Cobra Kai season 3 video shows Johnny encouraging Miguel after his injury. Much skepticism was expressed when in 2018 YouTube Red released the first season of Cobra Kai, a series sequel to the much-loved Karate Kid movie franchise. However, critics were largely impressed by how the show revived the movie’s story, and the series was indeed popular enough with audiences to earn a second season.
Now after two seasons of Cobra Kai on YouTube Red, the show is headed to Netflix for season 3 (indeed the first two seasons have arrived on Netflix as well, and become more popular than they ever were on YouTube’s ill-fated original series portal). As fans well remember, season 2 ended on a cliffhanger as Miguel (Xolo Mariduena) landed in the hospital following the big karate rumble at the school, with his mentor and father figure Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) at his side. A Cobra Kai season 3 trailer already revealed some key information about how the story continues, including the fact that Miguel survives his injuries and perhaps even begins to return to karate after sufficiently recovering.
Now thanks to a new video clip released by Netflix, fans are afforded another glimpse of what happens to Miguel in the beginning of season 3, which hits the streamer on January 8, 2021. In the scene, Johnny arrives in Miguel’s hospital room to find his protégé feeling sorry for himself because he can’t move his legs. Suffice it to say, Johnny’s response to Miguel’s self-pity is very Johnny. See the clip in the space below:
The relationship between Miguel and Johnny has of course been central to the show since the earliest episodes, when a bullied Miguel first went to Johnny’s re-established Cobra Kai dojo to begin karate training. Since then, Miguel has become something of a replacement for Johnny’s own son Robby (Tanner Buchanan), who of course has sided with Johnny’s old enemy Daniel (Ralph Macchio) at his own Miyagi-Do karate school. As the clip above attests, Johnny is not ready to give up on Miguel, but continues to push his student even as the lad suffers through the biggest ordeal of his young life. And Miguel is ready to continue receiving Johnny’s guidance, as he responds positively to being yelled at by his less-than-subtle mentor.
Though Johnny of course has become attached to Miguel in a fatherly way, there’s a lot of conflict inherent to their relationship, as Johnny feels guilt over the loss of his bond with Robby as well as on-going doubt about the wisdom of his “Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy.” karate philosophy. That philosophy obviously helped lead to the very rumble that caused Miguel to be injured, which only adds to Johnny’s sense of remorse. It will be interesting to see how the relationship between Miguel and Johnny, not to mention Johnny’s own inner-conflict, continues to play out in Cobra Kai season 3.
Source: Netflix/Twitter