'Cobra Kai' Season 2 on Netflix: Season 3 may see more of Miguel and Robby mirroring their mentors
'Cobra Kai' season 1 saw a distraught Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) rekindle his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). The duo's rivalry dates back to 'The Karate Kid' days, which saw LaRusso take the brunt each time he encountered Johnny until he defeated him in the final of the All Valley U-18 Karate Championship.
Thirty four years later, they still nurse their dissension for each other, but this time, they let their wards do the talking.
Speaking of wards, Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) plays Johnny's son in the series, but is mentored by Daniel after he feels that his father is a washout and has nothing to offer him. Further, to his annoyance, he also notices that his father pays more attention to his neighbor, Miguel Diaz (Xolo maridueña), and takes him under his wing to teach him Karate, prompting Robby to leave for good.
Over the course of the series, Miguel is shown to be imbued with all the Cobra Kai dojo values and is a carbon copy of Johnny during his Karate Kid days, while Robby trains in a manner that was pretty much the Mr. Miyagi style school of Karate under Daniel.
Eventually, the younger characters, especially Miguel changes from an easy-going boy-next-door to a lean, mean- fighting machine and starts developing the same rivalry with Robby that his sensei had back in the day against Daniel.
Talking about his character, Mary Mouser, who plays Samantha LaRusso, his love interest in season 1, says that Miguel was a vulnerable and sensitive person and that bought the two of them together in the show. "He (Miguel) is representative of everything that Sam was kind of moving against in the first season. He was this kind warm person who just had this big heart," she explained.
That though changes when Miguel transforms into a more brutal character and is ready to play dirty if it means winning the championship. But again, this was pretty similar to how Johnny resorted (He agrees to cheat after his teacher John Kreese, played by Martin Kove, instructs him to sweep Daniel's leg) in the final. Going by the pattern, Miguel just seems to mirror his mentor, while Robby does the same, except that he puts in practice the principle of Miyagi-Do Karate, just how Daniel did back in 'The Karate Kid.'
Season 2 took a similar route when Miguel is shown to be more vulnerable just like Johnny, and that doesn't end well for him.
At this point, it looks like the young characters are molded in the same way their mentors were and that seems to be the theme of the show, whether this trend continues is a question that will be answered when season 3 hits YouTube Premium next year in September.
'Cobra Kai' Seasons 1 and 2 are available for streaming on YouTube Premium.
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