Cobra Kai season 1's high school dance missed an opportunity for another perfect callback to the Halloween party scene in The Karate Kid.
Cobra Kai season 1 missed an opportunity for a perfect callback to the Halloween party scene in The Karate Kid. Considering that the central conflict in season 1 was between Johnny and Daniel, the bulk of its references stemmed from the first movie. Through the two characters and their respective proteges, the series found ways to insert all sorts of Karate Kid Easter eggs.
Cobra Kai season 1 paid homage to various scenes and lines, often for both comedic and nostalgic value. It found room for references tied to Daniel’s crane kick, “wax on,” Mr. Miyagi’s bonsai trees, and more. One particular Easter egg was used to define an entire sequence in Cobra Kai’s third episode. At the high school Halloween dance, Miguel wore a skeleton costume resembling the outfits worn by Johnny and his gang on Halloween in The Karate Kid. Seeing Miguel dressed up like a skeleton gave Daniel an unpleasant reminder of the beating he received from Johnny and his friends in the first movie.
Given the circumstances of the Halloween dance, the series could have easily gone even further in paying tribute to the classic Karate Kid scene. Similar to how the show revived Johnny’s old costume, Cobra Kai was in a position to bring back Daniel’s as well. In The Karate Kid, Daniel famously wore a shower curtain costume to the dance. Since he was at Sam’s dance as a chaperone in Cobra Kai season 1, the series could’ve featured an additional callback by putting Daniel in another version of the costume. Since Sam didn’t want him to be seen, Daniel could have thought of it as a joke to play on his daughter.
Making this an even better opportunity for the series was the fact that Johnny also happened to be there. He was hanging up Cobra Kai flyers in the hallways. Having Johnny and Daniel present at the Halloween dance would have made the shower curtain reference a humorous moment for both characters. Not unlike how Daniel was shocked to see Miguel in Johnny’s skeleton outfit, this would have forced Johnny to revisit Daniel blasting him with a water hose. But unfortunately, the chaperones at the dance didn’t wear costumes.
If Cobra Kai had simply made the chaperones dress up for the dance along with the students, it would have been easy for the series to pull this off with Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso. As for why this never happened, it’s worth noting that moving in this direction would’ve risked it coming across as overkill. It’s possible that Cobra Kai would have struggled to justify both costumes from The Karate Kid’s Halloween party making appearances in the same episode. If it had to pick between them, it’s not surprising that it went with Johnny’s over Daniel’s, as its inclusion fit with the story and was consistent with Johnny’s inability to let go of the past.
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