MovieChat Forums > The Karate Kid Part III (1989) Discussion > Did Daniel really ‘win’?

Did Daniel really ‘win’?

posted 8 months ago by Melton (2377)
25 replies | jump to latest

Danny’s a wholesome, upbeat, good humoured, well meaning kid, yet he attracts violent bullies to an absurd degree.

In the first film he got the better of Johnny who then takes a beating from his psycho instructor, a clear victory for Danny.

In the second, he must fight some local psycho from Okinawa to the death and wins (sparing the psycho’s life of course), and he’s heading home the next day so he’s safe, another victory.

But this time he’s up against a trio of utter psychopaths. The coked up, bug-eyed hothead kid who is perfectly happy to murder Danny and his gf if Danny refuses to fight. John Kreese on beast mode, and of course the legendary Terry Silver - an overlord villain so insane and psychotic he befriends Danny just so he can slowly mentally and emotionally torture him, before setting him up to be publicly humiliated and battered within an inch of his life.

Of course, Danny wins the tournament… but did he really win? Do you seriously think these sadistic sociopaths are going to leave it at that? All Silver has to do is snap his fingers and he can have anyone greased. It would honestly be perfectly within character for him to arrange for Danny and/or Miyagi to be killed or permanently maimed shortly after the tournament.

As the film ended I was pleased Danny won the match, but this was soon dwarfed by a massive dark cloud of dread and despair over what retribution surely awaits Danny and Mr Miyagi for the crime of humiliating Terry Silver and his gang of bloodthirsty maniacs.

Did anyone else have this experience??

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 8 months ago

"and of course the legendary Terry Silver - an overlord villain so insane and psychotic he befriends Danny just so he can slowly mentally and emotionally torture him, before setting him up to be publicly humiliated and battered within an inch of his life."

Let me stop you right there mister.

Terry Silver didn't torture Daniel. Daniel was always a hothead and hopped up on cocaine, all Silver did was wind him up and get out of the way. And if we're honest... we know that Daniel liked it, there's always been a little Cobra Kai in him.

That said, yes I believe Terry Silver was ultimately forced to put a bounty on Daniels head of the crime of attempting to drop out of the tourney last minute, for not paying for his Cobra Kai karate lessons, and for urinating on the mat causing a biohazard.

[–] MrBuzzcut (54) 6 months ago

The ludicrous premise of Cobra Kai -- Whinieille as a successful businessman with a lovely wife -- has always bothered me.

It is more likely that Whineielle succumbed to internal injuries suffered during his "win" and died in Miyagi's arms while the besotted old coot mumbled "happy song".

[–] NRC123 (2082) 6 months ago

Always thought of the plot of Cobra Kai as Daniel’s opium dream after Miyagi took him to a den to recover from the Barnes match.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8319) 5 months ago

I thought this thread was going to go somewhere different.

I agree that Daniel didn't really win, but on other grounds: He won only on a technicality. Mike Barnes beat the shit out of him, intentionally losing points in order to prolong the beating. While Daniel may have won the contest according to the rules of the tournament he was in, he certainly didn't win the fight. He got his ass kicked and it's clearly to everyone that Barnes was the superior fighter.

[–] Melton (2377) 5 months ago

All that is moot. The problem is that the odds of Danny and Miyagi washing up on shore after defeating psychotic Terry Silver and his maniac pals are extremely high.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8319) 5 months ago

Well they escaped such a fate from the hands of Kreese and the original Cobra Kai.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 5 months ago

What do you think happened when Miyagi and Whinielle walked out into the parking lot to leave? Silver Kreese and Barnes would have been waiting to ambush them.

I always believed that Whinielle and Miyagi spent a full year living in the bathroom stalls (using the toilet seat as a plate for their Mac and cheese meals) to wait until the coast was clear before leaving.

After a year Whinielle and Miyagi finally went into the car lot but they found that their car had been impounded.

[–] Melton (2377) 5 months ago

Silver Kreese and Barnes would have been waiting to ambush them.

Exactly. There’s no way these psychos would just ‘let it go’. Kreese would want a re-run of the parking lot from KKII except this time he would be armed and ready to maim or kill Miyagi, and Silver would be standing there grinning at Danny, having already put in the call to have him greased.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 5 months ago

What advice would you have given to Miyagi and Whinielle to help them preserve their lives?

