The change in personality of one of the main characters of “Cobra Kai” in the fourth season of the Netflix series has upset its interpreter.
Please note, the following comes back to a major development of the fourth season of Cobra Kai. If you have not seen it, and do not want to know anything about its content, then you are strongly recommended to stop reading this article now.
Don’t call him Hawk (“Eagle”) anymore but… Eli? A follower of offensive karate taught by Johnny Lawrence, Eli Moskowitz alias Hawk underwent important personality changes in the fourth season of the Cobra Kai series. Still consumed by the guilt of his past acts, the latter seemed to encounter significant difficulties in finding his place and assuming his true personality.
A former geek turned badass bully, Eli left Cobra Kai (taken over by its founder, John Kreese) at the end of Season 3. However, joining The Poisonous Eagle, the new school founded by Johnny Lawrence, was not. For him, it was obvious, and the association of this new dojo with that of his rival Daniel LaRusso allowed Eli to discover a more contrasted vision of karate.
Like Samantha LaRusso, also drawn to the defensive and offensive aspects of the discipline, Aigle has been more in the background this season. The most crucial scene for him is when Robbie and the new Cobra Kai take revenge on past provocations by shaving his head; without his crest, Eli appeared to lose confidence, resulting in a deep identity crisis.
A change in attitude that was not to the liking of the interpreter of Eli, Jacob Bertrand (via The Hollywood Reporter): “It’s more fun to play a bad guy. To play bad guy Hawk was so good! (…) When I auditioned for the show, Hawk didn’t exist yet. The script was all about Eli. It has been a challenge for me to play two completely different characters, although they are actually two aspects of the same person. “
Eli’s victory at the All Valley karate tournament (succeeding his friend Miguel, the occasion of the wink above that did not escape fans of the Dragon Ball manga) will undoubtedly console the 21-year-old actor, who is also one of the few Cobra Kai actors to have really practiced karate.
Remember that the fifth season of the series has already been shot, and will likely be released at the end of the year exclusively on Netflix.
