Let's Talk - Cobra Kai
Episode 142: The Karate Kid Part II (1986) - Scene-By-Scene Breakdown (Re-Release)
Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez revisit their 22nd episode as they break down the classic movie, The Karate Kid Part II, and talk about visiting Okinawa, the end of Cobra Kai, and Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love".
* Daniel lives at the South Seas Apartments, not the Seven Seas as mistakenly mentioned in the episode.
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
Synopsis: Daniel accompanies his mentor, Mr. Miyagi, to Miyagi's childhood home in Okinawa. Miyagi visits his dying father and confronts his old rival, while Daniel falls in love and inadvertently makes a new rival of his own.
Director: John G. Avildsen
Writer: Robert Mark Kamen
Cinematographer: James Crabe
Cast: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Nobu McCarthy, Tamlyn Tomita, Danny Kamekona, Yuji Okumoto
Composer: Bill Conti
Recorded: 03-29-23 & 04-11-20
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/
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Let's Talk - Cobra Kai
Episode 142: The Karate Kid Part II (1986) - Scene-By-Scene Breakdown (Re-Release)
Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez revisit their 22nd episode as they break down the classic movie, The Karate Kid Part II, and talk about visiting Okinawa, the end of Cobra Kai, and Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love".
* Daniel lives at the South Seas Apartments, not the Seven Seas as mistakenly mentioned in the episode.
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
Synopsis: Daniel accompanies his mentor, Mr. Miyagi, to Miyagi's childhood home in Okinawa. Miyagi visits his dying father and confronts his old rival, while Daniel falls in love and inadvertently makes a new rival of his own.
Director: John G. Avildsen
Writer: Robert Mark Kamen
Cinematographer: James Crabe
Cast: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Nobu McCarthy, Tamlyn Tomita, Danny Kamekona, Yuji Okumoto
Composer: Bill Conti
Recorded: 03-29-23 & 04-11-20
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/
Listen:
https://LetsTalkCobraKai.buzzsprout.com/
Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNfekAT0gN4to-6j2iKhGQw/
Follow:
https://www.facebook.com/LetsTalkCobraKai/
https://www.instagram.com/LetsTalkCobraKai/
https://twitter.com/TalkCobraKai/
Hosts:
https://www.instagram.com/MrJasonConnell/
https://www.instagram.com/SalvadorLosAngeles/
Support:
https://www.patreon.com/LetsTalkCobraKai/
#justcuriousmedia #letstalkcobrakai #mrjasonconnell #salvadorlosangeles #cobrakai #thekaratekid #daniellarusso #johnnylawrence #mrmiyagi #senseikreese #ralphmacchio #williamzabka #patmorita #martinkove #allvalleykaratechampionships #martialarts
Whoa, just curious. Welcome to Just curious media. This is let's talk Cobra Kai. I'm Jason Connell.
Sal Rodriguez:And I'm Sal Rodriguez.
Jason Connell:All right, Sal, we are back for another very special episode.
Sal Rodriguez:You know, do you feel like our listeners are like specialists? But they are very specific context? No, it's because it's the absolute truth. It's not just embellishment, they are very special episodes. And that's why, you know, when I call our podcast, the number one Cobra Kai podcast, I'm not saying it to put down any other podcast. No, I'm saying it because I believe no other podcast of the Miyagi verse is as thorough and as comprehensive as
Jason Connell:ours. I like that when you leave a review for us,
Sal Rodriguez:I will leave a five star review on Apple podcast.
Jason Connell:Very nice. I totally agree. And why is it special Sal, because we are coming back and exploring something from the past and that is the Karate Kid part 219 86 scene by scene breakdown. rerelease a rerelease of our scene by scene breakdown, Sal, which was episode 22. And our Cobra Kai let's talk Cobra Kai universe. And we recorded that episode. So long ago, I can't believe it. Do you remember when?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, I know it was a very interesting time for everyone across the globe, everyone, which because of the time frame we're dealing with, makes this even more significant? Because I think I remember I was just like quarantining and Pandemic Ng, and you call me you're like, hey, what do you do? And I was like, What are we what am I doing? I'm locking myself in my room. That's what I'm doing. Let's
Jason Connell:get that scene by scene breakdown of the Karate Kid underneath our belt. Yes, it was April 11 2020. Pandemic starts in March. We're all on lockdown still live in Los Angeles. And not only were on pandemic lockdown, there were riots out of the gate. So we were had curfews. Oh, that's right. It was a crazy, crazy time. In fact, that's when I started. Let's talk movies. Because I was like, What am I going to do sound I can't do episodes of let's not Cobra Kai. There were no episodes. We weren't doing special episodes yet. So I started let's talk movies just to keep my sanity. And then it was like, Well, hey, we're doing this model, the same scene by scene breakdown. Let's get Karate Kid, Part Two in the bag. So we recorded that night. However, truth be told, April 4 2020. We actually did it for the first time. We recorded two times because it was the actually this was the first thing that I had done remote. So I take that back. I wanted to do this. And I was excited. And then quickly spawned, let's talk movies. But I had to figure out the technology. Wait a
Sal Rodriguez:second, wait a second. This was our first remote recording. When you and I were not in the same room, right? That's right, yes.
Jason Connell:Because I had to figure out how to do it how to record remotely. And it was like I was thinking I use the software. I'll use this well, in the end, recording locally was the way to do it. I get the files, and we have high res but I tried a service. And this is a long time ago, services have improved, everybody was scrambling. And we recorded it and I started to edit it. And it sounded dis mechanical. And I'm really into audio and just production value. And I was like, oh, so I cannot edit that. Yeah, we weren't like ma'am Omar, but it was just some tones and some, some things cut out. I thought Yeah, you know what, it's probably better off just to do it and do it. Right. And you were down with it. And we hit it out of the park again. So maybe someday I'll release that version.
Sal Rodriguez:That's funny. Yeah. Original version. All diversion. So are they are they different? Other than quality? I
Jason Connell:only got so far and and we moved on. So I remember coming back and doing it again. And feeling we had you know was what, seven days later. So we were excited again, because it was a couple of hours. You know, speaking of which, the running time was two hours and 38 minutes. The movie sound Guess how long part two, I was gonna say the next car to get the Karate Kid. Part two is what's the running time for that?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, if our running time for the show was 238 I'm going to assume that it was around two hours. Yes.
Jason Connell:Our 53 So the first credit card was over two hours just over this is the sequel. It's a little under but yet we went longer.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, you know, because here's what starts. Okay, here's where we see what happens is, the reservoir starts increasing. And before you know it, look at where we are today, look at how much history and legacy we have to pull from. As a matter of fact, now that you mentioned, if we were to go back to any of these movies today, let alone credit get to by itself. It might even be longer because we have so much to draw from today.
Jason Connell:That's exactly true. Yes. Well, we released this episode, which we're highlighting rereleasing here, June 19 2020. So that is the sequence there. And I was just gonna look one thing up really quickly, which is funny. So the first episode of Let's Talk movies of which you were on an American Werewolf in London, 1981. He might seem break down. It came out May 20 2020. So ahead of this, but it was recorded, after I said, Yes, April 20 2020. So again, I learned a lot through that trial and error with the service decided to record locally get you set up as well. And then we were off to the races. So yes, this was a big thing, a big touchstone. And it was way before Netflix got involved with Cobra Kai. I just knew I wanted to do the sequel. And we had no episodes, we were not exploring anything else in the Miyagi verse at that point in time, we were just on hold waiting for season three. That's all we were.
Sal Rodriguez:No, and I have to credit you because, you know, there's been a lot of things I've done professionally. Since you've reached out to me from the beginning, with let's talk Cobra Kai and just curious media. And I would say a lot of keeping me loose as a talking head as an entertainer as a podcaster. As an actor. I mean, I was sitting around quarantining, that's what I was doing. I was doing nothing. Yeah. When you reached out, you're like, Hey, man. Let's do something. I was like, oh, yeah, sounds good. But I hadn't thought of that. I hadn't thought of it. Well, thank
Jason Connell:you. And Sal, you're welcome. No. So this is the summary of our episode that is out there. So again, the plan last episode, we were rereleasing the Karate Kid, scene by scene breakdown. The plan is to put all of the franchise the trilogy. By the way, this is the poster over my shoulder there. The Karate Kid, Part Two poster, that's,
Sal Rodriguez:oh, you know what, yeah, beautiful poster. But for some reason, I don't know why I expected to see like other people, like maybe see Sato on there or something. They kept that clean. It's just the two of them, okay.
Jason Connell:But the plan is to put those and the next credit card because we did do a scene by scene breakdown in order this April, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, I mean, so many booms, boom, boom, boom, boom. But for that way, our fans can easily find it, revisit it, and think about this backstory about it. Now. We weren't doing that. Just curious yet. I mean, there's so many wrinkles, the intro was different. The outro was different. Heck, this was only episode 20 to sell. So it's just funny to go back and go, Oh, my gosh, yeah, it was it's just a little different. We've evolved in a good way. But I'm so proud of where we were. And this is a chance to kind of reintroduce that. And I think it's great. And we should go back and listen to them as well and enjoy them as well. And then maybe someday, one fan said, Hey, you should just do the Cobra Kai all over again, from today's viewpoints like, yeah, that rewatches a bit more to chew on and buy it off. But maybe we do that at some point in time.
Sal Rodriguez:Wait, you're talking about all the Cobra Kai episodes? Yeah. Somebody had mentioned that on redo of the Cobra. Yeah, let's talk. Yeah. Wow. I would not be against could
Jason Connell:be fun, whatever winds up and then go back and watch it. Yeah, it could be a lot of fun. But
Sal Rodriguez:yeah, it would be fun. I would not be against that. It would just be a matter of time and logistics and money. Because no, no charge now. I mean, now you have to pay me by the hour. But aside from that, yeah.
Jason Connell:So this is the summary. This is what's out there and it will be on this episode as well. But Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez, break down the classic movie and talk about visiting Okinawa, the end of Cobra Kai and Peters said Tara's glory of love.
Sal Rodriguez:Very sweet because, you know, one of the reasons one of the reasons why the Karate Kid two is especially near and dear to me, because I have visited Okinawa in the very spot. Where was it called? Tokyo Village is a Tokyo village. I'd have to look and see. Okay, where Miyagi is hometown is where he's going back. Yeah, that place that is now occupied by Kadena Air Base. I have been there I have slept there.
Jason Connell:Although in the movie saw they're cheating that because they're in
Sal Rodriguez:Hawaii, Hawaii. That's true. Yeah. You know what here I am always kicking and screaming about Cobra Kai being in Atlanta and yet they weren't even in Okinawa there. Yeah, geez from the beginning they're messing messing with our heads.
Jason Connell:And I didn't mean to make Peter Sutera sound like Peter was plural it's Peter said terrorists glory of love but a great song and Sal Why don't you give us just a little sample
Sal Rodriguez:just like a knight in shining armor from a long time ago. Like a kid who I forgot who I was saved the day take it to my castle far away and that part where he says take you to my castle far away and they're running right? Show ha she's castle. They must have good they must have plan that they align that intentionally. Course. No, it just happened. They just happen that way.
Jason Connell:Am I gonna sell goods so there's also a mistake Mistakes happen right? And you can't edit out everything especially if you don't know it until many episodes later, but I was still on the trend. I'd call it the minority. I was still calling the SE apartments the seven C's that that you're still doing it here. Okay, I'm already hard enough on myself.
Sal Rodriguez:You're telling me after all this time you were still
Jason Connell:episode 22 We weren't that far and I was on lockdown. I hadn't seen the South Seas apartments in a while. Although when we recorded this. It was only a few miles away. But it's the Mandela effect of which you put on my radar. Actually, I forget I think I put that on my right now you definitely did put that on my radar.
Sal Rodriguez:Your Mandela Effect. Yeah.
Jason Connell:So I went there one day way before we were even doing the show took photos, the fonts really cool. And in my mind, I connected the arithmetic song Sweet Dreams, which they mentioned seven seas and I just converted it. And it wasn't until a few episodes later that we were talking and it just like hit me like oh my gosh, it is Southies Of course it is I knew that I mixed it. And in some episodes along the journey. It snuck in and this is definitely one of them because they're at the South Seas apartments in the Karate Kid part two. Well for a little bit, right.
Sal Rodriguez:Are they at the Celsius department in part two?
Jason Connell:The actual said that out loud but I'm thinking
Sal Rodriguez:Well hang on in your defense wasn't Miyagi Iwate Miyagi spoke to Lucille she was in New Jersey
Jason Connell:and actually it's the third one they go back there so actually I don't think there's any scenes there and the credit there's no south seas in credit after all, there's that flashback and the beginning of the credit card Part Two there is a flashback if you recall of them moving there were no just like, montage of the Karate Kid one. The original and the credited part two. Were godless. I was still hanging on to what I thought it was. So there is a mistake when you hear it laugh let's all laugh at it and we moved on. I finally caught it before The Next Karate Kid not the next guy to kid but the Karate Kid part three, it gets tricky. The Next Karate Kid that's its own movie, you know. But anyway, so this is the synopsis for the credit card part two. Let's see if this holds up. So Daniel accompanies his mentor, Mr. Miyagi to Miyagi is childhood home and Okinawa. Miyagi visits his dying father and confronts his old rival, while Daniel falls in love and inadvertently makes a new rival of his own. What's pretty good, so I think it's pretty
Sal Rodriguez:good. I think I would just want to mention a UK. Yeah. Because he was one no, because Daniel falls in love with Kumiko Yeah, yeah, you can mention Kumiko and then Miyagi his his dying father also rekindles an old flame and UPA? Yes. So I think just that little piece could have been added otherwise. Yeah, I think it's pretty good synopsis.
Jason Connell:Well, I would actually go one step further and have a Sato appearance at the end. And he would say what?
Sal Rodriguez:Come out, come out.
Jason Connell:Yeah, this synopsis would go off the rails at that point in time, but yeah, really well written because we actually on the last episode, we read the synopsis from the Karate Kid, according to IMDb, and it was a little clunky, didn't love it. So
Sal Rodriguez:this one's more on point. This one's a little more streamlined. I
Jason Connell:think. So why don't you do the honors of just giving us the hitlist of all stars who put the Karate Kid Part Two out there in the universe for us.
Sal Rodriguez:Director John G. Albertson writer Robert Mark Kaman. Cinematographer James crepe. Cast, Ralph macho Pat Marita Nobu, McCarthy Tamlyn Tomita, Danny kamekona Ug aka moto Composer Bill Conti. producer Jerry Weintraub.
Jason Connell:Wow. Amazing legends. We've lost a few of them. Absolutely. Abelson Merida Weintraub. But
Sal Rodriguez:Robert Hang on. Robert Mark came and out there living on a vineyard on the vineyard. Because he bought he bought a vineyard may
Jason Connell:now. He's had an incredible career. But yeah, please go explore our Robert Mark came and filmography episode. That's right
Sal Rodriguez:we have a special episode dedicated to Robert Mark Kaman. Yeah, that's true.
Jason Connell:So yeah, it's no doubt that this movie was I wouldn't say it's as good as the sequel. You would, I would say it's a great sequel. And and, and this one could have been a standalone movie. This guy has been a standalone movie. Many sequels try to recreate the original and and yeah, there are some components in here that there's I roles in this movie, a few, a few. Santos kind of one note until he's not and he turns a corner and a half second. It's like, well, he
Sal Rodriguez:does like a Christmas carol Ebony's. Exactly, yeah, 180
Jason Connell:and chosen is just too bad. It's like there's nothing redeeming about him, which is shocking that he has come back and rehabilitated himself in such a way on Cobra Kai, because he was like, as bad as it gets. And just there's not one ounce of goodness in him.
Sal Rodriguez:way. But hang on, hang on a second. Just one second. Listen, I agree with you. He was you know, a OneNote bad guy. But at the very end, we see his fear. Doesn't that open up a little bit of sympathy for us just a little bit. You know, he starts to have a he has a breakdown is what he has at the end. And he runs off right?
Jason Connell:Or he gets beat up. So
Sal Rodriguez:what doesn't he just like? Hey, you remember what such as like, Go save that kid. And he's like, I'm out of here. He like took off running didn't he? Wouldn't Oh no. He turned his back and coward. What did he do? He showed cowardice is what
Jason Connell:he did. No. But then he tries to kill them at the bone dance.
Sal Rodriguez:Oh, yeah. That was later.
Jason Connell:Yeah. I was like, wait, wait, no, he's
Sal Rodriguez:learned his lesson. Oh,
Jason Connell:that guy tried to murder everybody. Okay. That's what I'm saying.
Sal Rodriguez:I was just thinking about what?
Jason Connell:But that motivated him to like, well, if I can't get my uncle's respect, I'm gonna kill some people. Okay, slow down. So
Sal Rodriguez:so at that moment was his opportunity. Yes. To do a turn will feel sorry for him. We'll forgive him. And we'll move along. Yeah. So no, it took us many years. Decades to do that.
Jason Connell:So incredible film it really is holds up and we are promoting our scene by scene breakdown of that. We hope you enjoy it. We really do. We're gonna listen to it again ourselves, and, and hopefully not cringe too much. But yeah, a lot of fun are first not in the same studio recording. What's crazy, Sal is since that time, we have only recorded together one time in person since then. And like hundreds remote. So this set the stage this put that technology in motion. Now we have full fledged studios, and yeah, that was it as a game changer. We could have hung them up. And that would have been the end of just curious but no, just curious media turned a corner. And we're still going
Sal Rodriguez:and look at you are you're in now sitting in a professional sound booth. Hey, you know, it just gonna be leaf blowers behind your back. I'd never know.
Jason Connell:Yeah, exactly. It took some time. It took some time. So without further ado, please enjoy
Sal Rodriguez:the Karate Kid. Part two.
Jason Connell:All right, Sal. Here we are. The Karate Kid. Part Two special edition.
Sal Rodriguez:I never thought we'd make it this far.
Jason Connell:I know, right?
