afurioushawk: afurioushawk:2x10 No Mercy || 3x5 Miyagi-Do I was thinking about this parallel again,
afurioushawk: afurioushawk:2x10 No Mercy || 3x5 Miyagi-Do I was thinking about this parallel again, how Miguel and Hawk made two radically different decisions in a similar scenario, and how neither of them are particularly satisfied with the outcome. You have Miguel who, when given an opportunity to show no mercy and break Robby’s arm, hears the words of Johnny telling him “I wasn’t taught the difference between mercy and honor, and I paid the price for it.” And he lets Robby go, believing it was the right thing to do, and is then almost paralyzed for it.And Miguel is upset. He’s so upset with Johnny at first. Because he listened to him, he did the right thing, and he paid the price for it. “Why did this happen to me?…I trusted you. I did everything you told me.” One gets the feeling from it that, at least for a while, Miguel probably regretted his decision, regretted listening to Johnny, and that regret was something he had to work to overcome as he started the process of rebuilding the strength in his legs.Then you have Hawk, who saw what happened to Miguel. He’s being driven by a desire to get revenge for Miguel and Cobra Kai, and so when he gets Demetri in the same position, he decides he won’t show mercy. Even when Demetri pleaded, “I’ll just go,” when Demetri told Hawk he wouldn’t do what Robby did, that he would just walk away if Hawk let him go; but Hawk won’t make the same mistake Miguel did.So Hawk breaks his arm. Because he’s been with Kreese since Miguel’s fall. He’s been told, “A true cobra feels no sympathy for its meals.” He gets his revenge but it’s hollow. He then feels regret even when he feels he shouldn’t. He can’t stop feeling sympathy for his meals, because he’s not being driven by an amoral need for survival like a cobra; he’s a hurt kid who hurt his friend out of a misguided belief it would make up for what happened to his other friend.And of course it doesn’t. Miguel was still hurt by his fall, he was hurt by doing the right thing, and nothing Hawk could have done, not even doing the exact opposite and doing the wrong thing instead, would take that back. -- source link