taken off the competition.

11. How Johnny being Kreese's weakness makes Kreese a bad character after S3

This one is, after the clothes in point 1, one of my biggest nitpicks about the story. Personally, I hated how so many characters have their stories be about someone else (like I mentioned in other topics), but this one takes the cake.

Like I said before, of all senseis, Kreese has been my favorite adult since S2, mostly because of his bond with Tory, the flashbacks to his story, and his and Johnny's bond, which, while not being something I enjoyed about him, I enjoyed the depth it gave Kreese.

I think Johnny being his weakness works until S3. I think the moment you have Johnny actively choosing Daniel over Kreese, it should have been a heads-up to Kreese that, sure, even if he wants that relationship with Johnny, he's not getting it, and should move on from it. And I get that Johnny was his star student, but after being personally betrayed by Johnny the moment he chooses to fight with Daniel, Kreese, someone we know holds grudges should've let go of Johnny and focus on preparing a new star student, since he already had a star student in the new CK, aka Tory, as even if Hawk was there in S3, Kreese personally goes after her (twice if you think about it) cause without her he feels his dojo is incomplete. From a story point, I would have made Kreese let go of Johnny for the remaining of S4 and S5, and perhaps have him show he still cares in S6, but I essentially think they should have showed that even though Johnny was Kreese’s weakness, he could really move on from it, and focus his attention on a student that if you think about it, never betrayed him. I think it would have made more sense with his character, considering how much he hates and has a grudge against Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. I don't think he would have forgiven Johnny for choosing Daniel over him that easily.

Like I said, he can move on and still care for Johnny, but I don't think Johnny should've stayed as his main student the whole show.

Sidenote: this is something people have commented about in one of my stories, how even though the characters spend a majority of time in CK, they never appear to make bonds outside of who they already knew, like Tory, Robby, and Hawk with the others in the Dojo, guess this applies to senseis as well if you think about it.

12. How Silver and Kenny's bond is not thought through or given the right importance.

Probably one of the ONLY redeeming qualities of S5 was showing them interact, and how their dynamic evolved, their connection, I believe, is supposed to parallel Johnny and Kreese, even though I've seen some takes saying they can parallel Daniel and Silver, but I don't really see it. I see the parallel with Johnny and Kreese cause this bond is also an almost direct parallel to Tory and Kreese.

Another thing I find interesting about them is how Silver 100% believes in Kenny, he knows the top fighters are in the other team, and still he fully believes Kenny can be or already is at their level, especially when you rarely get moments like that with the other senseis, saying they fully believe in their student to do it, I can only think of Kreese telling Tory to fight the way she wanted in the AVT, and maybe Johnny encouraging Miguel are some parallels to that, but you can tell his belief in Kenny is, dare I say, stronger than the other two.

Both of them (Tory and Kenny) are kids who got so intertwined with the Cobra Kai philosophy that it changed or enhanced things about them. For Kenny, it was to stand up to bullying, and Tory was to defend herself and make friends in a new town. They both start going into this place, hoping it'll help them.

And their dynamics with the senseis are pretty much the same, they are the “teacher's favorite student,” even if they're not the top student (Tory was Kreese's favorite even when Miguel, Hawk, and Robby are supposed to be the top students, Kenny was Silver's favorite when Tory is the top student). They make such deep connections with the senseis that they become father figures, except this isn't really explored for Kenny and Silver, while it is underexplored for Tory and Kreese.

The point here is, Kenny and Tory are parallels of each other, and Silver and Kreese are parallels when it comes to them, the simple fact we have Kreese and Silver seeking them out cause even though they have a “better dojo” they feel the team is incomplete without their favorite student is one of the similarities, the difference about this one is that while Tory accepts it, Kenny declines, cause at that moment he had the support he needed from Robby even if it's cracked, had Silver approached Kenny before the whole Amanda getting him and Anthony to get along thing, he might have accepted it.

I wanted more interactions with them, even though the one we got was nice. I also like that Silver seemed proud when Kenny scored that point that made them win. I think deep down, Silver really cared for Kenny in the same twisted way Kreese really cared for Tory, in their minds, those are the kids they never had.

I wish this had been explored more. I wanted Kenny and Tory scenes, and Silver and Kenny scenes. It's really sad that he was sidelined this season.

13. How bad it was to make the show black and white after the S2 finale. (Probably the only topic that's not a nitpick, as many people have talked about that as well).

I think a lot of people have talked about this before, so I won't prolong myself too much, as this is not a nitpick.

Changing the idea of having 3 sides in a fight (My side, your side and the truth, like Ali said in S3), to CK bad MD good, made the show shallow, especially if you consider how in the end the “bad guys” win, cause MD never wins a tournament, their champions are butchered, and they have no part in the main story aside from being related to the CK female champion and a connection with Iron's dragons captains. Sure, you can argue that only Kreese's CK was bad, but no, thematically the show makes the CK philosophy bad while MD is perfect, even when Johnny is the sensei, Miguel and Tory don't win by using MD, they win by using No Mercy. So yes, it makes them the “bad guys” winning again.