Sal Rodriguez:I mean, considering what's going on. I mean, we're not even in the same location. This is the first.
Jason Connell:This is the first this is the first time that you and I have not been side by side at the studio, because we are practicing social distancing. And we're trying this virtually. And we'll see how it goes.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah. And now I know why we're so into the 80s because the 2020s suck.
Jason Connell:Especially March. March had like 90 days and it felt like but hey, nothing like karate kid to lift your spirits, I should say
Sal Rodriguez:yeah. Big time. Excited to be here. It's been too long. Let's rock and roll.
Jason Connell:All right. So what I've read, Sal is that there was debate over to make the sequel about the revenge of Cobra Kai or Mr. Miyagi story and traveled back to his home country. Obviously, the latter one out. And I think it was a wise decision. We're not rushing back into Cobra Kai territory, although I would have loved that. I think it was a really nice way to take this to the next level and get to know Mr. Miyagi, his backstory, and I think you probably agree.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, I definitely agree. Because I don't think that you know, crees God loves them. God loves them. He's not the primary stars. The primary stars are Danielson and Mr. Miyagi. So I wanted to go along with them a little more. Before I go back around to the high jinks of crease. And Terry silver, which you see in credit get three.
Jason Connell:Exactly. And so reading more about some of the trivia behind the scenes things. It looks like they went into production of the sequel, like 10 days after the release of the original, which is kind of crazy
Sal Rodriguez:and risky because the franchise hasn't had time to prove itself. So that's definitely a gamble.
Jason Connell:Yeah, I guess they had early numbers. So they just knew 10 days in that this thing, you know, they had a hit on their hands. But there was something there. And obviously, I don't think the cast was overly expensive. You know, it wasn't like they had all these big names. So they were able to lock everyone up except for the Cobra Kai students. They didn't have them. They had to bring in some new people. But we did lose one character as well, which we'll get into later. But Elizabeth Shue was not part of the sequel, which I know saddens me a great deal.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, that was her choice. Well, her choice, right? Wasn't she going to school to Harvard at the time.
Jason Connell:So it was her choice. To a degree, what I had read was that they were going to they were going to have some scenes with her in the beginning of the film. And then it was just too complicated. And she had agreed to this. But it was just something they couldn't get worked out. So they scrapped it. So she was going to be a small part. And they just kind of weren't able to do that. So that said, Sell Karate Kid was the only appearance and all of this and Cobra Kai and all the sequels of the Karate Kid that Elizabeth shoe is in.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, there's speculation about her appearance in season three. We'll see. I don't think anybody knows. I know. You haven't told me any spoilers regarding season three of Cobra Kai. I haven't heard anything or read anything, you know, back toward the end of season two, or when you and I were we're recording Season Two of Let's Talk Cobra Kai. There was speculation about Elizabeth Shue returning in season three of Cobra Kai but I have seen no confirmations and no evidence of of that being the case.
Jason Connell:Well, and I know nothing either. I was just about to say it's just about time for her to come back. I'll be at season three or another season our if there's a Karate Kid, Cobra Kai movie reboot, you know, taking where the show has now taken things and coming out and making a feature length movie. Hey, I don't know. But I am hopeful. I'll just put it that way.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, if you look at the way this movie starts, which we'll get into in a second, if you look at the way it starts, I would have no care to see Elizabeth shews character again. I would have no care to see Ali again after she dumped our primary. Yeah, main actor, so we're gonna get into that again. But I would have no care to it was only because of what has occurred on Cobra Kai season two, where I would have any care to see Ali
Jason Connell:return. Yeah, they kind of throw her under the bus. But what we'll get into that.
Sal Rodriguez:Can I just mention a couple things here. Just a couple things that are interesting. Just to bring us up to speed. Noriyuki Pat Merida is 54 at the filming of this movie, rough macho 25 at the filming. If you look at Karateka two on IMDb, there are 80 photographs associated with it. Number 74. So again, you gotta go in there shows George Bush. That's not George W. The son but the original George Bush. Yeah. Senior George Bush, Barbara Bush, along with Pat Morita and Ralph macho on the set a presidential visit to the set. I did not know about this.
Jason Connell:Wow. That's pretty impressive. I have not seen that I couldn't make it past 40. So you trudged on to 74 That's really cool. I'll have to look at that photo. I'd like to post it on our social media.
Sal Rodriguez:Check that out. And also this movie is set in Okinawa, but it's actually filmed in Oahu, Hawaii.
Jason Connell:That's right. So how did you feel about that? Because I know that you have traveled to Okinawa,
Sal Rodriguez:I have traveled to Okinawa. I'll get into that a little more specifically as we go along. But the reason that they chose Hawaii is because a it's the United States so makes things a little bit easier with filming. But B it has a similar climate see that a lot what a lot of people don't know when I learned this, I believe me I learned this when I went to Japan, when you go to the mainland of Japan, Tokyo, etc. And then you work your way down to Okinawa. It's different. It's a different feel. It's a different vibe. It's more of a Polynesian feel. It's more of a Hawaii type feel. People are even a little bit darker. It's a different vibe in Okinawa than it is in Japan. I loved it just as much, but definitely more of an island vibe on Okinawa than in mainland Japan.
Jason Connell:Okay, well, there you have it. So besides Hawaii, the rest of the movie was filmed at the Warner Brothers Burbank studios lot if you will, as well. Yeah, it's true. This is according to IMDb. And there were even some scenes filmed at Mr. Miyagi his house over in Canoga Park, which has since unfold gently, as you already know, has been demolished. Sad to say. But my opinion that place should have been a shrine or a museum for Karate Kid lovers for years to come. But they have recreated it very nicely. It looks like in Georgia where they shoot Cobra Kai,
Sal Rodriguez:but wait, did they tear that house down? Before Cobra Kai?
Jason Connell:Oh, yes, yes, it's been taught for many years.
Sal Rodriguez:Okay, so if it has stuck around long enough to at least meet the advent of Cobra Kai, and maybe, yeah, maybe yeah.
Jason Connell:So to stay on point and true to form, I will give the ratings so on IMDb, this movie gets a 6.0. And on Rotten Tomatoes, it gets a 42%. Now, that's just not crazy high. But just to give you some context, this is how the original does on those platforms. There Karate Kid 7.2 on IMDb, and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. So the original is more loved, and rightfully so I think it's a superior film. And if it wasn't for that film, you wouldn't even have this sequel, or all the subsequent ones, or even Cobra Kai the show. So it's hard to compare with the original. But this was the second installment. And that's what we're focused on.
Sal Rodriguez:Are you saying that you love Karate Kid Original Motion Picture over Karate Kid to just because of the Heritage now with the original? Or because you actually independently think it's a better film?
Jason Connell:Oh, it's a much better film. The story is more complete. Listen, I won't get into Crytek get to and we're about to and we kind of already are. But yeah, I have a lot less eye rolls and the Karate Kid. Okay, not to put the sequel down. But at the box office, this movie made at least the US gross. And I don't know when this was cut off. But it made$115 million. So it made more than the original. But that was coming. You know, it only came out what a couple years after the original. All the hype was still there. And so it didn't make more because it's a better film. It made more because there was demand and the timing. And the industry was very different back then.
Sal Rodriguez:It was in the wake of the original. So the timing was good. Yeah,
Jason Connell:they waited a decade or you know, sometimes sequels take a long time to come out. But yeah, that's a good way of putting it it was in the wake of. And so I don't attribute that to quality. But anyway, so
Sal Rodriguez:it sounds like you're bashing movie before we even started. I think
Jason Connell:quality wise, yeah, this is absolutely an inferior picture. But it's still a pretty good movie. I think at one point in time you even said, Could this have been a movie at least the Plot The story if it wasn't related to the Karate Kid? And I thought that was an interesting question.
Sal Rodriguez:Outside of the Karate Kid universe. I believe this movie could stand alone. If you took away their names just made it a different universe. I think it would have been absolutely just as great.
Jason Connell:Yeah, I agree with you. I think it would have found an audience it would have done well, because there was a lot of martial arts movies coming out in the 80s. And that's an interesting story. Disciple follows his master back to the homeland. And there's a story. Absolutely, it could have. Well,
Sal Rodriguez:he doesn't he doesn't just again, we're gonna get into this as soon as we get into the movie, but he doesn't just follow him. He literally is a very supportive friend at that exact Yeah. So we'll get into that. We'll get it.
Jason Connell:So who else came back for the sequel where you had Jerry Weintraub still producing probably the person that said, Hey, let's get into production on the sequel. Immediately, we got ourselves a winner here. You had John Allison, the very talented director who did karate kid 123. He also did the original Rocky, which one best picture. And he came back and did rocky five. They had Robert Mark came in the writer who created all the characters and grew up in martial arts. He really doesn't get enough praise. I would say you had Bill Conti come back as the composer. And of course you had Pat right and Ralph Macho. So they had you know, the core team coming back. And what you see a lot of times in sequels is you're missing some of that you don't have the same director, you don't have the same star or whatever. But that's what I think helped this movie capture some magic.
Sal Rodriguez:I like when the crew can come back. It's um, it's almost like a band, like, hey, let's get the band back together, you know, and then you you create a new old sound that the listener is familiar with, or the viewer is familiar with. And it's got a real nice flow to it. For the fan. It flows easier than if it's just a whole new group.
Jason Connell:I totally agree. It is like getting the band back together. And here we go. So this movie starts with this opening montage. It's a fly catching scene. Ain't crane technique, the Medal of Honor Halloween night, Cobra Kai dojo, all leading up to the all Valley karate championship.
Sal Rodriguez:I liked it, it brings, it brings the new viewer up to speed. I like that.
Jason Connell:It is it's kind of like watching a season finale of a show. And then they give you all what you've taken in the first five seasons. But I don't ever remember this in a movie. And I watched a lot of movies from the 70s and 80s. But had you seen this done before this kind of five minute montage to get things started?
Sal Rodriguez:I didn't realize it at the time, but I don't think I have seen that. Where Yeah, the sequel? Does this rehash in the beginning? No, I don't think I've seen that in any other sequel. No.
Jason Connell:Especially for a movie, as you said earlier, that was in the wake of the original. So I wouldn't say that people were forgetting it did disappear for a decade.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, not not a lot of time had elapsed. You can imagine the people were sitting in the theater like the first five minutes like, yeah, we know. We know. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Been there. We've been there. Well, I
Jason Connell:saw Godfather two. I don't remember a quick like, well, here's what happened in the first one. Michael became it didn't do that. However, as I say this allowed, you know what popped in my mind. I think Rocky two starts with the fight sequence from Rocky one.
Sal Rodriguez:I know outright and again, that Edelson Yes. Well, he didn't
Jason Connell:mean he didn't direct to that was Stallone, but still we're in Apple sins. You know, he crafted the first one that the masterpiece. So I think those movies did it. But it was all about the fight that ended the movie prior. This gave us a whole montage. But anyway, hey, it was cool. It was nice to see. You and I are up on our stuff because of the let's talk Cobra Kai show. But if you were someone revisiting the Karate Kid to like on Netflix, or Hulu or Amazon, some random viewer, the montage will be very nice for them even today. So there it was. And as soon as we get caught up in real time, the first scene that is brand new to the audience is a shower sing, which just cracks me up. It's an interesting choice. Yeah, because I've been in those tournaments. And I never showered afterwards. We just went home with our GI and hopefully with some hardware. And I like how Mr. Miyagi he's in there with Daniel. Which is, which is pretty funny.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, wait to be clear. Hang on. Hang on. He's not in there. He's waiting outside the showers. Well, Daniels taken he's in the locker room. He's in the locker room. Yeah, he's in the locker room with his back to the wall of the showers, chatting with Daniel as Daniel is in the shower with all these other guys. Who are those other guys? Were those other competitors, I guess, was was entirely possible that Johnny Lawrence was in that shower along with Daniel Russo.
Jason Connell:Yeah, and crease who also was an ag. So he
Sal Rodriguez:had showers was in the shower with
Jason Connell:they probably kept the Cobra off to the side, although Johnny had just given Daniel the trophy. So maybe there's less bad blood now. But the only thing that could have made this more funny or strange is this Miyagi was in the stall next to him. And they're soaping up. Nothing, you know, nothing below board, of course, but they're soaping up and just talking and that would have been like, what we already jumped the shark and we're like one scene in the movie. So we come out of the shower scene. And as you and I know, we do not see Ali or Daniel's mother this entire film. So Miyagi immediately gets out of the way and says, Ali and Mother wait for us at restaurant on Daniels. Okay, yeah, sure. And that's it. That's it. Boom. Like they're not we're not gonna see him right then. Because we're gonna go to the restaurant, and we never see them. But I don't know. It's kind of funny.
Sal Rodriguez:I completely forgot about that line. But yeah, so Daniel is carrying his championship trophy, limping along next to Miyagi walking out of the auditorium. They stop and chat crease exits. The building, starts manhandling people. Which I think is hilarious. He starts manhandling people in particularly actor Eddie Smith, who recites the line. Hey, man, what you're doing to a brother? Which I love. That line really show caught on? I love that. I should have been on T shirts. So Chris walks between Miyagi. Daniel. The tournament announcer played by Bruce Melmoth. Remember that name? Bruce. Melmoth. We're gonna be revisiting that again.
Jason Connell:Well, it real quick on Bruce the announcer I got contacts. I love what he says. He says paper we're going to be talking about that last kick for years to come.
Sal Rodriguez:And sack about a foreshadow. Yeah, he nailed
Jason Connell:it. Yeah, they're gonna build a series around that kick. Amazing.
Sal Rodriguez:He didn't know that he was predicting Cobra Kai And then he breaks through the announcer and referee Patty Johnson, who is also the fight choreographer for the movies, right? He shoves them aside. And I wonder at that moment, I actually pause and wonder at that moment, when he pushes aside, Bruce and Pat, the announcer and referee is that when he gets his lifetime ban, is that the very moment right there?
Jason Connell:i But no, I think it happened. About two and a half minutes later. I was there. We're almost there.
Sal Rodriguez:We'll get to that. Okay. How about a habit at this moment when Chris keeps walking on? And Daniel says, Why does he act like that? And then we hear a voice off camera says that guy just doesn't know what karate is all about. Was that Johnson? Or was that Mamos? Was that announcer? Was that the referee? I don't know. Because you don't see. I'm curious what? So Chris heads over to the students. And then right at that moment, kids run right up, asking Daniel for an autograph. And these kids are from receita to C's or local kids. Daniel signs the autographs for them. One kid is back with to the camera the whole time. I felt bad for them. I would have redirected them if I were Adelson, I wouldn't say let's see a little face there. Now one thing I want to mention a little trivia here, it could be suspect. These kids are Garth Johnson and Brett Johnson. are the sons of Pat E. Johnson. It's the same scene practically. Why not? If these are relation again? Well, we remember Bruce Melmoth. So there's a lot of in the family going on here. So I wonder if those were kids of choreographer and referee Patty Johnson.
Jason Connell:Yeah, could be a good spot there. We'll find out. So what this is leading to and we've talked about this on the Karate Kid special episode, as well as I'm sure episodes of Let's Talk Cobra Kai is where you reflect on the show. But what is coming was supposed to be the end of the Karate Kid. And the scene is where crease is having a confrontation with his students, because he's so mad about losing. And he basically attacks Johnny. So this scene was going to end the movie and sound thank goodness, they did not do that. And they saved it. And they said, hey, if we ever do a sequel, we'll start with this as opposed to any other movie, because the first movie and so beautifully with the you know, he gets the trophy and there's the shot of Miyagi, and then we're out. I couldn't imagine having one more beat. You know, it feels like a fourth act or something. So kudos to everyone
Sal Rodriguez:on it. No. I like when a movie ends on a happy note. I really do. I like to walk out of the theater. A little a little happier. I don't like walking out of a theater. All bummed out. Yeah. Even if the movie was good, you know? So yeah, I like the choice that they made. I like it. They didn't end the original movie with crease you nothing. You lost your loser. I'm so happy that they didn't do that.
Jason Connell:And to be clear, they didn't shoot it. They just had written it and practice rehearsed it, I should say, but they didn't shoot it. So it wasn't that close to happening. So enough about the setup. Let's talk about the scene. Okay,
Sal Rodriguez:so can I can I gotta mention one thing I found so interesting. Yeah, you and I both enjoy looking at all the actors in the scene, including the extras. And one thing I found very funny was creases up against the car with Johnny. There's an extra on the other side of the car on the driver's side, who has his back to the camera the whole time. There's a fight going on behind you. And you don't have to turn around once. That was Dutch. No, no, it was on the other side of the car was when he was wearing a hat.
Jason Connell:Well, there was two guys on their side of the car and one was the guy from head of the class. He was one of the Cobra guys, we've talked about this. He was in the judge no and Dutchess next to him, so I went back and as we prepared for this episode, I also was noticing those extras having made a movie a documentary about extras called strictly background, I always look at the background players and think What's that guy doing? And when I went back and interviewed again, it appeared to be Dutch because Dutch is in the sequel, and that was him.
Sal Rodriguez:Wow. Okay, so why didn't you have them turn around at the rockets that was taking place? I just found that interesting.
Jason Connell:He was too cool for school. He is Steve McQueen son. So you know, Dutchess got he does his own thing. So what's going on in the scene Sal? As I already said, he comes over and starts to kind of go off on the students but maybe just talk us through what's exactly happening.
Sal Rodriguez:Crease borates Johnny for a second place loss, calls him a loser. Johnny reacts goes no, you're a loser man. Chris grabs the trophy breaks it tosses it aside and gets Johnny Lawrence in a chokehold other guys come in he elbows one guy I don't know which guy was had a good elbow on the left. And another guy shows up I forgot which guys they were another guy shows up Chris like don't remember that line. Don't
Jason Connell:I think it was like Tommy and Bobby. Those guys were close by but anyway, yeah, it's not looking good.
