Tag: Television

Why is Cobra Kai Good?

I’ll try not to include spoilers but no promises. If you are planning to watch the show but haven’t gotten around to it, you might want to be safe and stop reading now.

You have been warned.

Jen and I had a discussion this morning about Cobra Kai the TV series. Specifically, why is it good? When the show was first announced I, like many people, assumed it was going to be a spoof based on some jokes in the show How I Met Your Mother (one of the characters insisted that The Karate Kid was a story of a wholesome rich kid who got screwed out of his karate title and his girlfriend by the new bully in town). It’s not though. It’s just a continuation of the Karate Kid story (not you, Next Karate Kid). Johnny has grown up to be a loser. Daniel has grown up to be successful with a happy family. Johnny meets a nerd and decides to teach him karate and three seasons worth of bloody hijinks ensues.

If you look at it objectively and break it down into its core pieces, is it good? The acting isn’t terrible. Some of the kids are hard to watch but for the most part it’s okay. No one in The Karate Kid was getting a best actor award, and we’re pretty much on par with that today. The writing is pretty suspect. The boss fights in the season two and three finales were gratuitous to say the least (especially season two) and could have made the same points with 75% less violence. Granted, gratuitous does not necessarily mean bad. The dialog is often funny, but the overall story is completely telegraphed. You can literally see what’s coming multiple episodes ahead. I know surprise twists aren’t really the point here, but still… You could see the dramatic ending of season three happening during season one. It’s that predictable. Of course, that didn’t mean there wasn’t literal cheering in our living room when then dramatic ending to season three happened.

The show is 100% nostalgia and fan service. Seriously, there is nothing else here. Even that is hard to understand though. I saw the Karate Kid in the theater in 1984. I was 13. It never ranked as a favorite for me, not even close, but I liked it. It was fun. When the sequel came out I saw that in the theater too. Not so much for part three. I still don’t think I’ve seen that at all. That could explain why I like the show. It’s bringing me back to a simpler, more innocent time yadda yadda yadda. I can get behind that, but how does that explain my 18 year old step son? He loves it! He sat there cheering along with the rest of us. It’s not nostalgic for him, so where is his pre-existing emotional connection?

So the question remains? Why is Cobra Kai so good? Why have we hung on every shot for three seasons? Why are we all bummed out that we have to wait until next January for season four? How did they do this to us? They pulled a fast one on us and I want to know what happened. Was it hypnotism? Was it brain washing?

Why is Cobra Kai so damned good?

Beware

Home improvement shows on HGTV should come with a warning label. Everything going on here is their fault. We watched a bunch of episodes of Property Brothers* and now we’re turning the house upside down.

First it was the bedroom closets. Then it was the furniture arrangement. Then it was the bed. Then it was the end tables. We should be done with this room this weekend. After that it’s going to be the kitchen.

We aren’t doing renovations because Covid, duh. We’re making changes that are simple enough that a klutz with no home improvement skills (me) can pull them off.

The actual renovations will be in the cellar and they will wait until after Covid is cleared out. Pretty much everything in the cellar, from beneath the floor tiles up through anything actually sitting on the floor is so badly water damaged that it’s got to go. The floor and the walls and the drop ceiling all have to go. The HVAC ducts all have to go. I think once Covid is gone and we can let a work crew into the house we are going to take anything savable out of the cellar and put it somewhere. Everything else can be taken out by a junk removal service or something. Then we bring a contractor to take up the floor, take down the drop ceiling, and fix the walls. It’s going to be a nightmare, but there is so much water damage that there isn’t a choice.

The cellar can’t be blamed on the Property Brothers and HGTV, but all the upstairs stuff can. How dare you, HGTV. Put a warning label on these shows. Stay safe, everyone.

*Do you think either of the Property Brothers, or any of the staff and crew who work on the show have ever used the phrase, “property bros. before property hoes”?

The Stand: No Spoilers (Mostly)

I started watching episode six of the new mini series version of The Stand. I have to say something publicly and it won’t include any story spoilers, but it will give an opinion on one aspect of the production that may color your ideas a bit. Probably not, but maybe.