Personally, I always thought Cobra Kai, all the dojos with all the different senseis had benefits, and I liked the idea of showing that maybe what one person thinks is a bad thing could be something useful to another, but the show dropped this grey area in S3 the moment they decided to make Cobra Kai the Miyagi Do show. I know Daniel needed to be more of a protagonist cause he's the one connected to everyone else, but still, when you realize throughout S4 Johnny is more of a comic relief than a protagonist, you can tell the show gave up. MD is the “perfect” dojo that always wins no matter what, they always play fair, they always have the better moves, and they always win no matter how many years of training their enemy has. While CK depends on cheating, of being given the grace of the MD's not competing to win, of another dojo being out of the competition. It's just bad, especially because it makes some people (me in this scenario) not care about the fights, Sam and Tory are fighting, Sam will win, why should I care, I can just skip it. Miguel and Axel are fighting. Why should I care? It's obvious Miguel will win; he's CK now, but he's fighting for his Miyagi Do brother, of course, he'll win. Tory is fighting Zara, but she has the power of her bestie and boyfriend from Miyagi Do, of course, she'll win. CK Korea is fighting the Iron Dragons, of course, they won't be able to beat the Iron Dragons, they're not Miyagi Do, that's why Tory looks at Sam and Robby, cause if she were on the “right side” she could've won. CK Korea and MD are fighting, no matter how much it is established that Kwon is the one who can kick the highest, Robby has the power of MD on his side and will jump higher and hit Kwon, and win. (Sidenote again: I know one of the scripts had Robby jumping onto Hawk's knee, so he would be cheating. I wished they kept that, but the little saints can never cheat).

It makes Miyagi Do boring. That's why so many people (not fully generalizing, but I think a vast majority would agree) don't like them, they have NO STAKES, they always win no matter what. It's boring, it's tiring, it makes people not care about their fights. The only losses MD has are because of external factors (Silver's cheating, Axel's cheating, Kwon taunting Robby), which are never their fault, they never lose because they lost, it's always someone else making them lose, it's always someone else's fault.

14. How Kwon's death was glossed over, and the so-called “good guys” aren't even a bit empathetic to a kid their age, just because he's not important enough to them, while making his death in part 3 be about a mere obstacle to get Daniel to agree with the tournament.

I wrote about this in a comment on Reddit before, but I feel like it's my most honest opinion about it. His death was supposed to be dark, but the writers made sure it was treated as comedy.

A kid your age dies in front of your eyes, and the so-called good guys of the show, after a month, don't care about it, there are no implications of trauma, of being scared about ending up like him, killed in a fight. They act like his death didn't happen.

Sam, Miguel, Tory, Robby, Demitri, and Hawk all pretend that didn't happen, which, to me, should affect at least Tory, considering how she had just seen someone dead in front of her a few months ago. Not even Sam's “not wanting to fight” has to do with being scared of such brutality, no, it's because she can't fight her bestie that needs the win more than her.

The only adult from the main characters (by that I mean Miyagi Do) cast that acts like something happened is Daniel, and while I don't think it's bad that he's the one feeling this, I feel like the execution made Kwon's death be about Daniel not wanting to fight again, it's not treated as something dark cause it's just a plot point, a simple obstacle Johnny has to go through, to get Daniel to agree to set the tournament back on. It's not treated with respect outside of the funeral, as we see the boys JOKING about it during Robby's training and turning his one minute of silence into a NASTY joke.

They dealt with it in such a nasty way that I couldn't believe not even one of those people could be at least a bit empathetic about it. They made sure everyone thought of him as an asshole so literally no one would feel sad about his death, they made him a “no one” that's not worthy one bit of the “good guys” empathy, only the “bad guys”(Kreese, Kim, CK Korea and Master Kim) are empathetic cause to the show they're the same, evil cardboard villains with no reason to exist but to annoy the awesome lives of the good guys.

If they wanted to add someone DYING in the show, not anyone, a TEENAGER dying, they should've dealt with it respectfully. I literally have no sympathy for any of MD’s struggles after that. Call them the good guys as much as you want, but they were absolutely heartless in this sense.

I'm not saying they should be bawling their eyes out, but I don't think Kwon deserved to be treated like an obstacle to get Silver and Daniel to interact and for it to get over and agree on a tournament.

I truly believe the writers had no idea people would like Kwon. I truly believe that in their minds, no one would care if the “evil” kid died. I highly doubt they thought Kwon would become that popular, and that's why they introduced Axel. They probably thought people would like him more, given his circumstances being abused by Wolf, which ALSO should’ve been treated with more respect, but they don’t deal with that at all besides making it about Sam “saving” him.