Sal Rodriguez:Miyagi approaches. Let him go. And then Chris Beck has another student. And then this thing I found interesting because I'd never really noticed this before I really listened intently. So Chris says, beat it slope are your next. Now, I never knew about this word slope, which I said what? Okay, so I looked it up slope, a derogatory term or slur used for the purpose of describing a Vietnamese or Asian person describing the slope of their eyes.
Jason Connell:Oh my gosh,
Sal Rodriguez:I never knew it. So it's, you know, it's one of these moments where like, it's one thing to be an asshole. But now you're a racist asshole.
Jason Connell:He's the worst. So this leads to a showdown between crease and Miyagi. And this is one of the knocks I have in this film, although I do like the film, but I would have liked to see a, you know, like a really good fight. And these are guys are both very skilled, they have different styles. They can tussle for a minute or two. But that's not what happens.
Sal Rodriguez:If you're talking about the fight sequences that we all know and love. This would probably be if you visit all the fight sequences that we all know and love throughout cinematic history, this is probably not one of them. It was disappointing crease did not show any skills. I mean, I could have done as well against Miyagi as creased it.
Jason Connell:So for anyone who's unaware of what really goes down, so let's pick it up where we left off. So Chris still has Johnny in a chokehold, and Miyagi comes towards him. Then he hits one student. And so Sal then what happens,
Sal Rodriguez:Miyagi steps in and uses a maneuver to get crease to release Johnny. So he forces the release of Johnny by crease through a manipulation for sure.
Jason Connell:And super upset and full of rage. He already lost in the tournament. He's already mad and throwing all of his students under the bus. And here's the protagonist, it's caused this him and Daniel Mr. Miyagi. And so he charges him out of rage. And what happens
Sal Rodriguez:when you see the difference, you talk about the difference in styles, but just in this moment, the difference in emotion. So Greece is full of rage and anger, lost control. Miyagi is so calm, so very calm, Chris goes in to punch him. Miyagi moves right out of the way, turns around, goes into punch him, he moves out of the way, again, effortlessly. And thus, crease has to bloodied fists from hitting two car windows.
Jason Connell:And he's kind of in shock that he's done it. He looks at his bloody knuckles, and he's in shock. What's occurred?
Sal Rodriguez:You would call this one of Chris's low light moments? Yeah, maybe
Jason Connell:he's got a real problem with blood, because he became kind of a web.
Sal Rodriguez:He was in Vietnam. Right?
Jason Connell:I know. I know. I'm telling he says so he says.
Sal Rodriguez:Okay, so that picture could have been doctored the one in the dojo of him. I mean, it looked more like a theatrical headshot. But
Jason Connell:can you trust anything out of his mouth, knowing what you know now about crease? I mean, seriously, come on.
Sal Rodriguez:You know what, now that you mentioned it, it's starting to become clear. It's entirely possible that Chris was never in the military at all. And that picture was fake hanging up in the studio.
Jason Connell:Yeah, I don't I don't believe him. He's done anything. Well, except for he's run Cobra Kai, and he's made some real tough bullies. But anyway, so Chris is distraught. He can't believe his buddy knuckles. And this leads to the end of this, if you want to call it a fight sequence. And so go ahead and tell us what happens.
Sal Rodriguez:So I know you and I talked about this once before, where you thought maybe crease fainted, but it was just sort of, I think, an emotional and physical collapse where he just kind of caves into himself. Yeah, and he just falls into this heap. Before he falls into the heap. Miyagi is about to give him the death blow. You think this is gonna be it for crease creases on his knees on the ground, about to be finished by Miyagi? Miyagi has his hand raised and a karate chop position ready to give the death blow?
Jason Connell:Miyagi is in that pose when he knocked the bottles off of his truck? Oh, yes, knock the caps off. That was one of the only issues I had with the original Karate Kid. I think they were held down to believe that they could have been he could have knocked the tops off off loose bottles on a truck and far fetched but he had that same strike so he was going to do that too really could have killed crease if he wanted to.
Sal Rodriguez:He could have that's why I say could have delivered the death blow. But he didn't instead of delivering the death blow, or at least a blow to give the final humiliation to crease in his moment of existing humiliation. Hey, might as we go step further. Instead, Miyagi comes in close, grabs his nose and goes honk. I mean, it is humiliating, but it's not beaten to a pulp humiliating
Jason Connell:That's when he falls into himself creased and that's
Sal Rodriguez:when he kind of just caves and crumbles into himself and falls into a heap on the ground. Miyagi and Daniel walk away. And at this moment is where Daniel says, and I believe this little interaction here, I think sums up. I think the entire movie. I mean, this is the summarization, I feel is where Daniel says, You could have killed him, couldn't you? And Miyagi says, I, well, then why didn't you them. And Miyagi says, because Daniel son, for person with no forgiveness in heart living even worse punishment than deaf. Mine, there you go. And that leads us and by the way, I always want to mention the car that they are getting into is the truck is a 1941, Chevrolet light delivery, beautiful truck.
Jason Connell:Beautiful truck. So that is the end of Cobra Kai crease Johnny, the whole bunch for this entire film. There's no more mention of them. You don't see them anymore. We don't know what's going on with them. We're off on a different adventure. And so now the text comes on screen six months later. And we come in on Miyagi, who is of all things trying to catch the fly with a chopstick. And this time, Sal, unlike the previous film, he does it.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah. And I really liked that he doesn't make a fuss over it. He doesn't Pat himself on the back. He's not so excited about doing it. He does it. He gives a little grin. And then he moves on.
Jason Connell:And Karate Kid folklore. What does that say about someone when they are able to catch a fly and chopsticks
Sal Rodriguez:man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything? So he's got that going for him? Well, that's also a foreshadow than to Yeah, of course.
Jason Connell:And you know, Daniels had that going for him for a while. So it's not a beat later that Daniel arrives. And this whole film goes on a different course. And so he shows up, it's post prom. The car's been crashed Sal, go ahead and tell us what type of car that is, again,
Sal Rodriguez:Daniel arrives in the 1948, Ford Super Deluxe, which again, for the new listener, is the same car used in Greece that is greased lightning.
Jason Connell:So it's crashed, which really brings a tear to all of our eyes. And he comes in and he's blaming Ali, who wrecked it. I mean, you got the bumper hanging off the steam coming out of it. He's even going on to say that Ali's now fallen in love with some football player from UCLA. And Miyagi. He's kind of listening and he goes out there to start to repair the car immediately because that's what Miyagi does. And then Daniel is just on this, rant it and he goes on about my mom's taking another job. And this time, it's in Fresno, we leave tomorrow. And it's just a lot going on. I mean, they came up to like zero to 60 with all this exposition, which is pretty funny, but it does get the movie moving. I guess out I guess that's the point.
Sal Rodriguez:One thing I noticed interesting is when Daniel arrives, there's music playing, and then he shuts off the car, the music stops, which lets the viewer know that the music is actually coming from the car and not part of the soundtrack necessarily. So that car 1948 Ford had a stereo in it, or I wonder if that stereo was added later. I just found that interesting.
Jason Connell:Yeah, I think Miyagi probably would drop that in there. For him.
Sal Rodriguez:His kid probably had a cassette player, do you think? Yeah, probably
Jason Connell:cassette player. And I also liked Daniels blue tux, which was very reminiscent of Dumb and Dumber, which is pretty funny. So Miyagi is just, you know, helping out kind of listening. But he's got one way to help Daniel kind of clear his head. He's got some more work for him to do on the old Miyagi estate. And what's he have him do Sal?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, he takes him out back, and he has him start hitting nails. So this is one of those moments where I'm thinking, Okay, how does hitting nails to this attachment to the house to build a new room? How does this translate to a karate move? I mean, this is not wax on wax off. This is not sand the floor. This is not, you know, paint up, paint down. How is this going to translate to a karate move? That's what I want to see. So Daniel starts hammering these nails finally gets a little frustrated, says he's all out of focus. Mr. Miyagi shows him a breathing technique to help bring his life and feelings back into focus. So then, Daniel goes back to hitting the nails and he starts to get the hang of it starts to feel pretty good. And then one or two walks are gone.
Jason Connell:I want her to kind of work there, but
Sal Rodriguez:okay, well, it's actually two it's like, do boom. It was actually like three hits to get it in. The first two are like setup hits. Then the third was to get it all the way.
Jason Connell:Yes to hit it with one strike. I agree you go tap tap towards holds on its own, and then it's to focus and hit it on the head and drive one through. So I think it's about focus. I think it's about hitting your spot. And it also kind of reminded me of Bruce Lee's one inch punch. It's like a lot of power and you're barely moving, you're moving like an inch with a hammer in your hand. So your hand is, you know, like a fist if you will, but that sort of kind of reminded me of, but it was a cool technique, but that's as far as we get with it. It's not like Miyagi sets Daniel up and then disappears for the day and goes fishing. We don't kind of go back and shut on that water like we did in the original. And the next thing we see Daniel has made a beautiful Rosewood metal display. For Mr. Miyagi is Medal of Honor. Yeah,
Sal Rodriguez:he makes a nice gift for him displaying the Medal of Honor because Daniels proud of it, for Mr. Miyagi wants them to display it. And Mr. Miyagi, though that's not really his style. He says, Well, why should I show it off? For what it doesn't really occur to Mr. Miyagi, to show off his medal of honor, which is very
Jason Connell:Miyagi esque. He doesn't care about trophies, medals, or even belts. As we recall, when Daniel asked him what belt he was, and karate, and he said, What'd he say JC Penney's?
Sal Rodriguez:Is that what he said? Was that from the first one? I don't remember that. Yeah, as the
Jason Connell:original. But if Miyagi didn't care at all about this metal, in my opinion, it would have been at the Goodwill a long time ago. So he has some sort of attachment to it, but he doesn't want to be boastful. He didn't care about putting it on the wall, but he's touched. You know, it's a nice thing that Daniel did for him. And so Miyagi out of nowhere, gets Daniel out of having to move to Fresno.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, what we learned is that this attachment to the house, this new room that Daniel was hitting nails into is a new guest room. And Miyagi says it's for a refugee. And Daniel says a refugee from where, Miyagi says, Fresno, which I thought was really cute.
Jason Connell:That was a clever way of saying that you can stay here. Now, here comes the mail carrier, who doesn't know me augis name after 40 years?
Sal Rodriguez:No. Well, we don't know how new this guy was. But he says guy, Mr. Miyagi. And then Daniel, I love how Daniel like, jumps to his defense and corrects him. It's Miyagi. And the postman played by will hunt. I do think this scene is funny. I wanted to mention that because Oh, it's great. Postman starts going on about how he goes, Oh, this someplace you have here? Can I bring my wife by to have a look at it? Like I just thought, what was the point of this interaction, but I guess it gives time for Miyagi, to sign the letter to start reading the letter, as the postman is going on about how nice the places, the postman says, maybe some other time, and then he walks off. And then Miyagi starts reading the letter, which is a special delivery from Okinawa.
Jason Connell:Right. So that's why the postman had to come in the back to find him in the first place, which wouldn't have happened in today's world, they would have left a note saying that you've got to come to the post office to get this special package. Or we'll try redelivery. So the postman comes back to him sign for it, because it is coming from Okinawa, and it was a special delivery. And what cracks me up is that the postman is blown away by what he sees back here and much to my earlier point, this place could be a museum, it's a spectacle, what Miyagi is built. But what I love is nobody responds to the postman. Miyagi is caught up looking at the letter. And Dan, do you think Danny would step up, say much like he did a second ago, but maybe say, hey, ya know, thanks so much for the time, but no one says anything. And the postman is on his own to retreat and say, Yeah, I guess I'll see you guys later, which is pretty funny. So the letter Sal is informing Mr. Miyagi that his father is sick. And he wants to see him, essentially. Yeah.
Sal Rodriguez:And Daniel didn't even know that he had a father. We for sure. Didn't know. And definitely Daniel didn't know. So this is all a big shock to both Daniel and the viewer.
Jason Connell:Yeah, exactly. So that sets things in motion. And this next thing kind of cracks me up because I was watching and going, Wow, is that how it was in the 80s. But Miyagi goes to get a passport. And he's flying the very next day to fly International to go back to Okinawa. And he's in line with Daniel, and he's getting a passport. So I guess now, you could do that on very, very short notice back then.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, let me tell you this, just as a point of reference, and this is absolutely true. There was at one point, I think I was a teenager where I had to get an ID for some reason. I think I wanted to start working. So I needed an ID and I didn't have one. There was some issue with my birth certificate. My mother did not have my birth certificate. For some reason. My mother then took my baptism certificate. I mean, how official is a church baptism certificate? My mother took my church's back baptism certificate and got me a state ID from that. That was the 80s My friend.
Jason Connell:Okay. All right. I think I flew with a blockbuster card once. That's how lacks It was now. I'm just kidding. So here we are this interesting scene with me hoggy. And Daniel having a chat about, you know, we're learning not just about his father, but about his lost love and his friend that they kind of were on the outs and how Miyagi has left and never gone back. But all this while they're in this line to get a passport. And Daniel is not, it's kind of funny, because he's not next to him. He's kind of behind him as if he's in line himself.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, I thought that was sort of a funny positioning of why they chose that. Yeah, he was, you know, if you say to your friend, hey, let's go Go with me to the DMV or whatever, they're gonna stand next to you in line, right, they're not going to be or maybe even sitting off on a bench, they're not gonna be behind you. So I did think that was a funny positioning is the Daniel is behind Miyagi in this passport office. So obviously a state officer, a federal office, but this is the moment where we learn all about what went on, or what went down in Okinawa. And why and how Miyagi wound up in receita?
Jason Connell:Well, first, to your point about DMV and a friend going with you, that's a good friend, who's gonna go to the DMV with you. There's that. And secondly, I guess, when I thought about this scene more, they just wanted to get us out of the house. Because Miyagi could have read that letter, and cut to suitcase, you know, and he's packing. But I guess they wanted to take us away for a minute and give some exposition, rather than just cutting right to that, because that was the only purpose he that we don't need to know that he doesn't have a passport, but they wanted to show him and Daniel doing something on point,
Sal Rodriguez:I think it was an opportunity for Miyagi, to explain the history of Okinawa, you know, his personal history and what went down? You know, I
Jason Connell:think that's sort of a done anywhere. He could have done that at the breakfast table. He could have done it as soon as he got the letter. Yeah. So I think they just wanted to get us out of there. And maybe him getting a passports saying that I've never gone back, and I've got to get a passport because when I left that was it anyway, not a bad thing.
Sal Rodriguez:I just realized something I just said he went from Okinawa, to receita. We do know that he spent time in the military. So exactly. We don't there was a whole group of years between when he left Okinawa, to when Daniel met him there was a whole bunch of years. I wonder what happened in those years?
Jason Connell:Why he was married, and they were going to have a child so there's a whole storyline which we've never get to know beyond the first film shedding just a little bit of light on it. You know, the Miyagi last years. Have you ever seen
Sal Rodriguez:are like his late 20s 30s 40s 50s Those are the Miyagi last years.
Jason Connell:Yeah, maybe in Cobra Kai, Daniel will stumble on some old book you know, some old photo album and we'll be able to piece some more things together hidden in a wall somewhere and when they're at the Miyagi House, who knows but I'd sure like to see a little bit of more of Miyagi story play out much like they did in Cobra Kai last season, showing Miyagi do the initial build out on his place? That was a really great same.
Sal Rodriguez:Yes, so after they leave the passport office, and Daniel learn some of the stories about what happened in Okinawa next scene, Daniel looks at old pictures of Yuki Yuki A is Miyagi is old girlfriend, Sato is as old best friend who was engaged to be married to Yuki a Miyagi tells Daniel the whole entire story about why he left Okinawa and that is the crucial element. Because unfortunately, Miyagi throughout the movie doesn't live that down and has to revisit his old best friend who is turned into his nemesis Sato.
Jason Connell:And he seems to have a lot of sad feelings over what happened with UPA, which is interesting, like it's almost representing his first lost love. Or maybe the one that got away. He had been married, and he had a child on the way so, but for some reason, this movie really harkens on this relationship with UTA and Miyagi, he's kind of has a lot of regret. He carries a lot of regret around.
Sal Rodriguez:Do you think there's also this one moment because in this one beat when Miyagi is looking at a photograph and Daniel is kind of peeking in and looking at Miyagi, look at this photograph, and then he kind of lets his arm hang down, and then he kind of puts his head down, like almost dread. Like he's almost dreading going back to have to confront his past.
Jason Connell:Oh, totally. He's moved on. This is a new life. He's lived here longer than he lived in Okinawa. Yeah. So this is his life. So now I like this shot we see this cab roll in the frame and it says Valley cab company love Oh
Sal Rodriguez:yeah, just like the all Valley tournament.
Jason Connell:Exactly. This franchise love the valley. So now Daniel is supposed to see Miyagi off and he's not there. And so Miyagi is forced to leave in the cab. And thanks well, okay, you know, Daniels not here. Let's go. But this leads to a another scene that cannot happen in today's culture. But Sal, what happens?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, when you talk about the airports, you have, when I talk about the airports, I talk about pre 911 and post 911 pre 911 airports. You know what I used to like to travel. I used to enjoy it. After 911 No, Miyagi is literally boarding the plane. He's talking to the stewardess. He's literally getting on the plane at this moment. Daniel runs up right up to Miyagi and the stewardess
Jason Connell:and not the game. He's literally at the plane, like right
Sal Rodriguez:at the door plane. Yeah, yeah, he's at the plane door with his ticket,
Jason Connell:which means they don't check you in right before you go down the long runway. You just go to the plane and say, Here's my ticket.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, you also when you and I have discussed this before, the fact that were to get his passport did he have a passport? Do you get a passport the day he was the day before with Miyagi at the passport place? Did he get a passport so Mr. Miyagi? Wouldn't know when did he get a passport?
Jason Connell:Is that why he was behind me? Auggie? He got his he's like, I'll meet you outside in just a second. Yeah, that suspect.
