#me*cks5

[godwithwethands]

COBRA KAI | 5.03, Playing with Fire

[variousqueerthings]

smethinsmthin did cobra kai (intentionally? unintentionally?) decide that there’s a clear difference between the childless consistently queercoded villains and the heroes who’re making traditional happy family procreational (and unambiguously heterosexual) choices?

miguel’s father isn’t queercoded, but he’s really just there to add some themes/oppositional ideas to the heroes journeys, and his biggest theme is introducing him as a father and partner (as miguel sees him), only to end him on his “business over children and family” screed (he’s not even the kid’s father! gasp!) neatly playing into silver’s current obsession with legacy, and kreese talking about how he’ll be forgotten after his death because he didn’t spend his time having babies instead of wasting it on cobra kai

thank goodness johnny’s having a kid (I won’t say that carmen is because she’s not a part of the story) because how else can you indicate character growth in a 50+ year old man who’s already got two kids and being a sensei to dozens more and unlearning the cycle of abuse as his motivations for four seasons?

but more importantly thank goodness he’s having a kid as opposed to those evil villains who didn’t do things/get to do things the right way. fuck your found family, those things make you gay evil (and as an added bonus we’ll neatly pair off all the leads into heterosexual arrangements, even chozen --  fuck your actual motivations, themes, and narrative foils, those dynamics aren’t as important as being sure the audience knows you’re Heterosexual)

something very interesting in the new era of queercoding your villains here... like, genuinely fascinated, need to turn this one over in my head for a bit, it’s like we’ve crossed the threshold of aware writing (still straight, but aware of and occasionally playing to queer fans) to the point that we’re full circle into some really classic queer villains writing -- the villain whom you can tell is a villain by their incorrect and depraved ideas about what family constitutes

unfortunately that might mean that i want the heroes to lose now. i know they won’t but rip terry and kreese are right, disrupt those heterosexual nuclear family units! corrupt the kids!

[youandthemountains]

everyone was right malignant was in fact wild

[variousqueerthings]

you did it! you saved this narrative in three images!

What do I want? Wasn't ever asked before

[shrinkthisviolet]

CKS5 would be a lot improved if we had moments like:

Daniel saying to Anthony, "I'm sorry I broke your iPad and screamed at you. You didn't do anything to warrant that behavior from me."

Or Tory saying to Sam, "I'm sorry I assaulted you at school, broke into your house, and ruined your prom."

Daniel definitely should’ve said that to Anthony in some way.

As for Tory…I agree she should’ve said something to express regret to Sam. “I’m sorry” in exactly those words would probably be OOC, but just something to express to her “hey, I regret my actions in 2x10 and 3x10.” She’s done it before, just not with Sam!

[thorniest-rose]

After my initial viewing i would say CKs5 is about 10%great, 10%bad, 40% good and 40%mixed bag; good idea but bad execution, bad idea well performed, great set-up rushed payoff, with some obvious "just in case we get a season 6" ideas tossed in. I may feel differently on a re-watch, but i also feel the need to get some distance before i do that re-watch. I hope this helps.

Okay thank you!! Yeah I'm getting the sense from people I've talked to that overall it's okay, with a mix of fun things but seriously aggravating things too. I've already had some spoilers too (not that I mind that much) and I'm glad that I have some space from the show and fandom now, because they're just making me roll my eyes in exasperation rather than get really passionately angry, which is probably for the best! I will watch it but I might wait a few weeks (I'm in London next week and Italy the week after anyway) when the fandom reactions have died down a bit. My main gripe from what I've seen is that Johnny seems to have been turned into a complete caricature of himself, and I hate that.

