Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai,’ Johnny Lawrence gets a shot at presenting the story from his angle, proving that he wasn’t the ultimate bad guy in Daniel LaRusso’s life. Rather, he claims it is vice versa, and sure enough, it looks so, at least from his perspective. While Johnny might be trying to change his ways, Daniel is still not over the things that happened about four decades ago. This connects to his deep loyalty and devotion to Mr. Miyagi and his teachings, which he has stuck to his entire life. The show understands the depth of their relationship, which is why, despite Mr. Miyagi having passed away, he is repeatedly referred to and remains an important character for Daniel and the overall story. His importance is also echoed in the final scene of ‘Cobra Kai,’ where we are taken into a flashback that was one of the pivotal moments in Daniel’s life.
The Fly Scene Calls Back to an Iconic Moment from The Karate Kid
Once the dust settles on the Sekai Taikai tournament, Daniel and Johnny are seen at a restaurant a couple of months after Johnny and his Cobra Kai dojo emerge victorious against all odds. The conversation focuses on the discussion of their students, who are being taught in the ways of Cobra Kai as well as Miyagi-do and are given the chance to know where their true potential lies. The success of their endeavor can be imagined from the fact that Daniel is ready to let his own son lean into the Cobra Kai training. It seems the duo has found a balance between their seemingly conflicting ideologies, and that is what the fly scene represents.
In the original ‘The Karate Kid,’ there is a scene where Daniel comes to Mr. Miyagi’s house and finds him trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. When he questions his sensei’s approach, wondering why he couldn’t just use a fly swatter, the man says: “Man who catches a fly with a chopstick can accomplish anything.” To Mr. Miyagi, catching a fly with chopsticks is an ultimate act of dedication to karate, as it takes skill to do it. But then, Daniel catches it, leading Mr. Miyagi to scoff at the kid and call it beginner luck. While that might be true, the scene also shows that Daniel, after all, is capable of anything, that he can and does accomplish whatever he sets his mind too. The scene is referred to again in the sequel, but by the time we come to the ‘Cobra Kai’ finale, it takes a different meaning.
When Daniel sees a fly hovering around him in the restaurant, he is reminded of Mr. Miyagi. Out of curiosity and nostalgia, he tries to catch the fly with the chopsticks. But before he can do that, Johnny comes along and swats the fly with his hands. In a way, this scene puts Daniel in Mr. Miyagi’s shoes, and he smiles because now he knows what his sensei would have felt back then. At the same time, it also shows Daniel that, perhaps, using chopsticks is not the only way to go about trying to catch a fly. One could say that this is the philosophy that ‘Cobra Kai’ has been about all this time, and it has evolved significantly from what was established in the 1984 film.
The Fly Scene Adopts a New Meaning in the Netflix Show
In the movie, there is a clear line between the good guys and the bad guys, and there is the right way to do karate (which is the Miyagi way) and the wrong way to do karate (which is the Cobra Kai way). For years, this was the established norm, but the arrival of ‘Cobra Kai’ and the change in the story’s perspective turned that narrative on its head. In the events of the six seasons of the show, it becomes clear that Daniel might be a good guy, but he isn’t always right, and Johnny isn’t exactly the villain he was painted to be. Even characters like John Kreese get a chance at redemption, which leads to seemingly unimaginable alliances being forged.
In the end, one could say that Daniel really has accomplished the impossible. He has not only befriended the man whom he considered his mortal enemy, but he has also found a way to make peace between Miyagi-do and Cobra Kai. At the end of the day, he has done the thing he set out to do: stop Cobra Kai from turning kids into karate bullies (which is, honestly, how things started when Johnny restarted the dojo) and reform the whole thing to keep things in order, even if it means that he has had to reform and adapt himself in some ways.
Read More: Who are the Two Guys at the Restaurant in the Final Scene of Cobra Kai?
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