@GreenFlashlight said in Good TV:
My feelings on Hawk are complex. I think he's a great character with a well-done arc, and I understand and believe what he's going through, but I also have no sympathy for him because he knows he's terrible and he actively chooses to continue being terrible every day.
I think that's altogether the point.
Johnny Lawrence was THE chief "bully" of 1980s cinema. Now, in Cobra Kai, we see that Johnny wants more from life but under Kreese couldn't see the forest from the trees and it damaged his life. Hawk was like Johnny, a scrawny kid who was bullied and turned into essentially a violent gang member, but his motivation as a bully (like Johnny) is fear-based. Strike first before they hurt you.
So Hawk is an echo of Johnny in teenage years, thus making the viewer see Hawk through the eyes they saw Johnny in through the 80s, then compare to Johnny now, and then say "Oh come on, Eli, Demetri is your best friend. Don't do this!"
It's good writing, because good TV writers don't write characters who make good decisions; they write characters who will make the audience scream and yell and point at the TV like kids watching Dora the Explorer trying to get her to look under the rock for the banana.
Miguel and Robby are Daniel/Johnny from 2 perspectives (or alternative paths)
Hawk and Tory are Johnny from his old perspective
Demetri is Daniel LaRusso from his old perspective