Only plausible solution I can think of is Whinielle and Miyagi not exiting the premises at all and instead hiding in the men’s restroom stalls. For an entire year they would hide in the stalls and fearfully yell “someone’s in here!” if someone tied to open the stall.

[–] fourniera65 (124) 5 months ago

Couple things...

1. Yes Daniel did get his ass kicked, but part of that was his fear. Once Myagi talked to him his full skills came in tact. Which I would guess is on par with Barnes.

2. After the match I think Kreese was so annoyed that He lost again, at least for that moment he was like. Whatever this sucks I am out of here. And then later plotted his revenge.

3. They were in a stadium full of people. They are not going to try to attack them where there is a ton of witnesses and possible cops.

4. Miyagi beat them both. Kreese you can tell if scared of Miyagi but doesnt want to show it.

5. Kreese and Silver would of most likely taken their anger out on Barnes, look what happened to Johnny at the beginning of part 2.

I think after the tournament was over, they just were like ahhh whatever. Lets just go back to Cobra Kai and pick some new student to torcher and win for us.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 5 months ago

Would you have been brave enough to exit into the parking lot? Or would you have taken the safe bet and lived in the restroom for a year?

No way Whinielle and Miyagi survived unless they started a new life in the bathroom stalls. They would survive by ordering pizza and having the delivery man slide the pizza under the stall.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 5 months ago

It’s just not the same without the late great WA.

Who will take up the mantle and dare to oppose the Kai?

[–] NRC123 (2082) 4 months ago

Still hoping he’s faking his death.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 4 months ago

In a way WA won.

The contest was always to deliver the ultimate mind-fuck and this is it.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 2 months ago

It's been a year now it's getting less and less likely that WA faked his death this time.

I have to admit that he has delivered the ultimate mind-fuck to the Kai.... but you don't think he offed himself just to prove a point do you??

[–] NRC123 (2082) 2 months ago

We’ll never know. I often urged him to commit seppuku after he brought dishonor to the board but never thought he would actually follow through.

Found this on Facebook.

“It’s with great sadness that I’m letting you know that Shihan Alan Wears of Kyokotan Karate passed away a couple of weeks ago. I don’t have any pictures readily available but if others do please post. Shihan Alan will be remembered for many things but those who went to the Haggerston Castle Gashuku particularly the Seanad people will remember four doors Kata 😂(Saturday night)… if you remember you’ll smile. Many such memories. RIP Shihan Alan in the eternal Dojo🥋”

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 2 months ago

Damn. If it's fake he's gone all out. Hopefully he's living it up in Tahiti getting serviced my Mamona and laughing at our reactions to all this.

[–] NRC123 (2082) 2 months ago

Have no idea what “four doors kata” is but it maybe explains why Miyagi-do resonated so strongly with him.

Been tempted to visit his dojo to find answers but he’s probably hiding behind a cardboard cut out, waiting.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 2 months ago

Four doors kata?

Is that a special type of kata that might actually be useful in a tournament?

[–] NRC123 (2082) 2 months ago

It’s doesn’t exist on google. Must’ve been an in-joke between him and his students. Perhaps a derogatory name they labeled the bullshit Miyagi kata he tried to teach them that would have them running for the doors when he wasn’t looking.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 2 months ago

Maybe it’s a cross between a kata and the drum technique?

Like you do the kata and then at 4 different points of the sequence you do the drum to send your opponent flying past you “thru the door”?

Too bad I would have liked to face WA in battle with him attempting to do that.

Sam Gerard: “Send him through the door Wears Alan-San!”

[–] NRC123 (2082) 2 months ago

Maybe one of us could message the dojo to get to the bottom of this, perhaps inquire about how he passed. The board deserves closure.

[–] cruisin109 (1982) 2 months ago

I was expecting someone from his dojo to come here and apologize for WA's conduct saying that he wasn't always like that and promise that Kyokutan Karate was now dedicated to making things right.

Perhaps they might even extend us an invitation to train at their dojo with "no strings attached?"

[–] NRC123 (2082) 2 months ago

😂😂😂

Wonder why he didn’t try to make peace with the board before passing. He could have let us know. Guess he knew we wouldn’t believe him.

Still having a hard time processing this news.

[–] BKB (6320) 2 months ago

I mean, if we're going to be technical about this, Daniel didn't beat Johnny in the 1st movie, at least according to the rules and instead, they essentially gave him the win as a reward for taking a beating and being bullied and went with the feel good ending and back then, we didn't have social media to vent over it and just went with it because it was the 80's..