Cobra Kai season 3 uses Kreese to warn of excessive military glorification

Cobra Kai Season 3, the first batch of episodes to premiere on Netflix, does something fascinating with its Big Bad, John Kreese: in a story arc about how old rivalries and past traumas can continue to cause damage over the decades, the show’s writers use the character to question the amount of automatic respect and trust America places in its veterans.

Such a loaded and nuanced criticism Cobra Kai. The story of two karate students who faced off in a tournament as children and who rediscovered their rivalry in their adulthood as they faced each other New karate students, that’s ridiculous. The characters on the show seem to know that none of this makes sense or is plausible in normal reality, but knowing that a situation is ridiculous doesn’t mean you’re out of that situation.

Each character in the series is stuck, in their own way, in the high-stakes drama of the Karate Kid movies, and in this world, everything in life can be solved or made worse by karate. Even Daniel’s wife finds all of this difficult to explain, or at least to believe.

Then there’s the Kreese issue, who has been erected as the series’ ultimate villain. Season 3 fleshes out an already bonkers story about Kreese’s time in Vietnam in which he was captured and forced to fight other prisoners to death over a literal snake pit, because Hollywood doesn’t believe you can. giving something a name without also creating a story. to justify this name.

Kreese fights for another prisoner, wins, they are freed, and the two open a karate dojo called Cobra Kai to convey the importance of killing your opponents before they kill you. A karate dojo in a mall is a little different from a death pit in Vietnam, or at least it should be for most people, but no one can tell Kreese that.

So when Kreese returns to the world of Karate Kid at the end of the first season Cobra Kai, we know things are going to get serious. Lawrence is an aging, disconnected kid looking to improve himself a bit by reopening Cobra Kai, but Kreese wants control of the dojo because he’s a villain from a cartoon, someone who just seems to be happy about. cause suffering in others.

During another student karate brawl, Cobra Kai’s students break an opponent’s arm, and Kreese, of course, is fine with that. To hurt your enemies is the goal! But in real life, you can’t just teach kids to hurt other kids. Someone is going to come and complain. Naturally! When Amanda LaRusso responds, we see how scary and effective Kreese can be as a villain.

Everything in the scene gives me desires. She’s on her own in his business, he clearly has no respect for any kind of social contract, and Kreese knows exactly how badly Amanda has gone through hitting him in response to her veiled threats and aggressive behavior. Suddenly he has all the power in this situation, and is ready to play one last release card: he is a veteran.

In a meeting with the local government to discuss the cancellation of the next karate tournament, which in this universe is the only way to resolve anything, Kreese begins by presenting himself with his rank, is thanked for his service , he puts on a fake spectacle of being a good, but tough teacher, who just wants the best for his students and reminds the audience that he was so happy to serve his country. He’s not the violent one, the people trying to interrupt him are the bad guys, and he’s already had to file a restraining order against Amanda LaRusso for hitting him.

His status as a combat veteran was the first weapon he sought out, knowing it would likely be the most effective. American society gives a lot of social power to the people who have served, and Kreese knows exactly how to harness that inherent confidence to manipulate those around him.

Whether Kreese would have been this convincing without playing this particular card is debatable, but it’s a card the character is clearly used to playing and knows how to use to get what he wants. Martin Kove, the actor who plays Kreese, is also 70, so his options for actual physical combat in the show are limited and he makes a bigger foe when the threat is more cerebral anyway. It also shows his cunning; whatever he can use for a benefit he will use it.

This shift in the power dynamic between a newcomer to the community and a well-known local businesswoman who owns a car dealership is just a small moment in a surprisingly dense spectacle. But as written, the scene between Kreese and the other adult characters from Cobra Kai offers a rare warning about the elevation of veterans or military personnel based exclusively on whether they are veterans or military personnel.

It’s a provocative prospect for a piece of American television. Our pop culture often turns soldiers into action heroes and police into anti-heroes who bend the rules to do what needs to be done. These romantic versions of the people in these jobs face frictions over reality, where a host of citizens, including veterans and law enforcement officials, abused their social position and the trust placed in them. them to organize a riot in the United States Capitol. . Cobra Kai not saying that soldiers are particularly manipulative or bad, but that being a veteran is not by himself good reason to believe someone is telling the truth. It’s a data point, not the whole story.

Kreese’s Season 3 arc shows the downsides of this particular bias and how easily it can help provoke, and also cover up, ongoing violence and abuse. Daniel LaRusso has kicked the dude once before in the show’s third season, but the debate scene is where his real threat becomes evident: Kreese doesn’t need his own fists to do it. damage, just trust and community support as he pays war against his rival dojos. And he was able to do this, in large part, by evoking this aspect of his extremely turbulent past.