Netflix's Cobra Kai is series that honors its Karate Kid roots whenever possible, as any faithful successor show should. It can sometimes be so loaded with homages, however, that producers may occasionally need to cut a couple of scenes in order to keep episodes from running beyond their desired lengths. Such was the case in Season 3, which apparently featured an awesome callback to The Karate Kid II that many fans have been waiting to see. Or hear, as it were.
Fans might remember Cobra Kai Season 3 featured Daniel LaRusso’s return trip to Okinawa, where he reunited with Kumiko and The Karate Kid II’s main villain, Chozen Toguchi. The season served as a love letter to the franchise sequel in a lot of ways, and at one point, the creative team set up a nod to the hit Peter Cetera song “Glory of Love,” which had earned an Oscar nomination back in 1986. Cobra Kai producer Jon Hurwitz talked about the decision to scrap the reference with EW, saying:
We had this fantastic scene in Season 3 when we went to Okinawa, which incorporated the song 'Glory of Love.’ I remember the first time I watched it in the cut, I was getting chills.
Jon Hurwitz said the Cobra Kai scene with “Glory of Love” pushed the Okinawa episode to around 40 minutes in length, which was outside the preferred 35-minute window. Hurwitz said the team made the hard decision to cut the sequence from the episode, which I’m sure was handled with some regrets.
Cobra Kai still has more seasons ahead, though, which means there will be future opportunities for the hit song to find its way into the Netflix series. In fact, Jon Hurwitz confirmed the hope is alive for the song to return in the future if it’s possible.
We might circle back on it and find another way to utilize that song.
Season 4 of Cobra Kai didn’t feature a reference to “Glory of Love,” but it did reference singer Peter Cetera briefly in a conversation between Miguel and Johnny. After Johnny questioned Miguel for spending so much time with Daniel, Miguel asked why Johnny never told him Peter Cetera was so badass. Johnny quickly shot down the idea that the former Chicago frontman is badass, though, and looked disgusted at the fact that Miguel would even make such a distinction.
The scene is funny, certainly, and sets up a situation where Cobra Kai could directly utilize “Glory of Love” in the future. Now that fans know Miguel is a fan of the singer, it wouldn’t be hard at all to make a scene where he’s listening to the iconic theme song, as opposed to just using it in the overall soundtrack.
“Glory of Love” served as the main theme of The Karate Kid II, as well as the first single from Peter Cetera after he left the band Chicago. The song climbed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and also received Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globes nominations, though it failed to capture any of the three. It’s still a song synonymous with the Karate Kid franchise, of course, which may be why so many want to see it return in Cobra Kai Season 5 or future seasons.
Cobra Kai Season 5 is in development, and Seasons 1 through 4 are available to stream on Netflix. Season 5 should be an exciting season, given all the developments in Season 4, including that shocking moment right at the end.