Sal Rodriguez:And then Daniel convinces Miyagi to let them go to Okinawa with them. Yeah,
Jason Connell:exactly. He bought a ticket, you know, several $100 He got a passport. But Miyagi still could have said, No, thanks for no thanks. He asked to talk him into it, and he lets him go. But that
Sal Rodriguez:moment when Daniel says, Thank you to Miyagi for letting him go, thank you for letting me go. And then Miyagi says, No, Daniel, son, thank you, at that moment is where kind of the tables get turned. And the student is there to support the teacher.
Jason Connell:This is true. This is true. It now it's a buddy flick. So next, we're on the airplane. And I know it's a long flight. Well, you know, firsthand. But what I thought about immediately, Sal was the fact that the entertainment on an international flight was a good book.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, there was no movies, the right there was no movie either in the seat in front of you. Or on a laptop. That's it. You had a book or you slept, or you chatted that was it? Oh, no, they
Jason Connell:would show a movie though. They did show like one movie and they just told you what is going to be and then everyone can look ahead. They didn't do that.
Sal Rodriguez:Oh, they would have the one big they would have the one big screen up. Yeah,
Jason Connell:they say the screening will be the Black Stallion. Yeah. Yeah,
Sal Rodriguez:screening is whatever we are going to play and you're gonna watch it. And I
Jason Connell:don't even know at one point in time, they probably didn't have individual headsets at one point in time, a pod will just turn it up loud. And if you don't want to see it, sorry, I am sure that that was that happened at one point in time. What do you say? says he loves her but he doesn't want to leave her. Alright, so now Miyagi then shares that his father also train Sato. And Sal, what else did we learn about where this conflict was going? Had Miyagi stayed in Okinawa, what would have happened?
Sal Rodriguez:Okay, so Daniel is still probably reeling off his victory of the all Valley under 18 tournament. Now, but what Miyagi let let him know is that no, you don't understand. He wants to fight me to the death. This is not, there's not gonna be a referee or judges. He wants to fight me. And the winner is the one who's still living. That's what he says in so many words. So that's when we learn that this is not just a fight, you know, to tap out. This is not a tap out fight. This is a fight to the death.
Jason Connell:No. So have you ever been in a fight to the death?
Sal Rodriguez:I've been flight where I thought I might die. But no, I have not been
Jason Connell:mean either. Thank goodness. Alright. So as soon as we get off the plane, not a bit later. I love how we see the branding. And it's plain as day and there's this huge sign for Sato and this is before we even see Sato in person and it says, learn karate at Okinawa's biggest Dojo with Master Sato. For 40 years official instructor of the US military proven in combat. So South Sudan was a big deal. Well,
Sal Rodriguez:he's not only a big deal in karate, because if you look at the entirety of this view, so you see the Sato karate poster, but surrounding the Sato karate poster, or these other smaller ads on the left Sato bank and Sato reality, and on the upper right, Sato, escort service. So this guy has his rods and a lot of fires.
Jason Connell:He showed us and he stayed there and he became very successful. And it all started from learning from Mr. Miyagi his father, who's also Mr. Miyagi, actually. So that leads to the question, what is Mr. Miyagi? His name?
Sal Rodriguez:How many movies? Wait, hang on, we have seen 20 episodes of Cobra Kai. We have seen what five karate Kids Movies You know, you got the Karate Kid. 123 And then you got the sequel? The sequels? We still don't know what Mr. Miyagi is. First name is?
Jason Connell:No. So how do we refer to his father? You know what, Mr. Miyagi senior Mr. Miyagi Jr.
Sal Rodriguez:in the credits of the movie of this here movie, and the credits. Miyagi is father, that's what he's known as.
Jason Connell:Okay, so they both learn how to fight from Yagis father, they were probably equal, I'm assuming Miyagi is very skilled. And we'll get into sockos disposition later, he's a bigger man. And the way he talks, but he stayed and became very successful, obviously, just just see this one poster or see this one kiosk, and you have an idea. So they walk out kind of hail a cab, but there's this character there and his name is chosen, which is a pretty funny name. And chosen is there to pick them up from the airport. And Sal, I immediately do not trust this guy. There's just something about him and and maybe it's that super heavy handshake, plus this fly collar and gold chains, but I don't know. I don't trust him. And much like I felt about Crease all along. Although Chris I'm intrigued by because he's charismatic. This guy I don't like I don't trust him at all. How did you feel?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, I think that it's normal to have a mistrust of people with an open polyester shirt with chains. It's just a normal instinct and person Showzen is chosen is played by actor Ug okumoto. His two sidekicks Joey Mia Shima is Toshio and Mark HYAH she as Toro, Toro we don't see at first we see chosen and Toshio, they greet Miyagi and Daniel at the airport, picking them up in a 1958 Cadillac, Fleetwood, beautiful car, very beautiful car, actually. And yeah, that moment where he gives them the extra firm handshake, and then he does this little thing, which I do know, I used to watch in karate movies from the 60s and 70s. He does this little extra tag at the end of his statements, if you listen to his words, he doesn't at least three four times in the movie and he doesn't hear for the first time is where he says, I hope your stay here is a pleasant one. Yeah, he does a little. Yeah, he does that at the end. I love that because that's such karate. In the old days, Kung Fu villains. Do that Allah. Oh, you think you're gonna be big in his tongue. So he gives that extra firm handshake and for sure at that moment, any guy maybe some women too, but any guy who's ever shaken another man's hand, you know, these guys that do this death grip handshake. And that's exactly what he does. It's a show of dominance. And Daniel says that but he and Miyagi get into this 1958 Cadillac, Fleetwood,
Jason Connell:good point. Well said and I would say the only positive that I can think about that is going on with the current state of affairs in our country in our world is the fact that a heavy handshake is probably a thing of the past. Imagine handshake in general. Yeah, exactly. A handshake in general is probably like an assault it's probably no longer acceptable so I have you want it that you're not going to see those for years to come?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, you know what, I think we will live to see the day where someone will say officer arrest that man, they shook my hand
Jason Connell:and they attempted to shake my hand that's attempted murder. Yeah, so don't trust him but at this point in time, Mr. Miyagi thinks that hey, you know they know I'm coming to town they sent someone to pick me up that's great. But right away post handshake because Miyagi did not see this take place. Right away, Mr. Miyagi notices they're going the wrong direction, away from the village. And where does chosen drive them to.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, I have to mention the music chosen puts on some music. To to he's to attempt to like, Hey, you're old you like this music that music that he put on in the car that chosen put on was called fascination waltz. And if you look at trivia is the same song that was playing at the country club party in the first Karate Kid movie so long there at that Country Club. That song is playing. So yeah, realizes, yes.
Jason Connell:I recognize that. I didn't recognize it to be that but I knew it was that time and era and I always liked that. I think even Caddyshack had a scene where they had a very similar song if not the same song, but good spot. Nice. Nice job.
Sal Rodriguez:So Miyagi though realizes Yes, like you said he realizes something's amiss. He says a village south. Why we go north now. Now I got to be clear here. Okay. And I'm being absolutely truthful here. I figured this out myself. And then I validated it later online. So Miyagi says the village so they landed in? Nah, ha. They were at Naha airport. He says village South why we go north. Now. They are supposed to go north, because Kadena where we're going to visit Kadena Air Base we're going to meet in a moment is north of Naha. And Tomi village is in Kadena, which is north of nah. So they got the geography kind of screwed up here. I have to fault the production on this. But he should have said, village north. Why do we go south now that's what Miyagi should have said to be geographically correct.
Jason Connell:But either way, they weren't taking them into the village. They were taking them to some hanger. So they could meet Sato. And now we get to confront Sato who, despite all of the riches, and all of his prestige and power is still has this vendetta against Miyagi as if it was yesterday.
Sal Rodriguez:Sato played by actor Danny kamekona. I liked the first thing that he says to me how you the first his first words, he hasn't seen his old friend in 45 years, the first thing he says, So callate, you return. I love that.
Jason Connell:That's it. It's on. Just like that's the first the first thing. And the background, I could see another huge building and it had sockos name on that. So we get he, he owns this town. So they have an exchange. And we know that the stakes are still very high. Miyagi is not just going to pop in and see his father and then get out of town. He's going to have to deal with Sato
Sal Rodriguez:while Sato I believe says if I'm not mistaken in the actual quote, you see, Father, then you'll see me.
Jason Connell:That's it. And then there, will there even get a ride? They're just left to their left there. And they've got Yeah, they've got to get a cab and now they're at the village but this village they get to is now a US military base.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, so they arrive in a taxi. The cabbie seems lost. He doesn't know Tomi village so they arrive upon this. They're doing construction there's military guys. So they're asking where's Tommy Village? Now? I don't know why the cab he doesn't know where told me villages as a cab driver. Right. They greet a soldier. The soldier says this is Kadena Air Base. In other words, told me village used to be here, but now it's Kadena Air Base.
Jason Connell:Now we know what happened to the village. So they find the right place. Things have changed. I mean, hey, Miyagi has been gone for two years things change. And the first person we meet is Kumiko, who's played by Tamlyn Tomita her first movie, but she has gone on to have an incredible career. I mean, countless shows and movies, but it all started here. Yeah, and she is. And where was she from? Sal? Well,
Sal Rodriguez:originally from Okinawa, born in Okinawa. 20 years old at the time of this movie. Absolutely beautiful. I mean, I'm a little tongue tie talking about her she I just think she's so beautiful and does a fantastic job. And this is indeed her debut role. So we learn that Kumiko is Yuki A's Nice. Now you ka the former love of Mr. Miyagi, right?
Jason Connell:So now we meet UK, and it's a beautiful scene you have you know, her and Miyagi seeing each other for the first time and 40 years. But we also learned that UPA not only did not marry Sato, but she was never married. Yeah, it's kind of a sad thing to hear that someone didn't get married because who knows why, but she never got that opportunity. Miyagi probably only makes him feel worse, Sal. I mean, if he come back and Yuki aid had a family, he could feel happy for her. But now he's probably even super hard on himself for leaving, and it's just really emotional. And that's the emotional chord of this entire film is their relationship and Yagis regret and regret the hidden I get to spend the last 40 years with his father. And that's what got me. That's what made this movie compelling. And that's why I like that this was such a departure from the first film. And we weren't just prepping for all valley to, although I've been really cool, but I love that this has this storyline in it. It's more of an adult storyline,
Sal Rodriguez:even though the original movie has the love line with Daniel and Ali. I do think amid the romantic backdrop of Okinawa, we see the reinvigoration of UTA and Mr. Miyagi there over the body of his ill father. They are having their reconnection. Now, by the way, I just want to give a couple of cool trivia here. Miyagi is dad, played by actor Charlie Teddy moto actually died only two years after the filming of this. And Nobu McCarthy, who plays Yuki, I think has an interesting story. Born in Canada, raised in Japan lived in the US then died in Brazil in 2002, at age 67, and was also once Miss Tokyo. So I think had a very storied and interesting life.
Jason Connell:Wow, yeah, she's very attractive and really great in this role. So next, we see Miyagi and he's training in the dojo, and he shares the family history with Daniel as well as the secret to Miyagi family karate.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, this is where we first learned about the den den dicho hand drum. Now I do want to say as a point of reference, and I'm pretty certain it's not spoken at all in this movie is the phrase Miyagi dough. Now Miyagi dough we know about from Cobra Kai, Miyagi dough karate, but there is no reference to Miyagi dough. And throughout this movie at some early called Miyagi family karate,
Jason Connell:I think Daniel coined that phrase out of respect.
Sal Rodriguez:Okay, so that was not original. He coined it later with Cobra Kai.
Jason Connell:And so there's another quick scene here which we've talked about on Cobra Kai because they have a flashback to this very scene. But while we're here in the midst of this movie, where it came from, we have to talk about it because I always loved it. So this leads to Miyagi showing Daniel the rules. And Sal please tell us what rule one and rule two are.
Sal Rodriguez:There they are in the Miyagi family dojo and upon the walls in the sort of scrolls vertical scrolls, I believe Japanese writing is done up and down also like Chinese writing, rule number one, karate for defense only, and then they go back Rule number two, First, learn rule number one. So there we go. That is that is the overall theme of Miyagi karate or Miyagi dough later, karate for defense only,
Jason Connell:and that's very true Miyagi takes a defense approach with crease, even with the Cobra Kai's when he had to save Daniel, and they all have the wonderful skeleton outfits on shore. He used his offense, but its defense first and then offense to kind of you know, put down the attack. It's a wonderful tribute to that style. And I love that but Rule number two is just that it's so perfect. See, but
Sal Rodriguez:this but but later on, and I say later on, we're going to visit this again. Yeah, yep. Miyagi is dad taught Sato. So theoretically, Sato and Miyagi would be sort of at the same level. Sato teaches chosen, Mr. Miyagi teaches Danielson. So theoretically, Chosun and Daniel son both have the same skill set or near same and know the same secrets, going back to the Denton dicho handrim. So later on, I'm going to think why doesn't Chosun know about Denden dicho.
Jason Connell:So now we explore the village and Sal, everyone seems to recognize Miyagi and it's been so long
Sal Rodriguez:Well, I think that we have to assume his father is a renowned martial arts teacher. It seems like people are happy to see me Auggie. I don't think people are I mean, except for Sato obviously. I think he's seen as just sort of a old hometown boy, come back to visit. Okay, so Miyagi and Daniel are walking along and Miyagi is teaching more about the village history to Daniel, we look over we see Ishiro playing music for the kids in front of the Shinto shrine. Miyagi keeps telling more about the village history to Daniel Kumiko teaches the Oban dance to little kids now Oban, which will be quite relevant as we progress in this movie. Oban is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors but that gives a little bit of history on the dance and the festival which we will be seeing shortly.
Jason Connell:Okay. And the dance is really beautiful and can make us really good at it. She's good with the kids and It's a nice sequence. So now Sato arrives along with chosen who's got a different shirt, but yet same flight color and gold chains and Santos have set and he wants to fight right then in there until UTA steps in. So So what do you think would have happened? Had she not stepped in? Okay, so
Sal Rodriguez:this is where Sato says, You give me no choice and he takes off his jacket and he starts to get into position, ready to strike. Miyagi? Well, I don't think Miyagi would have been there. I think in an actual fight. And I say this as a fight fan. I say this as somebody who's been watching martial arts, his whole life mixed martial arts since 93. I think that Miyagi would be too fast for Sato. Now, you don't want to get hit by a guy like Sato. You do not want him to connect with you. But I think that you can elude him. And that Miyagi is fast enough to get out of the way of Santos punches. So in an actual fight between Miyagi and Sato, I think that if Miyagi just stayed out of Satoshis way he could possibly wear down Sato tire out Sato and then finally defeat him in the end.
Jason Connell:Okay, I like it. Yeah, probably be a great fight, but it's not going to happen right here. So when UK breaks it up, she also summons them to go see Mr. Miyagi his father, who is on his last breath, if you will. And so Sato and Miyagi go to see his father, and they hold hands, kind of out of tradition, I guess. Although there's this beneath the surface, they're about to kill each other, literally. And they have to put it aside and mourn together. So it's kind of a classic movie death as we see the last moment of his life. And so I just wish that we had gotten to know him a little bit better. I know that we showed up and he's already on his deathbed. And there's that, but it would have been nice to see some flashbacks to a little bit younger Miyagi, who could have played himself just looking a little bit younger, you know, take some of the gray out. And a maybe a young Sato, I think that this movie could have used just a little bit of that. I don't know what your thoughts are. But I didn't feel enough for Miyagi father because I just didn't know him. But I felt for Miyagi, Mr. Miyagi. That is,
Sal Rodriguez:I think that the movie at this point is letting us know that the Father is sort of an ancillary character to propel the plot, and not as important because what at that moment though, on his deathbed, if you recall, the father Miyagi his father, grabs Satoshis hand grabs Miyagi his hand and puts their hands together he tries to make peace with the two of them. Miyagi is okay with Sato is the one who pulls away so the father wanted to give peace between his son and his number one student other than a son. And the unfortunately Sokka was not having it Miyagi was okay with it. And yeah, he just kind of just kind of plops definitely a cinematic death, where he just goes, it's almost like saying his last words like those were his last words. His last words were, I want peace with you, too. Those were his last words.
Jason Connell:Whenever nice to see some sort of flashback or something, or even photos or just just give me a little bit more. I was yearning for that.
Sal Rodriguez:After this movie, and after Cobra Kai, I am looking forward to the entire universe opening up not only for the future, but in the past. I want to see little Miyagi I want to see little Sato. I want to see them as kids. They obviously grew up together, they spent their whole entire life together, up until Miyagi was 18 and headed out due to disgracing Serratos. Honor. Otherwise, yes, I would love to explore their paths. And I think that leaves it open to a whole nother franchise to come along and explore Miyagi is childhood in Okinawa.
Jason Connell:Yes. So then Sato says you have three days to mourn and then fight. So if I'm Mr. Miyagi, hey, guess what? I'm out in two days, we can just avoid this whole thing. I got two days to mourn. Y'all hang out with UTA showed the ideal route them out of here. So things are in motion we're going to be able to spend three days mourning and tying up some loose ends and rekindling some things and there's least pause now which we didn't have before because Sato was ready to go to blows you know, just a few minutes ago. And I love when they when everyone morning, lit the candles on a little What would you say if that is how little rafts for these candles are?
Sal Rodriguez:Well by appearance for any of you familiar with the southwestern custom of luminarias where they sort of a paper bag with a candle inside, right? So this is yeah, this is very similar, just a different decor, and obviously they float so it's like them putting these colorful black luminarias with a candle inside on the wall. otter, almost sending off your loved one. So in this scene they're all gathered about. And they're all putting these luminaria type little rafts on the water to signify the departure of the loved one. In this case, Miyagi is father,
Jason Connell:that's very touching, and especially a great visual, it's at night, you have Bill Conte score, swelling, it was really a beautiful moment. And just a nice closure to the pace passing.