You’ve been warned:

Get out now if you want to remain 100% uninformed.

………

Okay, here it goes: Ezra Miller needs to retire. This is hands down the worst performance ever. Ever. He needs to be punished for this. He needs to go to his room without any supper and never come back again.

I’ve seen him in exactly two scenes and that’s enough to make the entire series suddenly feel unwatchable. Dude is that bad.

Dream or Nightmare

I had a dream that we went on vacation to some unnamed beach hotel. The cast of the show The Flash was there. I was trying to impress them by telling them I was in a cover band and we played a Genesis song. They were polite, but they were also not impressed.

Was it a dream or was it a nightmare?

You decide.

HGTV

We just binged an entire season of the HGTV show Brother Vs Brother. The show where these two twins buy huge houses and do renovation competitions. We weren’t planning it. We definitely didn’t mean to do it. It just happened.

They bought two century old houses for 2+ million dollars each and then sold them for 5.5+ million dollars each. I think I’m in the wrong business. Totally.

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 70

This isn’t so much a stir crazy moment as it is a monthly check in. Consider it more like The State of the Lock Down.

Yesterday marked 10 months since the last time I was at my desk in Waltham. Ten. 10. 10 months. Unbelievable. So much for two or three weeks. I keep writing that same thing every month, but it’s true. Harry is half way through his senior year in high school. Bellana is a couple of weeks away from staring her fourth semester in college. Jen and I are still plugging away at working from home. Life inside the house is still going well. Life outside of the house is crashing and burning in spectacularly horrifying fashion. Jen just told me that Massachusetts is sending National Guard troops to Washington, DC. 2021 is a nightmare and it’s only two weeks old.

We binge watched The Queens Gambit and it was every bit as riveting as you’ve heard. The first Disney+ Marvel series, WandaVision, premiers tomorrow. I just read they are releasing two episodes, which means I probably won’t be caught up before work in the morning. Wonder Woman ’84 was probably not as bad as most people are saying, but it wasn’t very good. I’ve seen Pedro Pascal in three roles now. He was outstanding in Game of Thrones. He is perfect in The Mandalorian. He was horrendously awful in Wonder Woman. What the hell happened? As for Diana, wishing for her lost love? The goddess who hangs everything on some man? I don’t buy it. It’s clear what she would have wished for. She would have wished to be able to go home. Whatever. Bellana and I started watching The Stand. My favorite book by my favorite author (arguably, it’s either him or Clive Barker) has been turned into a television series and… we’re a few weeks behind now, but it’s not that good. Cobra Kai season three is out there but we haven’t started it yet. Bellana’s not interested so we’re holding off until she goes back to school at which time Jen and Harry and I will likely binge the whole season in a day.

Our Christmas decorations are down and put away. Everything except the lights outside. We had originally agreed to leave those up until inauguration day. Now we’re joining up with a little movement one of our local hospitals is pushing to leave them on for the month of January in honor of those risking their lives to fight Covid-19. Absolutely. We are on board.

One of our cars has it’s check engine light on. I am assuming it’s something to do with air leaking into the gas line, but messing with the gas cap hasn’t helped. It’s low on gas right now so hopefully it will resolve when I fill it again. Unfortunately the car also has an expired inspection sticker and I just don’t want to risk exposure for it. The other car doesn’t expire for a couple of months. That one had tire pressure warnings so I did go to a gas station to top them off. I didn’t run into anyone. It was safe.

Obligatory thank yous to folks on the ground from amazon and grubhub and instacart. You’re all helping to keep my family safe and I will never stop appreciating it.

Jen and I are still lighting candles in every room in the house for no reason at all. Amazon just delivered a big box of fresh supplies. We’ll be telecommuting by candle light for a while longer.

I’m really tired of all of this crap. The upside is that we’re about a week away from having an actual government Covid-19 response plan. It’s probably too late, but maybe it will straighten out the bullshit we’re seeing with vaccine distribution so far. Fingers crossed.

Mostly, fingers crossed that this ends soon.