Daniel’s Crane Kick In Cobra Kai Season 5 Has A Deeper Meaning

by Ari Kagan on screenrant.com

The Cobra Kai season 5 finale saw Daniel LaRusso use his famous crane kick for the first time in decades, but there was a deeper meaning behind Daniel bringing the kick back than might be thought. Daniel's use of the crane kick against Cobra Kai sensei Terry Silver is one of the strongest callbacks to the Karate Kid films and manages to be one of the show's best payoffs. The usage of the crane kick was the perfect way to conclude one of the greatest fights in the franchise.

When Daniel LaRusso used the crane kick against Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid, it was a conclusion to their original rivalry. With it being used to defeat Silver decades later in Cobra Kai, it put an end to Silver's schemes for now and saw the Cobra Kai students turning on their sensei. Terry Silvers's Cobra Kai plan failed, and he was then sent to prison with "a litany of charges" against him. While it's unknown what the future holds in store for Cobra Kai, season 5, episode 10 "Head of the Snake" feels like a perfect culmination and ending to the Karate Kid saga, even if it also sets up more storylines for season 6.

The crane kick may not be a move one could use in a real fight, but in the Miyagi-verse, it's one of the best that can be used against an enemy. Using the kick in The Karate Kid made LaRusso a well-known local figure in his community. When he gets trained by Terry Silver for his second tournament in The Karate Kid Part III, Silver mocks the fight move by saying Daniel can't "rely on that crane crap" and that Mike Barnes is a tougher opponent. He also mentions that Daniel using kata would be a waste of time and that it wouldn't win him the tournament. Of course, LaRusso proves him wrong by using kata against Barnes and defeating him in the tournament. This also helped him end Terry Silver's schemes in The Karate Kid III. After Silver puts Daniel through the wringer in season 5 of Cobra Kai, Daniel eventually fights back and uses the crane kick against his enemy. This not only calls back to Daniel's original crane kick, but it helps him prove to Silver that he could rely on the kick as well as using Silver's teachings against him. It's also a nice subtle reference to Miyagi knocking Silver into glass during their fight in The Karate Kid Part III.

One of the biggest highlights of the Karate Kid franchise is Daniel LaRusso using the crane kick for the first time in the original film. Ralph Macchio has stated on numerous occasions that he saw many people attempting the move after watching the film for the first time in theaters back in 1984. The Crane Kick may be an illegal move but it made the films and Cobra Kai more popular than they might have been otherwise. Part of this is thanks to Daryl Vidal, who invented the kick. Vidal appears in The Karate Kid as a tournament fighter, but he came up with the move knowing Daniel would have to fight on one leg. Additionally, he was Pat Morita's stand-in when Mr. Miyagi performed the kick on a stump on the beach.

The crane kick is arguably the greatest symbol of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. There is various merchandise sold that depicts the crane kick, and Cobra Kai even has in-universe references as to how popular the move really is. Johnny Lawrence even attempted a counter to Daniel's crane kick in case he used it during their fight in season 4. It's a part of pop culture history and is one of the largest aspects of The Karate Kid's ever-lasting legacy. 

https://screenrant.com/cobra-kai-daniel-crane-kick-terry-silver-explained/?utm_campaign=Echobox-SR-FB-P&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3IZTC-buAIwtOrDTyD6b8H6ayT-cZ3yHF_JxljVz8JPR7XNlzQ-32k72E#Echobox=1663532886

Going to watch Ghost Dog tonight!

First day of autumn.

Its a tradition now to always watch Ghost Dog on the first day of autumn. If you've seen the film you'll know why.

If you haven't seen the film you should watch it to find out.

Its a great movie, for the most part. I never got the whole thing about the guy that speaks only French, all the scenes he is in kind of throw the movie off a bit in my opinion.

But otherwise fantastic. 

Cobra Kai Season 6 Should End the Series For Good

(by Brady Langmann esquire.com)

Back in 1986—a year that also saw the releases of Top Gun and Hoosiers—we laid our eyes on The Karate Kid II. And while all of you adults who still dress up as Young Johnny Lawrence for Halloween every year, just so you can scream at your kids, "You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, little twerp?" will probably fight me on this, The Karate Kid II was infinitely more mediative than its predecessor. It damn near quadrupled the stakes of a silly karate tournament. I'll defend The Karate Kid II until the day I die. In fact, I think Ralph Macchio should've hung it up then and there.