Sal Rodriguez:And also at that very moment, if you notice, Sato is right there next to him. So yeah, there is a pause, there's a pause here. And I'm almost reminded of they say, We're taught that during the Civil War, the north and south would take a break for Christmas. So I liked that. It's like, let's take a break here, you know, and I really liked that a lot. So here, there's an actual break, he does give him three days, I don't think it's very long, but he does give him some time to mourn. And there is a momentary peace here.
Jason Connell:And this leads to perhaps, I would say, for me, anyway, the most emotional scene in the entire franchise. And it's when Daniel shares about losing his father, and to your earlier point, here's the disciple kind of leading the teacher, and he's sharing about losing his father and you can see the pain in Miyagi his eyes. In fact, Miyagi doesn't say anything for this entire sequence. And it's the first time that he's vulnerable, and human. And we've never seen him like this before. And while this scene is going on, from an acting standpoint, just the scenery, it's such a beautiful shot of them sitting next to each other, and Daniel puts his arm around him as the sunrays come through the clouds above, and there's a banzai just in front of them. And it's just it's such a magnificent moment. So it just, it makes me tear up every time I see it.
Sal Rodriguez:It really is. It's beautiful in every way. It's beautiful for the characters and for fans of The Karate Kid universe. But also from a naturalistic perspective. I have been to Japan and those sunsets are beautiful. They have some beautiful sunsets there. So yeah, this was a fantastic scene in every way. And if you notice on the right hand side of the screen is a little bonsai there as well. Yeah, so just that two shot from the back with the clouds and the ocean and yeah, Daniel with his arm around, Mr. Miyagi, powerful scene fantastically acted scene. Definitely, definitely beautiful.
Jason Connell:And Miyagi is not even really crying or bawling, but there's just tears in his eyes. I mean, that's, that's incredible moment for him as an actor, and all of our collective hearts break to see Miyagi, who is this rock. Like you said earlier, we've all wanted him Miyagi in our life. So to see him in pain, it's like too much for us to bear. You know, it's just too much. And we've never seen it before.
Sal Rodriguez:But this is also another example of how Daniel steps up to the plate. Every time Daniel has to do something, whether it be fight someone, or comfort someone. I mean, you know what, the more I am involved in the Karate Kid universe, the more I actually fall in love with Daniel's character. I really do. I think that he's way more multifaceted than he would appear at first, especially based on the first movie, you know, he comes around, he's like a belligerent teenager, he's annoyed with his mother in the very beginning of the movie. But you see his evolution, and you see how he changes and grows. I'm very proud of broth, macho as an actor, and very proud of Daniel is a character.
Jason Connell:Yeah. And I think that gets lost a lot as well, is that Ralph Macho is an incredible actor. And for some reason, that just gets overlooked. Sometimes I think he doesn't get the credit is due because it's so convincing of a role. Daniel Russo that people just take it for granted, but he's incredible. He really is. Even on Cobra Kai, you just see it like, this guy's got range, and he can turn on a dime and be this guy and be charming. And he's really, he's really something. And there's a reason why these movies work so well. There's a reason why 35 years later, there's a TV show. That's wonderful. And it's based on these characters because they not only had the story, right, and they got the right director and they got the right producer, but they get some incredible talent, and Pat Merida and rough Mojito. So here we are, we leave this great scene. And now we're back to training. And we see Miyagi and Daniel and Daniel I believe is improving. I think he's a better fighter now than he was at all valley. He's learning more and sell I love this flying cable technique. Please describe this for our listeners.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, Miyagi wants to connect He knew the training so this scene opens up with them doing some martial arts training. Then he takes him down to this cannery, which was a part of his childhood there was owned by Santos father and Santos father gave me Auggie, his first job at this cattery. But while Miyagi worked this Canary, he would use this. I mean, jeez, I'm not a fisherman. It's this swinging hook. It's a double sided hook. It's about as big as an axe, it's pretty large. And it swings. And you have to get out of its way or it literally impaled you. So he uses this as a training device. He demonstrates Daniel wants to do it. Daniel wants to say I want to try it. At first, Miyagi is reluctant, because this is a this is a deadly training exercise, literally. But then Miyagi says, Okay, fine, and he attaches a block of wood. Now, when he's attaching this block of wood, I'm thinking to myself, Okay, maybe he's not going to die, but he still can be seriously injured. When a block of wood is flying at your face,
Jason Connell:the impact of this is still going to be strong. Yes. So
Sal Rodriguez:Daniel convinces Miyagi, Miyagi says, Fine, let's the swinging rope go with the log on the end. And Daniel jumps out of the way, he doesn't know how to properly get out of the way. So he kind of jumps out of the way falls into the water, right next to this rope swinging thingy, at the can it
Jason Connell:hits, it hits really hard, and he would have been hit hard. And I thought it was like cork, but whatever, it's coming down really hot. And so true to Daniel's form, you know, he sometimes attempts things that he's not prepared to do. But there's a second one of these hooks up there. And this one, since Miyagi is coming down the ladder, there's not a cork on the end. So this is literally a hook, Daniel gets back up out of the water, and he pulls this lever, and the next one comes down full speed unprotected, there's a huge hook, you could very easily get impaled, get killed. And so what happens this time?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, this is the initiation of the drum technique. Yes, this is where we start to see the drum technique employed, as brought to us originally by the dead and die coup, and we will see later as well not to spoil. So now Daniel employs the drum technique, which involves a twist, getting out of the way. And this hook goes, so close, actually cuts part of a shirt. That's how close this hook was. So that's how, how sheer that space was between him and that hook. So he barely moves out of the way, employing the drum technique.
Jason Connell:And then the hook goes into this wood and just sticks with his piece of the shirt with it. And he's like, Oh, that was close. But you can tell that what I liked about that moment, is that he is fearless style. And he is a fast learner. Now he doesn't have it down yet. But I know from martial arts, too, and all sports that I've played, it's about repetitions. And, and that's how I am it's like, do it 1000 times and master. But Daniel's one of these guys, at least in these movies, that he picks things up very quickly.
Sal Rodriguez:The word prodigy is not used not much in our culture, let alone with these movies or Cobra Kai. But I think you could probably say at this point that Daniel would be considered a prodigy.
Jason Connell:Yeah, well, he has to because if he was on a normal trajectory, to become a black belt, or be doing these things, these movies that would never pan out. So he has to kind of be that character, you know, they can go from zero to 60 very quickly. So not that he's a Miyagi he's class, but that he is ahead of others, if you will. And so the next thing we have is, Daniel is now going to expose chosen in this interesting sequence. If you want to elaborate a little bit,
Sal Rodriguez:Daniel meets for the first time officially each row now each row was the old friend of Miyagi, who was playing that instrument there at the Shinto temple for the kids. So each row drops a whole cartload of carrots. Right before Daniel, Daniel helps him with the carrots. They then go take the wheelbarrow of carrots over to the scales and weights that are set up by chosen and his thugs. Now, if you see a guy like chosen operating a scale, you pretty much can guess there's something crooked going on here. And that's what we find because as they approach the scales, there's a movement somebody bumps into the scales, these weights fall down, and we learn and realize that these weights are little false weights. So therefore the scales are not true and are not properly calibrated. And chosen and his buddies. Maybe Sato is behind this. I mean, we don't know if Sato is behind this exactly. But we see chosen and his buddies are ripping off these villagers of their vegetables.
Jason Connell:and chosen knows it's Daniel that's done this and he's pissed but he has all of these villagers coming after him so chalk that one up to Daniel he won that battle
Sal Rodriguez:but chosen gets mobbed by the villagers the villagers start attacking chosen. Hey you're cheating us so it's a good moment to see chosen get mobbed by these villagers. I wish we could have seen him get attacked and beaten up, but unfortunately we don't.
Jason Connell:Right. So now we see Miyagi. And he confesses that he should have taken UTA with him to America. Now, so that's just really sad. Now to have that kind of regret really reminds me of the Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep film Bridges of Madison County to know that they turn their back on what could have been, and that that's very sad.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, the what could have been or the one that got away stories. Very sad. Yeah, definitely.
Jason Connell:So now Kumiko is teaching Daniel the dance. And again, Sal, he's a quick learner. He's picking this thing up right away.
Sal Rodriguez:He is and what I like about Daniel, especially in this moment, we see it. At first he doesn't want to he doesn't want to do this dance out here on the road. But yet he does it. He does it anyway, even though he's not. He's very reluctant, you know. So I like that, you know, you don't have to want to do something yet you do it. So I respect that. So he starts getting his dance lesson from Kumiko. She shows him what's called the bond dance, which again, we're going to be visiting later. And then at that moment, it seems like every time Daniel and Kumiko are starting to get closer starting to get more intimate. Something happens. And again, we see now, yeah, chosen and his thugs arriving. Chosen takes the Denden dicho from Daniel shoves. Kumiko kicks, Daniel. And then as they're walking away, Kumiko throws a tomato at chosen hits him in the back of his polyester shirt.
Jason Connell:Right. So this really reminds me of the beach scene from the original Karate Kid, here comes this bully, and Daniel's bested yet again. But this is also another iral for me on this film, as much as I like it, and it has a lot of strengths. It's got some weaknesses, and just, it's chosen yet again. He's always there. He's got nothing else to do, but try to rip off villagers and hang out with these bullies, and pester Daniel and I think even threatens to kill him in the same.
Sal Rodriguez:Oh, yeah, he says if you disrespect my honor, again, I will kill you. Yeah, so Daniel isn't even doing anything. No, nothing. Yeah. And yet this guy, his honor is all bent out of shape because of Daniel. You know, what, is it possible? And maybe do we learn in this scene? That it's possible that Chosun has had a thing for Kumiko? Because remember when he throws the shirt back he's like, you know you like it like he says something like that some sort of smart as you know, you like my shirt? Like maybe he's known Kumiko maybe he's had a crush on her. She never felt the same way. Maybe there's a little something there's remember there's a history there in Okinawa before Daniel got there.
Jason Connell:Yeah, I don't know. History repeats itself. This is a very Miyagi Sato UTA storyline for sure. So they walk away and stumble on to yet another beautiful scene. And I noticed that most of these beautiful touching scenes are with the adults in this movie. And I think that's maybe was lost on me when I saw the movie for the first time. But as an adult, I'm more moved by it. But yeah, we see Miyagi and UPA having a tea ceremony. And Sal, why don't you explain that for us?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, to the casual observer, like myself, or in this case, Daniel, you look on you see two people in Japan, drinking tea together, you don't really know what's going on. So Daniel asked, Kumiko, what's going on? And that's when Kumiko lets Daniel know, they are falling in love again. So we learned that this is a ceremony. That is an expression of love. Either reacquainted love or new love.
Jason Connell:Yeah, that's pretty heavy, though. They're falling in love again. Wow. That's big.
Sal Rodriguez:I like this. I like it. I like ceremonies. And that was one of the reasons why you select to go to church, not necessarily that I went for all the rules and so forth. But I like ceremony. And that's why when you Yeah, when you look at the tea ceremony later on. I like how every movement is intentional. Ceremonial, is deliberate. I like that stuff. I've always enjoyed watching ceremonies occur. You probably like structure as well. Yeah, I kind of do. Maybe that's part of it.
Jason Connell:No, I'm really drawn to martial arts because a lot of it has to do with the ceremonies or this the structure or the way things are done. And then there's achievements and you get to the next belt and so I'm really drawn to never had a tea ceremony. which I think is really cool, but I to share the fondness for ceremonies. And I think that's why I've kind of been so captured by martial arts. Okay, so now Daniel and Kumiko are going exploring. And while they do so, we hear the infamous Peter Sutera track glory of love.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, and I think it's an interesting moment because the music starts to play as they start to go observe King Shahar she's castle ruins and I like the words who just I don't know if they just kind of happened. Or if Peters Matera wrote it this way the lyrics just like a knight in shining armor from a long time ago, just in time I'm a save the day take you to my castle far away as they're at the castle. Did that happen accidentally or was that on purpose?
Jason Connell:So why don't you give us a little rendition of the chorus from the song it's a great track,
Sal Rodriguez:just like a knight in shining armor from a long time ago. Just in time I'm gonna save the day ticket to my castle far away. All right, there we go.
Jason Connell:Great song. Yeah, I'm not sure to answer your question if it was written for the scene was this song not written for the soundtrack.
Sal Rodriguez:This song was originally scheduled for Rocky for was it it was one of the Rockies that they had hoped the song to That's right. But yeah, but instead it was replaced by another song and they decided to use this song for the erotica too.
Jason Connell:And Bill Conti was supposed to be the composer for Rocky four because he had done rocky one through three thus far and chose to do karate kid part two, but along with Appleton they both came back and worked on Rocky five. So yeah, so
Sal Rodriguez:what happened was glory of love was supposed to be in Rocky but was instead, hearts on fire was chosen over glory of love for the Rocky films. So then the glory of Love came into the Karate Kid too.
Jason Connell:So now we're in the city. And both Daniel and Kimiko are looking at TVs in the window of a store. And she shares her dream of being a dancer. And then out of nowhere, actor BD Wong appears. We've always loved BD Wong from many movies and TV shows, including Jurassic Park and the Jurassic worlds. And he invites him to a dance. So she's dreaming of being a dancer. And now she can go to this dance and show off some moves.
Sal Rodriguez:He's credited, I think, as flyer kid. Yeah. Yeah. And he's credited as Brad Wong with two Ds, Brad won. And then he became BD Wong. I'm curious how Brad one became BT one but yeah, so Brad Wong who we've seen in on all these crime shows here he has as a kid passing out flyers for dance on the street. He does
Jason Connell:look so great in the scene like so out of place. Here's this like, kid, you know, he looks like he's running a Hollywood like extras casting and giving them a flyer. Sure. Bring your friend. He's super excited, upbeat. And next we see Santos dojo. It's right across the way and Daniel has to get a closer look, of course. And as he peeks of the window, very reminiscent of Daniel, walking up and looking through the window at Cobra Kai. And he sees chosen is head of the class much like Johnny Lawrence, and he takes on four attackers, and of course, best them all. Yeah, he
Sal Rodriguez:has two guys. One guy grabs his right arm, one guy grabs his left arm. So you got two guys holding you. And then you have two guys attacking you and you have chosen beats up four guys in his class. He essentially beats up four of his students is what he does,
Jason Connell:right? And they train hard, very Cobra Kai style here at Santos dojo. So they see that and then Daniel wants to keep moving, and they stumble into I guess it's a bar. Um, I don't know if people are getting drunk in there, but it's kind of like a bar and Kimiko is resistant. She doesn't want to go in there. Because she says, you know, bad people, bad things happen in there. But Daniel, you know, he's stubborn as we know he is and he takes them in. And we can see that gi 's are all over the place. And one in particular is attempting to strike through sheets of ice and tell us who this particular Gi is Sal.
Sal Rodriguez:This guy is credited as being gi number one. His name is Clarence Gil yd Jr.
Jason Connell:Well, Clarence was an diehard and Top Gun so he went on to be in some other big movies. I recognize him right away. But he fails in his attempt to hit through the sheets of ice and for those who haven't seen this film or it's been a long time, there's these sheets of ice. I don't know what they about an inch thicker. I'm just be guessing
Sal Rodriguez:I probably say about 18 inches tall. Oh, each one and yeah, I would probably say about an inch thick, I would say,
Jason Connell:and they have them kind of slotted. So with gaps in between, you've got to hit it Sal, I guess like with kind of a side motion, you know, like a ridge. And because it may be kind of, can you describe this to the listener at all,
Sal Rodriguez:you would be slicing at a horizontal chest level, right? Because these things are in front of you, I think what you should hope to do is that you hit the first one, if you can break that first one, that first one breaks a second one, that second one breaks, the third one and cetera, et cetera. So you really got to make sure that you can crack that first one, hit it hard enough so that it then subsequently breaks the rest of them. But yeah, it's like right in front of you. Six slots, six pieces of ice vertical, and then you got to slice through them horizontally and with a karate chop, possible. I mean, I don't think I could do it.
Jason Connell:I don't think gi number one had six sheets of ice, I think he only had three or four.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, and his form was something to be desired. I mean, again, I've watched enough fights to say he had no prep, he had no poise, he had no skill, he may be able to fight in a barroom fight. But when it came to, using proper technique to slice these things, they left a lot to be desired,
Jason Connell:right? So Gi, number one, he fails, and he overhears Daniel saying why he failed. And of course, he says, Hey, if you can do better, you know, do it, go for it. And Daniel has already figured it out. Again, back to my point that he might be some sort of prodigy, or at least a fast learner. I'll give him that. So he's challenged. And so what happens now?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, he's challenged, but he's not going for it. You know, he doesn't want to do it. He may think he knows how to do it. But here he is, in a foreign country what and this is only what eight months later after the all Valley so he may not even be 18 yet, we don't know when His birthday is. So here he is a very young man or older teenager, here on this island, being challenged by these American GI guys to do something ridiculous. So yeah, he may have had his opinions on how it should be done that he shared that with Kumiko on how he should use the hips and all that, but he doesn't want to do it. And so he's like, I'm out of here. And he wants to get out of there. And who arrives who arrives of course chose,
Jason Connell:of course. And he doesn't just arrive style. He's fully dressed in street clothes. It wasn't two minutes earlier, that he was taking on four attackers at sokos dojo, and he was in his full Gi. And so now we led to believe that he changed, it looks like he showered. And he did all that and got over here in two minutes and happy to know that something's going on. And Daniel is here, another irell from me. Now these are starting to mount these are starting to mount.
Sal Rodriguez:I think it's entirely possible that there was more time elapsed between them seeing chosen in the dojo, and then this icebreaking happen. There was more time that elapsed there, which I don't think the movie properly displayed. I think they should have maybe added another scene or we should have seen the clock or something. Because if you remember as the scene progresses, who else arrives? Everyone arrives?