And that goes to Brandon's AMAZING performance as Kwon, he really got everyone hooked on him, the writers shoot themselves in the foot with that. (No hate to Patrick, though, I think he did really well with the little he was given. It's just that Brandon was also given little and did it incredibly).

15. How some characters got “too much” of the actor's personality and how that made their acting weird

This is a really personal thing, it's essentially something you don't see most of the time, but once you do, you can't unsee it.

To start this topic, I don't know how much or if the actors had any say in how their characters are written, as we saw in the ST documentary that Maya and Jamie had some control over how their characters were written. I'm not sure that happened for CK, mainly the only instance I can think of that has some of that is Peyton asking for Brandon/Tory's Brother to be in S6 and being denied.

Now, I wanna start dividing this into sections. Basically, we're gonna talk about the Core Six, the teens, and how the show or the actors kinda dropped the ball.

First: Hawk/Demitri. I think we all agree the show dropped its stories after S4, and they had no business in S5 and S6. However, this is why I said I don't know CK's production, cause maybe since they weren't part of the main storyline anymore, they were given more freedom? We don't know. I think either they had no actual direction or the writers didn't know how to write them apart from being in the main story, but when you see them in S5 and S6, you don't see Hawk and Demitri, you see Jacob and Gianni. Like down to the way they speak and their expressions, it doesn't seem like Hawk and Demitri, this is like I said, something you don't really see unless you look for it, but once I did, I couldn't unsee it. Especially since we had so many scenes of them arguing that were so boring, but the point is, they don't seem to be acting, it's not like they are in their characters' minds, they're just saying the lines as if themselves (the actors) were already the characters.

Two: Robby and Sam. This is a more complicated story, cause I think what made me notice about this acting problem was Tanner's acting in S6. So, I don't know much about their relationship, I know there were cheating allegations and that's why they hid it for a long time they were together, but I think a bit before S5 they weren't like announcing their relationship but they stopped hiding they were together, and when this happened you could kinda see Tanner and Mary didn't want to be doing the “couple” scenes with Peyton and Xolo, like Tory and Robby reunion after he's in Mexico in S5 it doesn't feel like Tanner wants to be doing that scene, and when Sam and Miguel say I love you Mary doesn't seem to be fully into the scene and then S6 happened and this got worse, as neither of them were able to convince they were in love with their partners.

This is a really personal thing to notice, I'm pretty sure not everyone will agree, but to me at least it felt like either the writers or the actors (again, I personally don't know how much control the actors had over their scenes, so it could be just the writers) wanted Sam and Robby to get back together and we're testing waters in S5, but got scared of the backlash considering Keenry is probably the more famous couple, but they didn't want to fully shy away from it, which is why they have so many scenes together in S6, cause I don't see a reason as to why they suddenly are ALWAYS together in S6 when they had ONE interaction in S5. Could be the writers wanting to tease their engagement, it could be Tanner and Mary asking for scenes together so they can be close to each other, I don't know, I just think it's a bit weird all things considered. What I mean is, Mary and Tanner are good actors, but especially this romance thing in S5 and S6 they are unable to convince they love their partners, and I don't know maybe they didn't enjoy it having to see their real life partner having romance scenes with another person, but like, Peyton and Jacob also had a relationship and Peyton convinces that as Tory she loves Robby, the problem is that since Tanner can't convince it looks like Tory loves Robby a lot more than he loves her, and same goes to Miguel and Sam, it seems like Miguel loves Sam a lot more than she loves him.

Three: Tory and Miguel. Here I think it's a different situation, out of all teens, those two are the ones that got the least of actors personality, not saying it didn't happen, as Miguel got A LOT of Xolo’s but comparing to the others it didn't show much, same with Peyton she has its and bits of herself in Tory, but comparing to the others it seems like she has nothing. I think they have two different things here. I think Xolo was tired of playing the same story for Miguel over and over. We know the writers didn't give him much to do those last seasons, it's pretty much the same plot of him accepting Johnny can love him and Robby over and over, and if me as a watcher, was tired of it, I can't imagine how tiring it would be to act this out over and over. Like if you compare his acting in those last seasons to his acting in Blue Beetle, he seemed a lot happier doing Blue Beetle cause it was something different, something that he could actually act and not just say his lines like himself, in S5 and S6, Xolo seems to be tired and annoyed while making some scenes, but he's convincing so it takes some time to notice, but I feel like especially S6, he was so tired of Miguel he seemed like he couldn't wait for it to be over.

