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Showrunners and EPs like Jon Hurwitz are well aware of putting enough Easter Eggs of their beloved franchises in hopes fans can find them. In the case of the Netflix series Cobra Kai, there was one eagle-eyed fan (yes, pun intended) who found one such flashback in season four that goes back to The Karate Kid Part II (1986) that revisits the aftermath of the original All Valley Karate Tournament from the original 1984 film. On Twitter, @Broderecky wrote, “Random thing I just noticed on [Cobra Kai]. When we see the flashback of Kreese choking Johnny this season, Johnny is saying ‘you suck!’ He only says ‘I can’t breathe’ in KK2. Was this an alternate take or something that was dubbed in?”
The flashback that triggers the memory is when Daniel (Ralph Macchio) reminds Johnny (William Zabka) about the time when Miyagi-do Karate saved him as Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) intervened on his behalf grabbing John Kreese’s (Martin Kove) shoulder forcing him to let go of his student. It then cuts to Kreese trying to punch Miyagi, but his dodge caused him to run his fist through a car window behind Miyagi and Kreese ends up bloodying his hand. The flashback closes with Miyagi delivering the death blow to Kreese as he’s clutching his bleeding hand in pain before going back to present-day Johnny and Daniel reminding him that ‘Nobody was more badass than Mr. Miyagi that day.’ The film had Miyagi feign the death blow at Kreese’s face before turning his palm and squeezing his opponent’s nose with his index and middle finger and making a “honking” sound before Kreese falls over. Hurwitz admitted using an alternative take for the iconic scene and change in dialogue- once again showing the brilliant use of The Karate Kid franchise sandbox by finding new ways to add to its history (or canon) without impacting it in a negative way.
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