Jason Connell:I will get to that. I know. But I still feel even if that's the case, even if you're right. I wish we had established it. I wish we had cut to Miyagi and UPA and then cut back. I wish we had cut to someone running to chosen and the locker room and saying, you know, blah, blah, blah, Daniels over there doing this. I just wish there would have been because these are the moments that I just can't stand when things just don't make sense. Now maybe there was a scene cut, you know, could have happened.
Sal Rodriguez:Toshio sees them as soon as Kumiko and Daniel walk into the bar. Toshio, remember one of the thugs. Yeah, he runs out, and he goes to get chosen. I could only imagine that it's entirely possible that if there wasn't a lot of time elapse, then chosen wears his clothes under his GI.
Jason Connell:Or just comes in and his GI. You know, I'm cool with that.
Sal Rodriguez:Maybe chosen even thinks that that would be disrespectful to the game. Maybe
Jason Connell:we didn't do it earlier in this film, either. So maybe there's something to be said for that. Yeah, I mean,
Sal Rodriguez:you're not supposed to walk around in your gear or you know, you don't see people
Jason Connell:walking around their GI but if he had to go over there so quickly, that would make more sense. Anyway, but literally not 10 seconds later, Mr. Miyagi and UK are now here and give it a beat sow and out of nowhere here Sato. So I have no idea how on earth, everybody knew something was brewing. And Daniel had got himself in yet another pickle. Yeah,
Sal Rodriguez:it's such an interesting convergence that there's the village over there. Here they are in the city, and yet everybody's everybody shows up. Everybody shows up small
Jason Connell:is the city. There's sata stojo There's some TVs for sale at the store. And then there's the place where the GI saying, Yeah, that's it. It's all out there. If you're not at one, you're at one of the others. So anyway, so now the bet is on it's $600, to hit through six sheets of ice. And so I believe six is the max that this can hold. Am I mistaken?
Sal Rodriguez:It looked pretty full. Yeah, I think that this only holds up to six, then these guys are trying to do three. And now here's Daniel trying to do six.
Jason Connell:Now Mr. Miyagi gives some classic Miyagi advice. And what does he say? So
Sal Rodriguez:he tells Daniel, to focus, and Daniel says, and what are you going to do?
Jason Connell:Pray. And thus begins the breathing technique. From the beginning of the film.
Sal Rodriguez:This is where you see that everything that Daniel learns from Miyagi ends up being a fight technique, or that he can employ it. In his fight techniques,
Jason Connell:Sato oversees the breathing technique and recognizes it, because Miyagi is doing it and Daniel's alongside so he's getting him in the right state of mind. And this leads to Daniel, who's never done this before. By the way, it's not like he got one shot at these. No, he got the right state of mind. And he hit it claim and broke the first one, like you said, and succeeds. And what happens after that.
Sal Rodriguez:So Daniel is successful at giving a karate chop to these slats of ice. Everybody's excited. They won the bet. They walk over to to Sato sitting there I think in a state of shock, chosen doesn't want to give him the money. Sato makes chosen give them the money, they walk out and leave him behind chosen very pissed off about losing so much money. And Sato they're in a state of shock sitting there at the bar.
Jason Connell:Exactly. And so they walk out and Miyagi gives Daniel half the money and says, you know, this is for college because he spent around $300 on the plane ticket, and they're gonna go off for some Chinese food. So yet again, chosen loses that battle, but yet, we're still in the mourning period. So Sato is standing down at this point in time. So now we're at the dojo, and Miyagi plays a prank on Daniel and fake hits him and the growing and calls it What Sal
Sal Rodriguez:primary target,
Jason Connell:primary target. And he got a real kick out of this moment, which I thought was hilarious. Although this is some foreshadowing, so remember that.
Sal Rodriguez:Remember that every time Miyagi teaches you something, you're gonna have to use it later.
Jason Connell:Every time every time. And then can we go brings Daniel some dance clothes, which is amazing that she has the presence of mind to either make or find or has access to dance clothes, and sell. Have you ever worn dance clothes like this? Do you have any dance clothes?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, no, because I don't think at this moment in time. We know that this is going to be 1950s dance right now when flyer boy Brad Wong brought the flyer to Kumiko and Daniel, he just had come to the dance tonight. So she made him special 1950s apparel for tonight's dance. She's no, no, no, I've never had any. Nobody made me clothes. I never had any special clothes to wear to the dance. No. So
Jason Connell:the next thing we hear, of course, is chosen, calling for Mr. Miyagi. And then he and his thug friends destroy one of the gardens.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, because he says my uncle told me to come pick you up. Your three days of mourning are over. Right. And then of course, Miyagi says I'm not gonna go fight your uncle. So then that's when chosen goes Okay, fine. And then they start to destroy the garden that's chosen and Toshio and anyway, the third guy.
Jason Connell:Yeah, thug number three. Step number three. So Miyagi does decide to go visit Sato and his beautiful home and garden. And Sato is wearing a ghee with a red belt, which gave me pause for a moment Sal, because in my martial arts and have keto, or I train it American hapkido karate, the belts go is such white, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, red, black, and then their second degree black, third degree black, and up from there. My master, for instance, is an eighth degree black belt, so to see Sato who we know to be, you know, renowned and a master in his own right. I didn't understand why he was a red belt. So I went online. I researched it. And here's what I found out. I red belt is one of several colored belts used in some martial arts to either denote rank or differentiate opponents and a competition. And some schools, especially those with lineage related to judo, a red belt signifies ninth or 10th degree Dan rank, the highest rank attainable. So SOCO must fall into that because he's obviously reached the pinnacle, I would say,
Sal Rodriguez:Well, I was so wrapped up in him hitting an inanimate piece of wood that I actually didn't notice his belt. Now I know you might have noticed his belt, because you recently obtained a higher belt in hapkido. Is that true?
Jason Connell:I did. Thank
Sal Rodriguez:you. Go ahead and give us a humble brag. So you went up? No, no, no, no. So what belt? Were you and where are you at now.
Jason Connell:So I will tell you and the reason I'm excited by this is because as you know, when I got involved with Cobra Kai and wanting to do this podcast, it tapped into what was missing something that was missing in my life. And that was martial arts. And I got back into it and found the new dojo and kind of started this journey again to pick up where I left off and go much further. I hope. So I was a white belt in the beginning. And I tested and became an orange belt several months ago, but I recently tested again, and I'm now a yellow belt. So I've gotten white, orange, yellow.
Sal Rodriguez:Is there a red belt in your future? Or is it only get up to the ninth degree black belts? Oh, no.
Jason Connell:I mentioned the red. Yeah, red is right before Black Belt.
Sal Rodriguez:Oh, okay. So you will hit red but not that ultimate red that Sato wears
Jason Connell:no once you hit the red it's right before the black and then it's black from then on out.
Sal Rodriguez:Okay, I never knew about the red belt before tonight. I never knew about it. And by the way, congratulations on your recent belt of yellow belt and I look forward to seeing your thank you continued advancement. So okay, so Sato is hitting this wood. Miyagi approaches him tries to reason with him he asked about the wood. He asked Is this the wood that we found that one time and then sought two answers same? What do you want and Miyagi wants to reason with him, Sato is not having it walks away. And I forgot what happens when he walks away here. But Sato is not going for the reasoning of Miyagi. And then he walks away. And then Miyagi is left standing there, kind of caressing the wood. I think going back in time, probably thinking of the lighter days, the fonder days of when they were kids, and when they found this piece of wood, but yeah, the scene ends with Miyagi, just kind of there alone with the piece of wood.
Jason Connell:So Sal Sato had chosen, go and get Miyagi to bring him to him to fight to the death. Miyagi chose to show up on his own. There he is, his on Santos property, how come he did not fight him to the death, right here. And now?
Sal Rodriguez:I think Sato must realize that he came for other purposes, and didn't come to fight. He has the sixth sense, you know, when someone is threatening toward you, or you know, when someone is fearful of you, me, he's not like that in this moment. So I think that it was just his fighter sense, his martial arts Sixth Sense, which led them to realize that Miyagi is not there to fight. But yeah, you're right. I hadn't thought about that. That was right on the coattails of chosen being sent over to go get Miyagi. And now yeah, a beat or two later, Miyagi shows up. So yeah, that should have been sockos cue. But yeah, it wasn't. That's correct.
Jason Connell:Maybe Sato dislikes a crowd, or he's got to be in a fighting mood, you know, and he was ready that one day and then Miyagi his father passed. And so he just wasn't feeling it. And maybe he took his frustrations out on that moment on that wood, which he probably thought was Miyagi. And maybe he was not as angry after working out some of that tension. But yeah, this seems like they're meandering around. It's like, there's always a reason why they're not going to blows and that and that theme continues in this whole movie yet, maybe another eye roll for me. But that's just kind of how it goes. So he leaves. You're right, Santa walks away. He's left. And so now Daniel and Kimiko are at the dance. And as we've already talked about, it is a glorified sock hop. Something right out of the 50s.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, so they're at the dance. And this is where we get into some more cool trivia. I would call it a triple whammy with happy days. The television show happy day. Oh, yeah. Because not only is the song rock around the clock that was playing at this dance that Daniel and Kumiko rat rocker on the clock was the theme song for the television show. Happy days. Now. Noriyuki Pat Merida, who plays Mr. Miyagi had a role as Arnold. He was on 26 episodes from 1975 to 1983. And here's the third Were we for Happy Days in the last time, Nobu McCarthy, who plays UK played Momo. Arnold's fiance. Remember that's the role that Pat Morita played on Happy Days in 1976. So that's a triple happy days time
Jason Connell:went UTA played his fiancee, Yuki a played
Sal Rodriguez:Momo, on an episode of Happy Days. Momo was Arnold's fiance on an episode in 1976. That's right.
Jason Connell:That's awesome. I did not know that. That's really cool.
Sal Rodriguez:I find it all I bring that information to you.
Jason Connell:Thank you, sir. So back to the dance. It's funny how Daniel was very reluctant to dance earlier with Kimiko and then picked it up in other traditional dance and enjoyed it and had some fun with it. But I had no idea Sal, that Daniel could do this 50s dance. And he was out there strutting his stuff. And apparently, he learned all this from his mother, which is hilarious.
Sal Rodriguez:He did a really great job at the sock hop and I gotta tell you as soon as he walks into the dance, I started having PTSD going back to the Halloween dance. That was only nine months earlier. Right? Good point. I cannot relax in this in the scene yet.
Jason Connell:So anytime in this entire film. We're having a good moment. It is quickly followed up by an appearance from chosen and true to form chosen and his thug friends arrive at the dance.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, chosen is the ultimate cock blocker in human form.
Jason Connell:Yeah, absolutely is. And what happens next Now,
Sal Rodriguez:Daniel gets roughed up, chosen takes Daniels money, which Chosun believes is his money just from losing the bed. Please still as the money returns the wallet dropping it on the ground. So while Daniel is kneeled down, grabbing his own wallet, that's where he remembers primary target. And at this moment, one of the thugs has Kumiko in a rear will be called a rear choke. So while Daniels down there remember his primary target and punches chosen? Right in the family jewels?
Jason Connell:Yes, the family jewels. So yeah, I think Kimiko is kind of an A Johnny Lawrence hold of which crease had even earlier in the film, if I'm not mistaken.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, it would almost be a rear naked choke. I don't know if if we're naked choke has to do with the leg wrap around to I think if you just get somebody with a neck choke from the back, it's I think it's called a rear naked choke.
Jason Connell:So yet another sequence that never gets too out of hand, although Daniel did take a hit, but he gave a hit back. And that escape, and he got his money back. So later that night, Sato and chosen and pals. They arrive at the village and they're summoning Mr. Miyagi. Who's not there? By the way, right? He's not there at this point in time.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, Daniel settling in for the night. He's like, ready to hit the hay. Yeah. And then that's when you hear yogi. Yogi. Come out. We argue. We fight now.
Jason Connell:cusato needs to fight at midnight. You can't fight
Sal Rodriguez:such a it's such an odd time to fight someone. Yeah.
Jason Connell:And so he leaves but then chosen and thugs began to destroy the dojo and Bonds eyes while holding Daniel.
Sal Rodriguez:Want to jump ahead if I may. Yeah, please. This is why it was so painful. In Cobra Kai. So painful for Daniel the destruction of the Miyagi dough dojo, because he was having flashbacks to the Miyagi family Dojo being destroyed in Okinawa. Yeah, now I get it now I get it. Or the
Jason Connell:dojo being destroyed in Karate Kid three but we'll save that one for
Sal Rodriguez:Oh my god. Okay. So so karate dojo is getting destroyed is just is now embedded in Daniel psyche, and I could only imagine he has PTSD. I know I do. So just seen rule number one. And rule number two, being speared by chosen as he laughs You know, these guys, these villains in these movies. It's one thing to do evil it's one thing to laugh as you do evil and that's what chosen does. So he's they're laughing and smiling, having a great time being destructive because Sato told him leave them a message and that's what they're doing. They're leaving a message.
Jason Connell:Exactly. And luckily, Mr. Miyagi arrives. And Sal, this is a pretty good fight sequence.
Sal Rodriguez:It is well, Miyagi arrives says enough. There's some wonderful music perfectly in sync with that. Toro and Toshio are dispatched by Miyagi pretty quickly chosen is also subdued but as spared by Miyagi and of course chosen calls it act of coward to be spared by Miyagi and also apparently there was one moment I read some more trivia that that moment when Chosun does hit Miyagi on the back with that spear is the only time in Karate Kid folklore when Miyagi is struck was right there with that stick by chosen.
Jason Connell:That's interesting. So but also during this whole sequence, Daniel is not able to help he's being held off and then he never really gets involved. So Miyagi best all three of them. And it's in a really neat setting though, because it's in the garden and they're using like a walkway. And then there's this one staff that has a spear on the end of it. And I didn't notice any stunt double sow, it really looked like it was Mr. Miyagi doing his own stunts.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, I was pretty impressed. I would imagine by this time, our actors have had plenty of time to train. And I would say overall, I was pretty impressed by Noriyuki. Pat, I say always want to say Noriyuki. That's what he's officially born as Noriyuki and then he still uses it later on up until his death. So Noriyuki Pat Morita had plenty of time to train for this. And I was pretty impressed by some of his kicks, some of his swift backhands and yeah, this is a very interesting setting, and Daniel couldn't do much he was kind of subdued. But all the rest of these guys got taken out by Miyagi. But one thing I found pretty interesting is that at the end of the fight, Daniel and Miyagi retreat inside back into Miyagi his home, chosen kicks over a statue, right? So really, the guys are still out there. And you just walked back in it was at the end of it. I mean, these guys just gonna go home now. I mean, I just didn't really see that that would be the end of it. If these guys are still right outside your home, which doesn't seem to have real high security. Miyagi says to Daniel, that they're gonna go home tomorrow. So at this point in time, we're assuming you know what, this is the end of it. They're finally gonna go home and be out of this mess.
Jason Connell:Exactly. And then Miyagi talks with UTA and it's another touching scene because she asked him to take her with him.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, Miyagi asked, What can I do to ease your pain and UK answers Take me with you. I mean, whole. If this woman doesn't love Miyagi, I don't know what love is. I mean, look how long she's held on to this. But yeah, Daniel's packing his suitcase, looks outside sees Kumiko standing lonesome on the pier, she's doing a sort of ceremony. He heads out, that's when he hears Miyagi and UPA saying their goodbyes UK is crying. Daniel approaches Kumiko. On the piers, she's doing an old fishing custom pouring rice into the water for a quick return. Because that's what Daniel asked was, Oh, are you doing that for a big catch? She goes, No for a quick return. So we know that at that moment that she's doing a special ceremony for a quick return of Daniel and possibly Miyagi. They have a wonderful moment they talk about America, she asked about America, he tells her about America, he professes his love for her. So this is where we officially see Daniel professing his love for Kumiko in this scene, and then just as they're about to cry
Jason Connell:before that, I think this would have been a good time to play Peter Sutera song one more time,
Sal Rodriguez:like a shot and shot a long time ago. Yeah, yeah, you're right.
Jason Connell:He's also trying to recruit her to to live in the US to come over. And you know, she's taking this in. There's no dance studios there sounds like an interesting idea. But as you're getting ready to say, and yes, true to form. It's not chosen this time. But it is Sato.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, big ruckus behind them construction equipment coming through behind them in the village so they get up leap up from the pier where they're having this romantic moment, and then head back to see what's going on and they see this bulldozer running through a garden there's all these villagers are standing there and horror and Miyagi approaches. Sato casado, standing there, what are you doing? And Sato says he sold all the land I don't know if he said he sold the land or and he's gonna sell the land. Basically, he
Jason Connell:owns the land so he can do whatever he wants and he's going to destroy the village.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, well, he threatens to destroy the village if Miyagi will not fight him. So finally, Miyagi, kind of feeling forced and pressured agrees to fight. Sato on one condition that the title to the land passed to the village forever. And Sato reluctantly agrees, but warns that if Miyagi doesn't fight, the village will be completely destroyed. Everything will be gone. their homes, their church, everything God so Miyagi knows that he has no choice. He has to stand and fight. Yeah,
Jason Connell:I sat is really an angry person. And what's interesting is this whole thing stems from UTA not following through to Mary Sato because her Miyagi had feeling so Miyagi fleas. So Sal, correct me if I'm wrong here, but with Miyagi out of the picture. Sato had 40 years to woo Yuki or any other woman because he doesn't seem to be with anybody. And he has failed. So maybe a lot of his hatred is inward. Sato is carrying around a ton of baggage. And taking it all out on Mr. Miyagi.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, Sato has no game, apparently. No. Because, okay, so at one point in time, he was promised to marry Yuki she was promised to marry him. So once Miyagi was out of the picture, then yeah, Sato could have made his move. And if not immediately, at least within a couple of years, been able to finally marry UPA, but ya know, he didn't. Maybe he was just too focused on building his business empire. And romance was not a part of it. So that's what obviously happened.