With Peyton, like I said, she seemed the least affected because it's not really fitting to add her personality to Tory, as sure I don't know Peyton personally, but she seems really sweet and calm, while Tory is the opposite, she's really fiery and angry, with a more calm and sweet side but it's rarely her thing. But she got some of it especially with romance, the difference here is that she wasn't tired of playing Tory cause she had story, she had something to do, Xolo didn't, and I feel like Peyton, especially when we compare her to Tanner in the romance acting, was all in in her scenes with him, but he wasn't so this makes her stand out more. I think the writers had a bit of what happened in Pretty Little Liars, that after finding out Troian Bellisario was an amazing actress, they made it the Spencer show, same here, they realized Peyton was an incredible actress after S5 with the breaking the hand thing, and made S6 the Tory season. Which, as a Tory fan, is not bad, but the writing was so bad, and so many characters were butchered, that I believe not even Tory fans could fully enjoy it.

16. Last, but not least, the "influencer ending" + that comment the writers made about Tory's brother and how it's absolutely inaccurate to Tory's character.

Ok, this one is both a nitpick and also a “I'm really mad about it.”

So the influencer ending or whatever that deal was on paper seems like a good thing, until you think Tory and Robby will have to pretty much become like Zara, faking to followers, they’re now stuck not only on making people like them, they are forced to stay together as the reason the deal happened was not their skill, is because people saw the kiss and shipped them. So basically, this would create tension in the relationship, I believe, but that’s not the point. I wanna focus on how it’s nonsense for Tory to be an influencer.

This is personal but I don’t really see Tory making promos and stuff, not only cause I think she would get bored of it, but also cause I can’t picture her trying to sell off something she doesn’t like or a lifestyle, so I don’t think she would be good on it, we see with her jobs she doesn’t really has a record of enduring shit she doesn’t like and is a hot head when she thinks she's in disadvantage, so I just don’t see it working for her no matter how much money that would give her. I do think she might stay long enough to save a good amount of money, but i feel like she would drop it the second she has enough and not be all excited about it like we saw in the finale (I talked about this but I bloody hate the “tooth fairy" nickname is so cheap and corny, Queen Cobra was so much better).

Onto the post, I’m not sure everyone saw, so I’ll link it here, but basically, saying Tory, a kid who grew up with nothing, would leave her brother behind, either with nannies or the Larussos, for an indefinite time while she’s traveling around the world with her boyfriend? That wouldn’t happen, Tory’s character in S4 was all about bettering herself to be his primary guardian when her mother died, she wouldn’t just get rid of the kid the first chance she got, this goes against EVERYTHING they told us about her character, and this is a result of reducing her character relationships to Sam and Robby, caused by this logic you’re implying she loves Robby and The Laurssos more than her own brother, as she cares more about them and what they think of her than her OWN FUCING BROTHER a kid who is at best 9 by the end of the show, is IMPOSSIBLE she would leave him behind, if she was traveling for work he would be with her, and that’s why he should've been in S6 cause these writers are stupid and forget about her characterization because she can’t care about anyone but her boyfriend and her so called best friend making Tory ut to be so shallow I can barely stand her in S6 part 3.

No sister, especially one who grew up with nothing, who grew up only with one loving parent, who knows how bad she had it, who knows how lonely it probably was to stay alone while her mom worked, would just drop the kid with friends or nannies and live her best life away from her brother, or else she’s a bad sister. And the Tory I knew, the Tory that wasn’t codependent in the Larussos and Robby, WOULD NEVER just leave Brandon behind and stay with her boyfriend far away and not even see the kid.

That’s why this ending for her specifically doesn’t work, it is not something Tory would be good at. It’s not something she would like to do, and she would never abandon her brother even if she knew he was safe with the Larussos if she had the option to have her brother with her. This isn’t a “only option” scenario, she would be “rich,” she doesn’t have to leave him behind, and if she wasn’t forced to like the Taikai (which ALSO makes nonsense, but that’s another topic) she wouldn't choose to leave him behind and be only with Robby, I’m sorry its just so bad characterization i can’t see it, she wouldn't abandon him just because she has the chance to live her best life with robby and not worry about Brandon, it makes no sense. And honestly, right now, this is the hater in me speaking, I don't care how much the show tries to say that, Tory doesn't love Robby or care about Sam more than she loves her brother.

#ok for some reason the tags didn't add so here we go again #ck negativity #tory nichols #john kreese #devon lee ck #kenny payne #kwon jae sung #yoon do jin #kim da eun #master kim #ok I did the characters I like #now the ones that the stans scare me #robby keene #daniel larusso #johnny lawrence #miguel diaz #eli moskowitz #Demitri CK #samantha larusso #ok here we go #16 pages of ranting #I'm surprised it's about 8000 words according to the docs #And like when I write chapters I usually don't go beyond 2000 words #hope you all enjoy my rant #and if you don't no one is forcing you to #cobra kai #wow I missed talking about this show #so sad is to talk bad

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