Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) joins Cobra Kai Season 4 can retrospectively fix the errors of The Karate Kid Part III. At the end of season three of Cobra Kai, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence decide to put their 35-year rivalry aside and join forces to free the San Fernando Valley from Cobra Kai. In response, John Kreese (Martin Kove) is making a call to recruit reinforcements, and Season 4 Cobra Kai has confirmed that Kreese called his old partner in crime, Terry Silver. This sets up Cobra Kai Season 4 as a sequel to The Karate Kid Part III, in which Kreese and Silver team up to terrorize Daniel again.
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The Karate Kid Part III introduced Terry Silver to the martial arts saga. Silver was Kreese’s Vietnam buddy, and he co-founded Cobra Kai. However, Terry was an unscrupulous multimillionaire who ran a company called DynaTox that committed crimes against the environment. But when Kreese asked for help against Daniel LaRusso and his sensei Miyagi-san (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita), Silver put his business aside to go to war against the unsuspecting teenager. Pretending to be LaRusso’s new mentor, Terry got Daniel to join Cobra Kai and split up with Miyagi-san. After Daniel’s worst impulses came to the fore, Silver and Kreese announced they cheated on LaRusso to get him to defend the All Valley Karate Championship against their handpicked fighter Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan). Daniel got the last laugh, however, when he pissed Barnes off and won, again foiling Cobra Kai’s conspiracy.
Cobra Kai has won longtime fans of The Karate Kid fans by being a true sequel to the films. Cobra Kai continues the story of Daniel and Johnny and introduces numerous new and lovable characters. Cobra Kai also contains numerous recalls about the Karate Kid films; In particular, the third season of Cobra Kai followed The Karate Kid Part II, so Daniel reconnected with the characters of that film, Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto). Additionally, Season 3 Cobra Kai also brought back Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue), who brought Johnny and Daniel together as allies. Cobra Kai’s sequel also allows fans to see The Karate Kid films in a new light as Daniel and Johnny gain a new perspective on their teenage rivalry. Now, with the release of Terry Silver, Cobra Kai has a golden opportunity to fix some of the biggest issues with The Karate Kid Part III.
What went wrong with Karate Kid 3
The Karate Kid Part III is widely considered to be the worst of the films about Daniel LaRusso, and Ralph Macchio has put it on record that he was his least-fallen in the trilogy. After director John Avildsen vetoed the idea of killing LaRusso at the end of The Karate Kid Part III, the film essentially picks up on the story of the original film. The big twist on Karate Kid III was that Terry Silver took advantage of Daniel’s dark side to trick him into joining Cobra Kai against his better judgment, creating a rift between LaRusso and Miyagi. But Karate Kid Part III still ends at the All Valley Tournament, just like the original film where Daniel beats the odds in the end. Meanwhile, Daniel was never less personable than in The Karate Kid Part III, while Cobra Kai villains Silver, Kreese and Mike Barnes were caricaturally evil and one-dimensional.
Cobra Kai Season 4 builds on Karate Kid 3
The fourth season of Cobra Kai that brings Terry Silver back is just one of the ways Netflix’s hit streak will be a true sequel to The Karate Kid Part III. Cobra Kai Season 4 also builds on yet another All Valley Under 18 karate tournament, with the big twist that Daniel’s Miyagi-Do-Dojo works alongside Johnny’s Eagle Fang Karate. Under the agreement LaRusso and Lawrence made with Kreese, if the students of Miyagi-Do or Eagle Fang win in All Valley, Cobra Kai will cease operations and leave the valley for good.
Cobra Kai Season 4 is billed as the “Battle for the Soul of the Valley”, but Terry Silver is a key in the plan that Daniel and Johnny don’t see coming (especially since Sensei Lawrence has never heard of Terry Silver since Johnny Has). was not in The Karate Kid Part III). Terry is a corrupting influence who uses his money for nefarious purposes. If Silver joins Kreese as a co-sensei of Cobra Kai, he could manipulate John’s students like Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) and Tory Nichols (Peyton List) and make them even more sadistic. Silver could possibly sink his hooks in some of Daniel and Johnny’s students as well, maybe even LaRusso’s daughter Samantha (Mary Mouser) or Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena). Terry Silver would also probably itch to undo Daniel’s humiliation in The Karate Kid Part III’s All Valley Tournament.
What Cobra Kai from Karate Kid 3 needs to fix
Cobra Kai already features richer characters and better writing than The Karate Kid Part III, which largely felt like it was just going through the moves of the 1984 Karate Kid. The announcement of Cobra Kai season 4 already promises that fans will see Terry Silver, who was nothing more than a cackling, cartoonish villain, albeit a memorable one, in The Karate Kid Part III. Fascinatingly, the third season of Cobra Kai revealed the origins of how John Kreese and Terry Silver became friends serving together in Vietnam. John actually saved Terry’s life, which is why the two ex-soldiers became brothers for life and founded Cobra Kai together.
Yet Cobra Kai Season 3’s original retcon also showed new shades to Kreese and Silver’s friendship, and Cobra Kai Season 4 might portray their renewed alliance as less than smooth sailing. After all, Cobra Kai excelled at surprising fans while still delivering the action and comedy they wanted from the sequel, The Karate Kid. Cobra Kai is also blessed with more complex and compelling karate students than Mike Barnes, who was just an irrational tyrant. Robby, Tory, and the other teenage characters are already much more interesting and multidimensional than Mike Barnes ever was, and it will be fascinating to see how they engage with the devious Terry Silver.
Can Cobra Kai Season 4 retrospectively improve Karate Kid 3?
Cobra Kai Season 4 could fix the problems with The Karate Kid Part III retrospectively. Looking back 35 years after Daniel’s only encounter with Terry Silver in 1985, both characters are in new phases of their lives. But their paths cross again as rivals, but it will be a smarter and more confident Daniel who will face Terry Silver again, so their dynamics will be fascinatingly different. Just as Cobra Kai gave new perspectives on Ali’s relationships with Daniel and Johnny in The Karate Kid and even forged a new understanding between LaRusso and Chozen after their blood rivalry in Karate Kid Part II, Cobra Kai could have a new one for Daniel and Silver in season 4 Dynamics.
Cobra Kai also cleverly points out issues with The Karate Kid films so the series could address why Terry was such a mustache-swirling villain who spent his money torturing a teenager to get him into a karate Fight tournament. Just as Cobra Kai revealed new dimensions to Johnny’s high school Cobra Kai friends in season 2, season 4 of Cobra Kai could also show new sides of Terry’s relationship with Kreese. There could even be ongoing problems between John and Terry after the villains failed against Daniel in The Karate Kid Part III, which Cobra Kai season 4 will take advantage of. Terry Silver, who joins Cobra Kai, is a big deal and the disappointments of The Karate Kid Part III can be seen in a new light over time Cobra Kai Season 4 is ready.
Cobra Kai Season 4 will be streaming on Netflix on December 31st.
About the author
John Orquiola
(1956 article published)
John Orquiola is a features writer who has been with Screen Rant for the past four years. He began as an assistant director on various independent films. A lover of film and film theory, John wrote humorous film reviews on his blog Back of the Head that caught his attention from Screen Rant. John happily became the Star Trek guy at Screen Rant, directing feature coverage of the various Star Trek series, but he also writes on a wide range of topics from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Cobra Kai. His other big nerdy loves are British TV series like The Crown, Downton Abbey and Killing Eve. John can be found on Twitter @BackoftheHead for photos of his meal.
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