Jason Connell:But this hatred burns like this happened recently. It's amazing that someone is this upset. Now listen, I'm not that familiar with the Japanese culture and, and maybe, you know, this is his pride was forever scorned, was Sato and UK and arranged marriage. Is that what I'm led to believe?
Sal Rodriguez:It was an arranged marriage, because if you remember, Mr. Miyagi, told Daniel, that Satoshis family was richest and village that's right, UK family poorest and village. So it made sense. So yeah, they were an arranged marriage. And if you remember also, when Daniel and Kumiko sat down at the sock hop, he asked if she was arranged to be married to anyone remember, she asked, I thought that was cute. She asked him, Are you arranged to be married to anybody? And that's when he says, No, I'm a free agent. So yes, right. This is ancient history. Your This is unknown to the topic, but the concept of dating, as we Americans know as dating is new in human history. Nobody dated, nobody dated 1000 years ago, they were they were set up by families 1000 years ago, or you didn't get together with anybody. So this whole thing is dating is new. You are definitely set up by families back in the old days, and this is as far back then as 45 years in Okinawa.
Jason Connell:So that would lead me to ask this Miyagi leaves didn't work out with UPA, maybe she sought her true failings and no longer wanted to be part of this arranged marriage. But with this incredibly powerful, influential and rich family of Santos, how does someone not arrange another marriage for him?
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah. And why would Satoshis family arrange a marriage with Yuki A's poor family? What What would they have to gain from that? So yeah, if you dig into it, it probably doesn't make as much sense as, as it should. Because I believe in the old days of arranged marriages, a rich family would try to arrange a marriage with another rich family, not a poor family. So I don't think yeah, in that respect, it doesn't make sense. So the arrangement makes sense. But as far as the families doesn't really make sense. So I'm thinking then, that if Sato coming from a rich family was going to be arranged with UK coming from a poor family, he really loved UPA. So that's why this anger burned for 45 years. But I think that he should have let that anger, he should have used that anger to win over UPA, instead of being pissed off hitting a piece of wood and thinking of Miyagi for 45 years.
Jason Connell:Yeah. And it might have made more sense in the storyline had Sato and Yuki a married they wed let's just say, but it was never, they never had the sparks, because I'm sure a lot of arranged marriages just kind of hit a certain threshold. And they don't, because they weren't built on a mutual attraction admiration. Maybe some of them turn into that, but others probably didn't. They didn't hit those high notes. And let's just say that they were married, and Miyagi came into town, due to his father's health. And Sato saw that they had something he didn't have. And now what almost makes more sense to me. Why Sato has this anger in him, and jealousy, but that would then paint Miyagi in a different light. And I think that it's more innocent to have UK be the single person, but trust me, I've had time to think about it. I've watched this film twice recently, preparing for this episode. And another plot point I have a little bit of issue with and is why I look at this movie is the best of the sequels, but it just fall short on many occasions, in my opinion. Yeah.
Sal Rodriguez:No, no, I agree. I agree. I think that that would have made sense but the problem is though, you then wouldn't have been able to have these tender moments between Miyagi and UPA if she was married to Sato is so
Jason Connell:me argue would look like a bad guy. He would look like homewrecker. I totally get it. You can't have that he would
Sal Rodriguez:have been twice, Homewrecker then. If that's the case. Remember, Miyagi left Okinawa in shame he broke tradition. He broke culture. He embarrassed everyone. So Miyagi left Okinawa on bad terms and I think that if you were to then go back and then get involved in a marriage that was current with Sato and Yukia Yeah, that wouldn't have been looks good on Miyagi No.
Jason Connell:So anyway, just ref in there, but things I've thought about and things I have issues with. So now we get to Mr. Miyagi, and he's giving Daniel his last will and testament. He's getting his affairs in order, so to speak, Sal, and what does he give Daniel and his will?
Sal Rodriguez:So he gives Daniel the house in Canoga Park, and the truck, the 1941, light duty Chevrolet, but of course, Daniels, like I don't want the house in the truck, I want you you know, let's just get out of here Daniels trying to convince them, let's just hop on a plane and get the hell out of here. Forget about it. Forget about this. Honor garbage. But Miyagi says it is impossible. But Miyagi says no matter what happens, the village is safe forever. So at this moment in time, Miyagi stuck, if he leaves, the village gets destroyed. If he stays in fight, he may die. He is screwed either way. You know, sometimes in life, I talk about this with friends all the time. Sometimes in life, you have two bad choices, and you got to choose between two bad choices. Hell, you can say a lot of our elections are this way. So you got to choose between two bad choices. So no matter what, they're both bad choices, but at least he knows the village is safe, no matter what he does.
Jason Connell:Well, in a guy like Mr. Miyagi, and maybe the Japanese culture as a whole to die of honor is not a bad way to go out. You know, and he knows winning or losing saves the village. So he's at peace with that, I would say, that's why he stepped up to fight him. Finally, to end this only to save the village forever, no matter what happens. And a mess. That's kind of big of him. But there's no way Miyagi is gonna back out now is what I'm trying to say. No, no, he may have bailed earlier, if there was no reason to fight, but now there's a reason to fight. But my last point on the will, my question to you is, what about all the other classic cars? I mean, not the one that Daniel owns, but there's three others is, is that part of the will?
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, they kind of left that out in this movie. I think that they appear again, in credit cut three. But yeah, the cars are not there in Karate Kid two, I think we only have to assume now, obviously, to the newcomer, they would not know about these other cars. But for those of you familiar with the franchise and longtime fans, you know, there was a collection of cars in the first movie. Where is that collection of cars in the second movie? And yeah, Daniel should be getting all those cars too. Unless, of course, for all we know, Mr. Miyagi, left those cars to the Peterson on Wilshire,
Jason Connell:maybe he left them to the Peterson Automobile Museum, which, by the way, is an incredible place and should be visited by all but maybe he will them to someone else. Someone else from the seven seas or someone else in the Auggies life of what you perhaps who we've never met, will never know.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, I mean, why should Daniel get everything? Surely there are some people, some nice people, hell, maybe the mailman gets a car, you know, there are some nice people in Miyagi world who maybe deserved something. So the dental doesn't necessarily need to get everything hell, a house in a car is plenty two cars actually right, he would get the truck and the car that has already been given. So Miyagi will at that point, given him two cars and a house. I think he's good. Anything else can go to any other beloved ones. Great.
Jason Connell:So now we see Daniel walking around the village. And he sees Sato Prain. And Sal, he looks quite scary and focused in the same.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, I did like the scene that we get to see another side of Sato, but I wasn't certain what was actually taking place. Was he just going about his normal daily ritual? Or was he literally preparing mentally, for the upcoming fight? Is that what he what do you saw him doing?
Jason Connell:That's what I thought, you know, you get your game face on. He's getting into it.
Sal Rodriguez:Okay, so this is at the Shinto temple, where each arrow was playing the instrument for all the kids. So this is a center point of the village, which becomes even more important soon. So yeah, that's where Daniel sees Sato. They're in the Shinto Temple, which I was vitally very surprised to see. I was very surprised to see him in there. But yeah, he's in there, then getting his, uh, his gears ready, revving up for his fight. And so yeah, at this point, it makes it even scarier than at that point. And I
Jason Connell:know from playing sports for my entire life, yeah, you kind of, well, I don't usually fight to the death and anything. But I do know what it's like to get focused. And you lock in and you visualize, and I'm sure this guy is doing that. And you almost play out whatever battle you're going to participate in. You try to play it out mentally before you actually physically do it. I find it incredibly valuable and I'm sure someone have sought to his skill level and his experience in the martial arts. It's just gonna get him locked and loaded. And yeah, and honestly, I know that we both predict Miyagi could win. I would still have have my doubts, because someone is skilled as Sato is not someone you want to go up against and a fight to the death in a match with points and Okay, sure. But these are high stakes. And that was one cool thing the movie had going for it. I think it was the high stakes. It created some anxiety in me. We're all worried for Mr. Miyagi. And Sato looks unbeatable, and many senses. So now Daniel walks away from Sato and he stumbles into his very own tea ceremony with Kimiko and sell. This is such a great scene. And it was just really touching like so many others. And this film,
Sal Rodriguez:one of the things I really liked about this movie is the romance factor, which I think is greater than the first one with Daniel and Ali. Oh, yeah, there's such a romantic air about this film, both with Miyagi and UPA, but now with Daniel and Kumiko. I think that this scene here in the Canary with the Japanese tea ceremony, rivals, the clay sculpting scene in Ghost, as far as cinematic romantic moments that just make you nearly cry. So there's Kumiko inside with the tea ceremony all set up, Daniel enters kneels at the table, he tries to crack a joke is this seat taken? Kumiko is disappointed at the attempt. I don't know if she disappointed that the joke was so bad, or that he cracked a joke in general. But she looks very disappointed in his attempt at a joke. Daniel apologizes, the tea ceremony continues. Now here's one thing I definitely learned when I visited Japan. And this is why I love Japan so much. One of the reasons is because everything has a purpose and appoint and everything is specific and deliberate and has a meaning. There's no haphazardness there going on each movement, and this tea ceremony by komikko is specific and deliberate. Daniel drinks the tea prepared by komikko, she removes the stick that holds up her hair, they both lean in, I'm loving this scene so much they both lean in. And then again, not chosen this time. Candle blows out, boom storm, they both got a rush out of there. So it's almost a cock block. But instead of chosen this time, it's a storm, right as they're having their first real romantic kiss. Coming out of a fantastically beautiful scene.
Jason Connell:It was a beautiful, same as we've both attested to, and this movie, and you spoke to it. So I have to chime in. It did get the romance right. And really adult themes. It really did. And that's where the movie succeeds, as well as the high stakes. And in this movie, wow. Miyagi can be hurt emotionally, and he could die. And so that's where this movie succeeds. And then all the wonderful romance and falling in love and courtship, if you will, which the first movie had it had, it was different. You know, it was new kid rich girl, are they going to work? Is it going to mix? It worked for what it needed to be. But that's where this movie succeeds. And if it had gotten some of the other things, right, are smoothed out some of the things and maybe there's just scenes that were omitted. So to me, it feels like they're bigger gaffes. You know, in my opinion, it could be even higher rated. But this is one of those great saints. I think it's a bit of an homage to 16 candles, when Jake Ryan kisses Samantha, over the birthday cake in the candles at the very end of the movie. I'm thinking about moment, and then you're right, and not one second and maybe two seconds. And then here comes the storm. And the storm is like it's not even sprinkling. It's already on a full blown storm. Like ridiculous hide the kids take cover. We've got a monsoon or hurricane on our hands,
Sal Rodriguez:while Fumiko and Daniel run out of the cannery run toward the village. Yeah, it's almost like they were not in the loop because by the time they run it back to the village, and that little girl is up on the bell tower ringing the warning bell. Everyone else has already was piling into the shelter, bringing luggage bringing some prized possessions. How come Daniel and Fumiko were out of the loop this whole time but they obviously were so they kind of arrived late in the game. The bells going off the storms come and people are running into the shelter. We see Miyagi and UPA running into the shelter. So that little girls up there on the post are ringing the warning bell and Daniel and Kumiko run into Miyagi and UPA. They all go into the shelter. They look outside see a woman carrying a baby now that kid look at the scene again, that kid is fantastic because they really seem to be doing all the special effects as far as the practical effects with the wind and the rain but they look outside See this woman carrying the baby, they go back out to help. And as they do they see the Shinto temple crumble. And remember, that's where we saw Sato. So, for all we know, Sato is under the rubble of that Shinto church or temple rather.
Jason Connell:Exactly. So now Sato is stuck. And when we say storms come in, is it a hurricane? Or a monsoon? Or whatever it is, it's high wind and rain, and destructive,
Sal Rodriguez:you know, a hurricane or monsoon? Yeah, thanks. Yeah, one of
Jason Connell:the two. And growing up in Oklahoma, we dealt with tornadoes. Oh, and I dealt with one in particular, that was quite scary. I mean, it killed neighbors. It hit our property. We were very lucky to live. And that's a story for another day, but it's quite a tale. It was an f5 on our property. And it was terrifying. But it came out of nowhere. It just wasn't there. And then bam, it was destructive. Little tornadoes are coming off the big tornado. So I understand how something can just happen.
Sal Rodriguez:Wait, wait, how much time you talk in your how much warning? Do you get
Jason Connell:a man that thing was on us? Maybe 20 seconds, or 30 seconds? Yeah, it was the night that it happened. It was eerie. It's a certain time of year where the warmer weather and the cooler weather kind of mix. It's always in April in May. And the skies just looked really creepy that night. So maybe our warning was something feels off. Our neighbor had horses and they were acting funny about something they get a real sense of weather. So but that was on us very quickly. And thank God, it just didn't hit us head on it map I would have killed us. But I could see how something happens so fast. Not ever been in a hurricane or a monsoon. But it's very destructive. As you can see, you bring high winds into play. And it just takes things down.
Sal Rodriguez:I mean, what do I know? You know, I grew up in Los Angeles. I know nothing about any of these things. But did you have like a basement that you go into or something?
Jason Connell:No, at this point in time, we did have basements while I was in Tulsa. But we had left Tulsa for about six years and moved to outside of the city more into the country and had 10 acres. And my parents built a house and so we had left the bigger city, bigger city, relatively speaking. But there are no basements in this house that we built. And only one of our neighbors had a storm cellar. So no, we did not. We took refuge in the bathroom, a centralized room in our house and discovered up and literally prayed. And it lasted about a minute and a half after we made it and other people did as well. Everyone got storm cellars. So for anytime it sprinkled after that my sister and I took refuge and the storm cellar. Meanwhile, we never had another tornado incident but it just takes one to forever scar you for years to come. So you know, I totally get it. I totally get that bam, it's on them. But this is a different type of storm. A tornado is one thing it can plop down and it moves in such an unpredictable path. It just jumps up it skips the house it goes five over so this is a monsoon I'm assuming these are super heavy winds. And it's powerful enough to knock over buildings and really flatten the village. I mean tornadoes flatten, you know cities. So anyway, so Sato is underneath the rubble. And so so what happens because as strong and as tough as he is, he cannot get out on his own.
Sal Rodriguez:So Daniel and Miyagi rush toward the temple as chosen is headed the opposite way. I think Miyagi says where's your uncle? And he says, his uncle is dead. So we're going oh my gosh, so Sato is dead. Daniel and Miyagi look toward the temple. They see sat all of a sudden as gust of wind comes and releases some debris. They see Sato and they rush over there. Sato is on his back under a beam of wood. I love this this moment. Cassatt toes laying there, under this beam of wood, and he says, Miyagi, now you'll come to fight, coward. He thinks Miyagi is coming to kick his ass, but instead Miyagi is coming to rescue him along with Daniel. Miyagi breaks the beam that's laying over Santos. Jessie frees him with a karate chop.
Jason Connell:Kind of like the wood that Sokka was hitting at his house.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, very similar, reminiscent of that word for sure. They all three run back to the shelter Daniel looks back sees the girl stuck up in the bell tower. And he orders them back as he heads over to help Miyagi and Sato go into the shelter they see chosen, chosen says, Uncle I thought you were dead. Sato orders chosen to go outside and help Daniel save the girl chosen says he cannot and he heads deeper into the shelter. So we know that's a crucial moment there between Sato and chosen
Jason Connell:apps. salutely And just to speak on the scene, because we haven't really talked about it from a filmmaking standpoint. But this is a really great scene. I mean, it's terrifying. There's pieces moving, it's high winds. I mean, this is like the most elaborate sequence in any of the Karate Kid movies.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, you talk about the stakes, and I haven't actually hadn't thought about that. But yeah, you raise the stakes. This is definitely life or death, which the original movie did not really visit. This is life or death scenario happening right here.
Jason Connell:So this a great action sequence, you know, they have debris blowing. And you can kind of see Stockdale. And it was not an easy thing to shoot. So I give them credit. And I'd love to see some behind the scenes footage of, of just the making of this sequence. Because it was really impressive to me,
Sal Rodriguez:assuming it was all done with practical effects. You had the wind machines, did they actually film it at night? Maybe they filmed that inside of a studio. I mean, who knows? Maybe it wasn't all exteriors, I would be interested to see how they did that. I have not heard of any behind the scenes of cretica to let alone that particular scene. But yeah, I think that would be interesting to see how that was actually done. See the big fans working, and see the rainmakers working, that would be interesting.
Jason Connell:I'll have to get us the credit kid to DVD, like I got us the original film on DVD, which had all these cool special features. So there still is a place for DVDs in this world because you get content that is not online, like special features. And maybe it's on YouTube sometimes, but then the quality is suspect. So we'll have to look into that.
Sal Rodriguez:I realized that a few years ago when I was streaming content from YouTube, or rather from Netflix. And I was saying, wait a second, this movie doesn't have the behind the scenes, like the DVD has, you're missing so much content, if we're only doing streaming extremely exclusively, we're missing all kinds of cool content, director's commentary, special features. So I definitely do appreciate DVDs for that
Jason Connell:you make a good point, because the commentaries on films are kind of forgotten about much like the special features, but in particular, the commentaries, and I wish that some service like Audible, or even Netflix had that as an option. You want to do the commentary, just click here, it would cost hardly anything very small amount of bandwidth. I don't even have to see the movie, I just want to listen to the audio. So that is a good point. That's why DVDs will still have a place in blu rays for years to come and are until you can stream everything. So anyway. So you're right chosen has shown his true colors. He's a bully when he's got his crew. But when asked to put his own life on the line, he cowers away, and hides in shame. So Daniel is left on his own and gets the girl comes down. She's too big for him to carry her. So Sato, who had just been saved by Daniel and Mr. Miyagi comes out of the shelter, and carries the girl gives Daniel a look or a smile. And they both, you know struggle back in and take shelter
Sal Rodriguez:while Sato availed himself to go out there because at first Miyagi was gonna go out there, right. But then remember, Santo says, Miyagi, let me go. So he offered himself to go, so he went up there to help complete the task. And yeah, Daniel, remember that, that maneuver with the belt. So Daniels up there on the bell tower with this little girl. There's like some sparks coming off the Y and hit the bell. And then he took off his belt and like, hit the wire to get the wire down. So he totally saved this little girl's life, she would have been electrocuted.