[aq2003]

up to episode 4 of cks5 and daniel is stressing me the FUCK out oh my god. buddy i'm gettijgn you out of there

[godwithwethands]

COBRA KAI SEASON 5 | Episode 10, Head of the snake

[godwithwethands]

[godwithwethands]

[variousqueerthings]

also lol reconstructing the top gun volleyball scene, famously described as basically being softcore porn by the director of top gun as if it’s a hetero fantasy and accidentally positioning johnny and miguel in an oddly sexual position (one that carmen is watching.....????)

the song isn’t called “playing with the boys” because it’s about dudes who love to have sex with women

[variousqueerthings]

ok to get it off my chest, because I really do not think this is going to happen, but I need to exorcise it, terry isn't going to kill chozen, okay, okay, chozen will be fine and alive by the end of this, cool, okay, good

[variousqueerthings]

DANIEL WITH FACIAL HAIR ANSHDNFNFNNFNFNFNNSNDNFMFMFMNGGNNGNG USUALLY FACIAL HAIR ON MEN REPULSES ME BUT HE LOOKS SO 😩😩😩

congratulations on unlocking a new achievement through the angelic stubble of daniel larusso!

[macchiatosdumptruck]

I think he's still carrying that ultimate betrayal, and someone he's devoted to, something and someone he's devoted his life to-- and to say "It's mine now, I have to do it on my own." So for all his bravado, I think, there's still, underneath it, and I think this is part of the drive probably, to go a little over the top saying "I have to make it work because I've defined my life by this. It's such a huge part of my life, I HAVE to make that work. So there's that desperation in there, that I think worked for this character.

So, on this topic this is what Tig had to say about Terry's season five motivations and I have not known peace sense

@le-red-queen think you really hit the nail on the head (almost wrote nailed the head uh…) when you asked what silver’s motivations are

because going by “waves hands around” everything, terry silver’s motivations are… john kreese 

in tkk3 of course, putting aside everything to give kreese what he wants, and then possibly getting sidetracked a liiiittle too much with his new fun toy, but essentially doing it all so that john kreese can get his revenge and feel like a man again – the fact that kreese never said anything about making cobra kai massive doesn’t matter, terry knows what he really wants 

but it’s also what cobra kai said – terry retreated because john left him, and he retreated so far he became That Person We See Opening S4 before he gets back into karate (not just a phase….)

he comes back because john asks him to, he changes because john demands it of him, he wants what john wants, except he can make it even better than john could possibly imagine!

terry silver is a giver to those he loves (which is john kreese), and he’s a predator towards those he doesn’t (toying with daniel, luring johnny in to beat him up), but ultimately his version of love is to give what he thinks kreese wants, whether or not kreese asks for it – beating up johnny to show kreese that he’ll do anything for him, putting kreese in jail so he can’t ruin “their” plans with his weakness (and can’t run away from him again), destroying larusso so that they have no competitors, making cobra kai bigger and bigger and bigger (ignoring that kreese was never actually interested in that, because why wouldn’t he want more)

and of course there’s the betrayal of it all. he would do everything and anything for john, but he’s also testing him the whole time – will john accept his love? and now he knows that he’s second-best to some dumb blond kid who never even sacrificed like he did? and on top of that kreese puts him down, essentially orders him to minimize himself as if he knows better (when terry now knows that those orders come from john’s weakness)… well that just won’t do

so what are silver’s motivations in s5? where did this idea of “legacy” come from, it never existed as a motivation before. kreese was silver’s motivation, whether it was to prove his love to him, give him everything, hurt for him, try to forget him with every fibre of his being, coming back for him, putting him somewhere where he can’t derail what terry needs to do for him, essentially promising to kill his adopted heir to rid him of weakness, and of course… cobra kai

cobra kai was never terry silver’s interest. everything he has become has been because of john kreese. he never wanted to teach students or continue a tradition. he just wanted john to stay with him (and want him for everything and give him everything)

so the only way I can understand his s5 arc is from that perspective as well – WITH the added benefit of playing with an old favourite toy of his (daniel)

the “legacy” arc on the surface (and no doubt, the intended surface) makes no flipping sense. when did he ever care about legacy before? what legacy are we talking here? what does it do for his character, rather than propping up other character arcs (that also don’t make sense – johnny) around the idea of “everyone must want a kid, otherwise they’re broken and twisted people who feel bitter about their lack of offspring”?

what does make sense is once and for all proving that he was right and kreese was wrong. all these years offering him more and more and kreese fighting back against it – well look at him now, he did it. he made cobra kai bigger, just like he promised, he got rid of johnny lawrence, just like he promised, he destroyed daniel, just like he promised – now, finally, nothing stands in the way of john kreese loving him