We got The Karate Kid III instead. A coked-up Terry Silver, bonsai tree drama, a clearly too-old-to-be-playing-a-kid-anymore Macchio. The Karate Kid III turned out to be crusty backwash that wasn't remedied until the 2018 debut of Cobra Kai.

As I wrapped my Labor Day weekend binge of the new season of Cobra Kai, I got to thinking about The Karate Kid III. Not just because, with the introduction of Silver, Cobra Kai has been flooded with The Karate Kid III's regrettable lore. Hell, Mike Barnes is even back! No. Watching Season Five of Cobra Kai—which I enjoyed, for the most part—gave me a sinking feeling. Seeing Daniel LaRusso once again shitting his diaper and asking everyone else to clean it up, the kiddos switching sides again and again and again, and Johnny Lawrence reach his seventh coming-of-age, I couldn't help but think: Cobra Kai needs to stop while it's ahead. Or else we're going to see what Cobra Kai's version of The Karate Kid III is.

The problem is, that's not gonna happen. Cobra Kai's creative team Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg have long made known their plans to expand what they've dubbed the Miyagi-verse into a full dojo's worth of spinoffs. Those plans likely include more Cobra Kai. Season Six has all but been officially confirmed. Macchio already hinted that footage exists for future seasons. "There's stuff that they wrote in Season Three that didn't happen until Season Four, 'cause there wasn't any more room in Season Three," Macchio told ComicBook.com. "There's stuff that was in Season Five that we know we shot that is being held for the future if we get that green light, so there's more to come, we hope."

Macchio's comments are a little confusing, though. And Hurwitz quasi-contradicted them in a recent interview with Games Radar. "We have filmed nothing that’s in Season Six," he said. "There may have been some things filmed in Season Five that got cut out of the season. Some of those character or story moments may appear in a future season. But there were no actual scenes filmed for Season Six." Regardless, Schlossberg chimed in, "There’s no official response to [whether or not there will be a Season Six], except we have lots of ideas. There’s time and places to make official things, we’re not at that place right now." Yeah. More Cobra Kai is a safe bet.

Regardless, Cobra Kai's creators do have an endgame in sight. It's just a matter of when the series will reach that point. "We do have a place where it’s all going, but that doesn’t mean the world has to stop there," Hurwitz told Total Film. "We have lots of ideas of continuing [the universe] and keeping the Karate Kid vibes going through other stories and other shows and different formats for that."

Listen, do I really want Cobra Kai to end? No. But there's only so much teen angst, daddy drama, and Valley karate hijinks left to play out in the story Heald, Hurwitz, and Schlossberg have set up. We still need the Mr. Miyagi origin story, at all costs. Maybe there's even an entirely new, LaRusso and Miyagi-less story to tell. Spoilers ahead, mind you, but Season Five sets up a perfect final run for Cobra Kai. Johnny has a baby, Kreese shows up as the big baddie one last time, and all the kids finish the fight on the sides they're supposed to be on. (Except for Kenny. Come to the good side!). As for Daniel LaRusso? Eh. I don't know. Maybe his wife really should leave him for good.

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a41125032/cobra-kai-season-6/

The Mastery Journey

The road to Mastery requires total effort in the face of challenges. A good example is the giant redwood trees. If you walk through a grove of these trees shortly after a rainstorm at sunset, you will experience a beauty that cannot be shared in words. It's only in quiet reflection that you become aware of the thousands of years that these trees have endured storms, fires, and floods. It is this same level of perseverance that gets a student to Mastery Level. The road to Martial Arts Mastery is filled with goals that initially seem impossible to reach. But those who endure will reap the rewards of Kung-Fu. 

“Like anything worthwhile in life... you have to place effort to attain it and to hold on to it. It's all in the Mastery Journey." 

Strong & Inspired

- Master Z

Time for Chozen

 artwork by letsbewater