Jason Connell:And then it was great to see Sato who he wasn't injured, he was stuck. So he still had the strength and the wherewithal to come out and help carry the little girl and help Daniel in. And that was nice moment. But meanwhile chosen is is stewing. But you kind of know now things are different, right? It feels like triumphant, if you will, I no longer felt like there was going to be a fight to the death. And sure enough, the next day, which is a beautiful clear day, sunny, and Sato shows up. And what happened Sal
Sal Rodriguez:Sato arrives in the Cadillac, and he's in these work clothes, like we would never we've only seen him in these expensive suits. He comes in these like work clothes, like he's working with FEMA. He goes, I come help rebuild. And he gives here's the deed to the village he gives the deed to the village to Miyagi. And he says to me, forgive me, I beg you so he really humbles himself, before Miyagi, because the night before was a real turning point, a huge turning point for everybody in the characters and the village itself. Miyagi Pat's, him on the shoulder. There's nothing to forgive. And Daniel asked Sato if they can have the bond dance, are they a bond dance? at the castle, Sato agrees. So, not only does the deed get given back to the people of the village, but they get to have their celebration and the bond dance at the castle where it belongs where it should be.
Jason Connell:I totally agree it does belong there. It's wonderful to see Sato come to his senses and, and just for the first time be more like a human being in touch with his feelings and his friendship. My only complaint would be that it has happened so fast, you know, is 180 but I know it was a big traumatic thing the night before. But I'm just shocked that he couldn't see the kindness and goodness in Miyagi to come around sooner. But hey, nonetheless, he's here. It's wonderful to see and all as well in the village.
Sal Rodriguez:Hang on, though, because you bring up a very good point. Like I personally don't necessarily believe people can do these 180 degree turns, let alone overnight, but I bring up from a cinephile perspective. I bring up a Christmas carol, one of my favorite Christmas tales. Ebenezer Scrooge did a 180 in one night. It was one night that he does the 180. So if Ebony's would have 3x Okay, but he was given truth serve. He was given a kick in the in the rear. And that's what Sato had Sato saw, he saw the truth behind chosen. He saw the truth behind Miyagi and Daniel, so he was able to see the truth. He had a lesson and he was able to do a 180 degree turn in one night. Now, does that happen in real life? I don't know. Does it happen in movies? Obviously, it does.
Jason Connell:Yeah. Well, he was just so angry, you know, had he not been over the we never even saw another side to Sato. It's not like it started at one and it grew to this 10. Now he was always like, ready to kill. And then it's a total change. So I think some of that, you know, it was just a little bit. He didn't feel like a real person. And all of a sudden, here he is, he's a human being. And he's, he's got a motion and he cares about a city. So I kind of dismissed him as the stuck.
Sal Rodriguez:It's one of those things where a popular cinema device is to allow the audience to sympathize with the villain. That's a prior I think thing device happening back in the 80s. I don't think we sympathize with the villains yet that come about till later. So the villains are kind of one dimensional, until they're either killed, or have their change of heart as Ebenezer Scrooge or Sato? Yeah. So I think that these characters were unfortunately a little bit ahead of their time, where we didn't really get to see. Well, Ebenezer Scrooge, we did get to see some of his youth. Yeah. But you know what, now that you mentioned it, so we could have seen another side of Sato Yeah. So that his turn becomes a little more believable.
Jason Connell:Flashbacks could have helped, because anything to show me that he was a good person, rather than just hearing about how they trained together. They were friends. I needed to see it. But I was thinking about what movie have I seen that happening? And interesting enough, is the Rocky franchise. Apollo Creed started as the villain, right. And through the movies, he became friends with Rocky, he trained him in Rocky three, he eventually dies. Spoiler alert, he dies in Rocky four. And so that was an interesting way to take the villain and bring him in as one of the heroes. That was an interesting thing. This is just done at a breakneck speed with Sato and something's dismissing, you know, if it's timing, if it's some scenes that were cut, for whatever reason, maybe they never shot them. Maybe the script is more flushed out. And hey, we can't do that we've got these special effects in this movie. We've got a lot going on, we have to focus on these things. And I think there's this is something a little false here and there and this movie. That's all. I'm happy to see him at this point. Yeah, it's awesome that him and Miyagi can shake hands again, and the village is saved. And yeah, of course, it's wonderful. So all that to say, it leads up to the village is going to have their huge celebration. And it looks fantastic, Sal, it's well orchestrated. It's super colorful with his costumes and music and dancing. And of course, you have Kimiko there, and she takes center stage. And what does she do?
Sal Rodriguez:She's getting ready to do a solo fan dance. And she's a little nervous. Daniel gives her encouragement. And by the way, Daniel is in a sweet, sweet red robe. Where did this come from? We've never seen this before. This is not a part of the Miyagi family tradition is this sweet red robe that Like any self respecting pimp would wear. This is a who's the Playboy guy?
Jason Connell:Hugh Hefner?
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, this is Hugh Hefner style rope. Where did this come from?
Jason Connell:Awesome. Did Kimiko also make this because she's amazing.
Sal Rodriguez:That would have been funny if she made the 50s dance clothes. And this robe by hand.
Jason Connell:Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'd like to have one and maybe there's a figure that you can get with Daniel wearing this.
Sal Rodriguez:You know what, that would be an interesting thing because the toy makers have explored the Karate Kid universe, namely the original movie Karate Kid. They have not really explored karate kid too. Yeah, if they made it a Daniel Russo action figure with this red rope. I am buying it. I'd also
Jason Connell:like to get Daniel on the blue talks with the car all day.
Sal Rodriguez:What if What if a Daniel Russo blue Tux X figure actually came with the the 1948 Super Deluxe
Jason Connell:breakout with a break off bumper to be great. So can Miko is preparing for this is like the big number. Everything is kind of leading to this moment in the film. Everyone's watching her all eyes on her. So what happens now?
Sal Rodriguez:Well, there she is. Kumiko looking fantastic and beautiful beginning her solo dance starts the dance opens up a fan As is the tradition. Very soon. We see chosen sliding in behind Kumiko on an overhead wire sliding in on this thing. I like ziplining in. Yes, exactly. Exactly. He puts a butterfly knife and it's definitely a butterfly knife because I used to have one myself, puts a butterfly knife to cubicles neck, threatening her life. He challenges Daniel. Miyagi tells Daniel it's not a tournament. It's for real. He's letting him know. There's no points here. There's no referee here. Daniel walks over chosen says no bridge. So Daniel kicks away the bamboo bridge. Chosen throws away the knife and throws away Kumiko and now it's Daniel unchosen facing off.
Jason Connell:So Kimiko was doing her dance on the stage. But there's kind of like this huge moat around it, if you will. It's a big drop off. And there's a little bit of bridge and everyone's sitting, you know, and like auditorium type seating, but natural like stone or whatever this cave is made of, and watching her. So when he comes ziplining and Daniel came over the bridge, he makes him throw the bridge. And now it's this the three of them really in here and no one can save them. I mean, no one can make the jump. There's probably another bridge somewhere. But they're all just watching and banking on Daniel, which it does make me think that they they did all of this assume Daniel could find him and Kumiko his life's at danger. I'm surprised that someone else didn't have like a backup plan.
Sal Rodriguez:I know that when Kumiko was just laying there after having been hit by Chozen. She was laying there for a while I really wanted somebody in the crowd to say, Hey, let us grab her. Let us take her. And then you guys go about you know, you guys go about your fight because she was laying there for a while how she could have been dead for all
Jason Connell:they know. So there's no one have like blow darts or something that could reach chosen. Like everyone's just sitting there like Okay, let's go Daniel. I mean, theoretically, Daniel could die and Kimiko could die.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, I mean, start throwing stuff.
Jason Connell:Yeah, our staffs or someone's got a bow and arrow. It's like no one went into a backup mode. I mean, maybe there was maybe there was some sort of Sniper at the top. And we Auggie would just nod to him or Sato Misato works for the military.
Sal Rodriguez:But it's not to have only those three thugs and when they're gone, he has no replacements because if he did have some backup thugs that he can assist them on chosen. So what the hell happened with that he only had three guys and that was it.
Jason Connell:I mean, he's trained US military for 40 years. He's got an F G eyes on his payroll, but it caught him by surprise. They're out of celebration. Anyway, that's just me being nitpicky. But I just think the stakes are high. You know, he
Sal Rodriguez:did warn him. He said, chosen. Don't do this. And then Miyagi said, Don't dishonor your uncle here. I'm trying to do my Japanese accents.
Jason Connell:Oh, that's good. It's good. Yeah. But the fight is on. And this is it all Valley and chosen, does the unthinkable. Sal. He does the unthinkable. And he counters the crane technique, the infamous Crane Kick. Of which Miyagi said What Sal
Sal Rodriguez:if done Correct. No can defense but
Jason Connell:yet chosen did and maybe it wasn't as good a form. But nonetheless, there it was. He defended it and how did he defend a Saudi remember,
Sal Rodriguez:okay. So, this is gets into what I mentioned earlier. So you look at the lineage, you had Mr. Miyagi his dad teaching his son, Mr. Miyagi. And Sato, then the lineage goes down, Miyagi side to Daniel and it goes down Sato side chosen, theoretically chosen should know all the moves, Daniel knows, right, it should stand to reason based on the lineage of the master disciple,
Jason Connell:I would assume when Mr. Miyagi fled, that Miyagi his father was no longer sockos active teachers since a master, that just be my assumption that a father wouldn't continue to train someone after all of that bad blood had spilt. And I would then assume Sato probably sought out another master or since they are developed his own style based on everything he'd already known. And so maybe new techniques happened, kind of the crease way, took place. That's just my assumption.
Sal Rodriguez:The reason why I would disagree with that is because Sato was there at Mr. Miyagi, his dad's deathbed. And then he was he was there in the village, I think that Sato has been a part of Mr. Miyagi. He's dad's life, all these years, in one way or another, maintaining some sort of closeness with him.
Jason Connell:I don't think he turned his back on him, I just think they may be stopped training together, not out of hatred, but almost out of respect, maybe Miyagi father's like, I'm no longer doing that anymore. I could see that. And Sato is like, great. You know, I understand, I'll go over here. Now I'll fight these tournaments, or I'll start my own dojo, he must have immediately got into it. And he's working with GI is on his own, and kind of, you know, how you learn everything you can from your parents, and then you go on and become your own person. I could see how Sato did that.
Sal Rodriguez:So in other words, you don't think that Chosun should know the moves of Daniel Russo, just because you go to their upline lineage find the same teacher?
Jason Connell:Well, I think they would know a lot of the similar things, right? Because they have the core of training initially. But I think at some point, it could just change. So yes, I think Daniel is a lot less skilled. Let's be honest, he's not even been in class. But what one year with Mr. Miyagi? How many months? Is it six months, beginning of this movie? And what was it like three before that? So he said, I've been training martial arts for a year. So he's far less experienced than someone like chosen. I always saying Sato probably then started to bring in different aspects, more aggressive training, he was training with all these military people. And that's all I was saying it was probably more robust. I think Daniel unchosen probably do know a few things the same and chosen is obviously seeing the Crane Kick and someone who's a little bit slower and probably not good at disguising it, or I don't know, but he just seen it a lot. Which, you know, Miyagi is lying about, there's no defense forever. If you always seen it, like I said, in earlier podcasts, you don't have to go into it. You could just wait it out. But anyway, it was interesting to see that that's Daniel's go to, and chosen had no problem with it at all.
Sal Rodriguez:No, no, no.
Jason Connell:So Daniel is definitely a better fighter now. But he's never faced someone, the skilled. And I do think he's hanging in there. He's definitely getting some shots here and there, but it's being outmatched, and it's not looking good. So Well, one thing
Sal Rodriguez:I realized, and I didn't realize this until the last time I watched the movie, Daniel's wearing jeans. So how difficult Do you think it would be to get some major kicks in wearing jeans versus your opponent who may be wearing something that allows you a little more mobility?
Jason Connell:Oh, you make a good point. Maybe it was the jeans it was the denim that slowed the crime kick down, just enough for chosen to get a hold of it? Yeah, not my preferred choice. I've never gone to class and tried to do all of our kicks with jeans on I much prefer a GI that is looser. So yeah, not ideal for Daniel didn't help them. But even beside that, I mean, this is a fight to the death, and he just doesn't have as much to draw on as chosen. But things begin to change. The the essence of Miyagi karate begins to unfold, and what starts to happen
Sal Rodriguez:all of a sudden, and I say all of a sudden, because I don't think anybody was expecting this. Miyagi starts on the Denden dicho hand drum, then everyone starts on their own and you have a whole arena In this castle ruins, a whole arena of people doing their twisting Denden dicho drum. So Daniel then whips into the drum technique as taught by Miyagi karate. It's an interesting sequence in the way that it's film because you don't normally see fight sequences filmed this close up, you see about a quarter shot of Daniel from the waist up, and then you see over the shoulder of chosen. And then you see Daniel initiating the drum technique, which is the side to side torque side to side side to side. And you see him besting chosen using the Denden taiko drum technique. And this goes back to what I said before, why doesn't chosen know this also. So somewhere along Sato is teaching last, the origins of Miyagi karate, which is the drum technique.
Jason Connell:Yeah, he probably omitted that, or who knows. Or maybe he caught him by surprise. So now Daniel does a series of hits. And it is a super tight camera. And it kind of looks like to me that his hands are, he has him clasped together and he's doing a double handed hit, but it's so tight, you just can't tell. So whatever it is, he does a series of hits to the right hits with the left hits with the right hits with the left and chosen is reeling, and just kind of succumbs to it, which leads us to this big finale.
Sal Rodriguez:So he delivers the drum technique. He conceivably has won the battle. He goes over to chosen grabs him by the hair by the back of the head. And he says live or die, man. I think he says man, right. Live or die, man. I think he does. Yeah. And chosen says die. And then Daniel says wrong and gives them a honk on his nose. Just like Miyagi did to crease outside of the all valid tournament.
Jason Connell:Oh my gosh. Another honk.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, you don't like the honk to you.
Jason Connell:I didn't mind this one as much as the first one. That it's fitting it bookends the movie, the two big intense scenes. I mean, I guess that well, that first fight sequence was supposed to be more intense with Creason Miyagi, but it wasn't. But no, I didn't mind this one as much because obviously Dan is not going to kill chosen, and he'd already won. And chosen his life is, well, he's gonna live without honor. So hey, Daniel is one Karate Kid and one karate kid too. Here's the letter, just like the first film. Daniel gets the girl.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, so two films in a row, Daniel gets the victory and gets the girl.
Jason Connell:And just like the first film, The ending is quite similar, isn't it?
Sal Rodriguez:We have Miyagi looking on at his students victory and smiling. And that's the end.
Jason Connell:The only difference is in the original it was a still shot. And then we you know, we're on Miyagi. And this one it's live action. Yeah, Miyagi. And that's the only difference, but I loved it. I did. That's a great send off. And that's it. Karate Kid. Part two.
Sal Rodriguez:I loved it. I really did.
Jason Connell:It's a really good film. I enjoy it. I think it is so much stronger than the other two karate kids that have Mr. Miyagi in them. And yeah, like I said, a lot of adult storylines, incredible scenes of the romance high stakes. And it's a really good film. And yes, it could have been even stronger. But it holds up and it's nice to go back and when we've lost Pat Marita many years ago, and his legacy and Mr. Miyagi his legacy lives on. And this movie, I mean, Had this not been part of the Karate Kid franchise, it would be very sad. You know, there's a lot that comes from this movie.
Sal Rodriguez:I would definitely say Miyagi lives on he lives on in all of the sequels, and lives on in Cobra Kai, Miyagi is will always live. And that's why I really foresee some time in the future. We see a world a Karate Kid universe that goes backward, and we begin to see Miyagi as a child. And of course, you will probably see Sato as a child, you get to see his father maybe get to see Miyagi his mother. So I think that there is a wonderful opportunity here, considering what has occurred recently with Cobra Kai, a wonderful opportunity to revisit the Karate Kid universe. Way back when?
Jason Connell:Yeah, I totally agree. I've spent Pat Marinus gone but yeah, Miyagi, his character will live forever. And they've already had that one scene and Cobra Kai, which leads me to believe maybe it's them, and maybe it's someone else. He's just such a great character, that you could do more with them. You could recast it and you could do Miyagi the early years. He is Endless to do things with. So I like that idea for sure. And at some point in time, we might have to watch this Karate Kid cartoon to see what they did. Want again, I'm unfamiliar with
Sal Rodriguez:no, I haven't seen that either. So yeah,
Jason Connell:I mean, what we do know about the third movie is that unfortunately, UPA and Kimiko are not in it. Spoiler. I know. Well, you've had enough time the audience has had no time to seek credit get three. I think there's an expiration on some boilers
Sal Rodriguez:is like, like, Hey, man, I want to see Gone With the Wind, but I don't want any spoilers before I see. I don't
Jason Connell:need spoilers. So yeah, you know, that's unfortunate. I would love to have seen UPA and Miyagi, you know, come back to the US.
Sal Rodriguez:What because Karate Kid three opens with them coming back, coming back from Okinawa at the airport, right?
Jason Connell:empty handed? Absolutely.
Sal Rodriguez:Why aren't there ladies with them? Yeah, wow.
Jason Connell:We will answer these questions and explore many more things on the Karate Kid part three special episode. I don't think sat us in it. So thank you so much for listening and please be sure to subscribe to the let's talk Cobra Kai podcast, and the let's talk Cobra Kai YouTube Live Channel. You can also really help us by giving the show a five star rating on Apple podcast.
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Sal Rodriguez:No Mercy