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He has a record of physically and mentally abusing minors back then (considering the events that transpired in Karate Kid 1 and 3 movies, where he abused his Dojo students and Daniel) and now he's doing pretty much the same in Cobra Kai series while enabling his loyal students to bully others and engage in misdemeanor and letting them get away with it.

He was indirectly responsible for the school fight at the end of Season 02 letting Tory (it was her who started it) think she could bully others and get whatever she wants.

Then he threatened Tory's landlord in Season 03 because Tory said she couldn't come to Karate practices anymore because she had to work more in order to pay rent (although the landlord was a pervert so maybe he had it coming).

Also, he literally punched Demetri in the face in Season 02 when Demetri just commented on Kreese's tattoo. Why on Earth did not Demetri go and complain to the Police of that incident? That enough should have stopped him from training students anymore, at the least.

Ironically, Robby Keene who injured Miguel in the school fight, went to Juvenile Centre, both Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso faced enormous backlash while Kreese got away with it, despite being the Co-Sensei of Cobra Kai.

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  • I think the issue with this series is that it's factually ambiguous, just like the movies were in the 80s. There's no way people would stand by and allow any of this to happen. After what happened to Miguel, all 3 of them would be convicted of reckless endangerment or some such, and legally banned from continuing to work with children ever again. Even the python stunt in the car lot would be grounds to sue, and put Kreese in a pretty dire situation.
    – Ben
    Commented Feb 3, 2021 at 6:44
  • @Ben On the other hand, Johnny Lawrence gives Miguel a miraculous recovery! That would probably exempt him from going to jail...
    – Déjà vu
    Commented Feb 4, 2021 at 3:05
  • 1
    @e2-e4 yes, but that is part of my point. The fictional and non-fictional boundary in this series is very blurred. While there are some aspects of the series that do seem very reasonable, and realistic, there are other parts that are just completely unrealistic; which is where the confusion comes from, and leads to questions like this.
    – Ben
    Commented Feb 4, 2021 at 3:19
  • 1
    In a nutshell: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief Commented Feb 4, 2021 at 13:15

1 Answer 1

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The issue with this series is the blurred line between the fictional and realistic aspects of the story and the world it's placed in. This comes from the tone of the original movies, which was necessary to quickly and easily set the tones for the characters. In Karate Kid 1, Kreese was never really seen as more than a narcissist, as he is a background character, keeping the focus on Johnny as the main antagonist; until Karate Kid 2, when Kreese is shown to have turned on Johnny for losing the championship. This then makes him the bad guy, and Johnny then doesn't seem so evil.

Realistically, Kreese would have likely been arrested for that behavior. But he is simply left without students, and nothing else happens. You might argue, that when we learn that Kreese is a War Veteran, that he received special treatment in this situation, but this isn't true. If anything, he would have likely needed to go into hiding, have people bail him out, or something similar for him to maintain his freedom, but even then, he would have still been deeply frowned upon by society. Realistically, the only way that Kreese got away with this, was for his students, Miyagi, and Danny (and any other witnesses) to just say nothing. Again, highly unrealistic.

So when it comes to the TV series, this fuzzy "reality" line is carried over. Things such as

when Kreese released pythons in the Larusso Dealership as a "threat"

it warranted no further investigation - no one complained to the police, it was simply a "They will pay for this" reaction. Or,

when Miguel ends up in hospital at the end of season one two

the school is punished for not having tighter restrictions, even though the students are highly skilled fighters, and the brawl is highly targeted between two sides. This is clearly some kind of Gang War, and highly dangerous, that leads only to one arrest.

As you yourself pointed out, when Demetri gets punched in the face, he doesn't go to the police, and that makes no sense. He was assaulted, and makes no effort to deal with the law.

So basically, the "reason" that no one is arrested, when it seems like they should have been, is because the line between real, and unreal is too blurred, and it becomes confusing as to what should happen, and what actually happens. The unrealistic story exists in a realistic world; and if anyone was arrested, like they realistically would have been (even Danny Larusso would likely be arrested for his part in the whole outcome), then the underlying story (of the conflict between Danny, Johnny, and Kreese) would be very different, or even non-existent.

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