We’ve known for some time now that Cobra Kai’s third season will delve into the sequel side of its cinematic roots by having Daniel return to the Okinawa setting of 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II—this time having skipped a repeat shoot in Hawaii for actual filming in the southern Japanese island prefecture—along with the return of two key characters from that film, Daniel’s main antagonist, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), and love interest Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita). Yet, the new clip has answered (and arguably spoiled) one of the biggest questions raised in Season 3’s preview ephemera, which asked if the belligerent, fight-to-the-death-challenging Chozen has turned over a new leaf? Well, based on this clip (seen just below), the answer is “hai” (“yes”). As star Ralph Macchio revealed to EW, Daniel’s return to Okinawa is a two-episode odyssey spanning Season 3’s fourth and fifth episodes, facilitated by a trip to Japan, where he hopes to secure investors to save his struggling auto dealership. As the clip makes evident, Daniel and Chozen seem to be getting friendly(ish) inside what appears to be a rebuilt Miyagi family dojo—a place that Chozen and his thuggish friends wantonly wrecked in Part II. Yet, it seems that Chozen’s array of unsavory habits—be it bullying people, defrauding poor villagers with overcharged vegetables, to not honoring his own bets—were effectively drum-punched out of him during the movie-climactic duel with Daniel. Thus, we see the two former rivals (who, in the trailer, were seen having a sparring session,) share a moment that acknowledges their respective roles in the legacy of Miyagi-Do karate, with Daniel obviously having learned the art from de facto father Mr. Miyagi, and Chozen having learned it from his uncle, Sato, who was taught by Miyagi’s own sensei father; something that, as Daniel points out, essentially makes them “karate cousins.” However, Chozen’s apparent face turn on Cobra Kai also comes with some intriguing dimensions, and we see evidence of lingering tension when Daniel’s act of reaching for another apparently-ancient item from the Miyagi-do archives is met with a familiar aggressive interjection of “oi!” from Chozen, who immediately snatches it from Daniel’s hand, saying that it’s “not for you,” since he is a “foreigner.” Of course, as Daniel retorts to Chozen, Mr. Miyagi was also like a father to him, embodying a paternal dynamic that was a central theme poetically in Part II, which brought Miyagi and Daniel to Okinawa to visit the former’s dying father. Cobra Kai Season 3 will deliver a parting Crane Kick to the proverbial face of the nightmare year 2020 when it hits Netflix on Friday, January 1, 2021.
