COMMENTARY: 'Ali with an I' is A-OK
Mar. 11—For 34 years, I hated Ali Mills. In 1986, she unceremoniously tossed aside Daniel LaRusso for a UCLA football player and, for added outrage, wrecked the cool 1947 yellow Ford Mr. Miyagi had given Daniel-san as a birthday present.
Admittedly, I was more mad at the "The Karate Kid Part II" screenwriters who, looking for a quick and complete way of writing off a nonreturning character from "The Karate Kid," utterly destroyed her in less than two minutes of angry exposition.
Like many young teens in 1984, Ali Mills, played by Elisabeth Shue, was my gold standard for adolescent crushes. She was super pretty, feisty, defiant, morally decent, rooted for the underdog, and had a mean right hook.
She was the perfect high school girlfriend. Millions of us cheered when Daniel asked her out and wished we had the guts to do the same in the real world. We were also right there when their first date at Golf N' Stuff went so well, only for things to go temporarily south when Daniel thought she was cheating on him with Johnny Lawrence.
But in one glorious moment back in January, decades of low-level angst dissipated when Ali Mills, in Episode 10 of "Cobra Kai," Season 3, explained what really happened.
Lo and behold, Daniel had jumped to conclusions and did not take Ali at her word when she said she and the football player were just friends. She also explained that she told Daniel that the brakes in Mr. Miyagi's car were in rough shape and hoped he didn't blame her when the car was totaled. He did.
In case you haven't heard about "Cobra Kai," after two seasons on YouTube's streaming service, the series hopped over to Netflix, where it instantly became one of the company's hottest shows.
To me, the show is about redemption and having a second chance to do what's right after failing the first time. With some cringeworthy exceptions, the series does so brilliantly by focusing much of the action on Johnny Lawrence (played by William Zabka).
Johnny, who was a complete jerk in the first "Karate Kid" movie, turns out not to be a complete jerk. He may be an insensitive, comically out-of-touch loudmouth at times, but he's no jerk.
By the time Season 3 was dropped a few months ago, "Karate Kid" lovers had blown through the first 20 episodes and we eagerly awaited more.
Along the way, many familiar characters had returned for either a brief cameo or as series regulars. Among them were Johnny's friends, Bobby, Jimmy and Tommy. The ultraevil John "Sweep the Leg" Kreese is also in the series in a major way.
But what we all really wanted to know was whether Elisabeth Shue would be coming back. The writers dropped hints during Season 2 that Ali indeed could be returning. The hints continued through the first half of Season 3, but because I am perpetually impatient, I skipped ahead to the last couple of episodes to find out ASAP.
And then, in the first minutes of Episode 9, as a song by The Waitresses was playing, there she was, lounging on a couch in her parents' home. Ali Mills had returned.
In another deft writing touch, what I call the redemption scene took place in the same country club where Daniel ended up on the kitchen floor with marinara sauce all over his shirt in the first film. And did it deliver. It was all I had hoped for and more.
Sitting next to Daniel, Johnny and Daniel's wife, she explained her side of the story, giving Daniel nowhere to go.
Decades of hand wringing and head shaking were over. All was forgiven. The writers had righted a wrong and the '80s could be laid to rest. Kind of.
There's no word whether Elisabeth Shue will be returning for Season 4 and a part of me hopes she doesn't. Last thing I want is any chance the writers decide to make Ali a heel again. If you don't mind, I'd like to continue in the real world always knowing that "Ali with an I" is A-OK.
Dave Rogers is a staff writer at The Daily News.
