Watching television characters make incredibly poor choices has a strangely reassuring quality. Simple, perplexing, how-did-you-not-see-that-coming decisions, not villain-level evil ones. The Karate Kid universe’s Netflix continuation, Cobra Kai, has amassed an unexpectedly extensive collection of these individuals. Additionally, since the first seasons of the show, fans have been debating who the “dumbest character” is.
If asked quickly, the majority of people would say Johnny Lawrence. To be honest, it’s difficult to disagree with instinct. The comedy of a man who appears to have fallen asleep sometime around 1984 and woke up with no intention of catching up forms the basis of William Zabka’s portrayal of the washed-up Cobra Kai sensei. He has trouble using simple technology.
Social media is beyond his comprehension. His usual approach to solving any issue is to show up and initiate a confrontation, which typically makes matters much worse. It has a charming stubbornness to it, but it doesn’t really imply mental acuity.
What’s intriguing, though, is that Johnny seems to be at least partially responsible for his ignorance. He’s not so much confused about the world as he’s made up his mind not to engage with it. That’s not exactly smart, but it’s not the same as being completely unaware. Fans adore him for it, and the show appears to recognize that his poor judgment contributes to his likability. He has good intentions. He almost always has good intentions. The execution is simply terribly flawed.
Then there is Daniel’s son, Anthony LaRusso, who was subtly annoying for a number of seasons before the writers gave him a meaningful role. Anthony was able to absorb very little of the discipline and self-awareness that his father instilled in him as a child. It was genuinely difficult to watch him bully a classmate online with such casual cruelty—not because it was dramatic, but because it felt uncomfortably familiar. He was simply careless, not calculating. That specific type of stupidity—the kind that results from never facing a challenge—tends to stick in the mind.
Another name that comes up in fan conversations is Kyler, the bully who appears repeatedly in the show’s early seasons. He is the kind of person who confuses loudness and aggression for intelligence and is constantly at least one step behind in comprehending why things aren’t going his way. His social cruelty has a sort of foolish confidence to it.
Stingray, on the other hand, is virtually unique in his own category. An adult who is so desperate to fit in that he clings to a high school karate dojo with a passion that is equally tragic and ridiculous. His decisions throughout the series are difficult to understand. He is not malevolent. He’s not even very cruel. He simply uses an internal logic that is inaccessible to the rest of the world.
Calling any of these characters just “dumb” might miss something the show is subtly doing. Cobra Kai is genuinely curious about how people become stuck—how bad habits, bad mentors, and bad luck combine over time to create adults who are unable to figure out why nothing is working. Kyler’s cruelty, Anthony’s entitlement, and Johnny’s obstinacy are all interconnected. The comedy in the show is earned because it is based on a familiar concept.
However, Johnny Lawrence is the honest choice if you had to choose one character whose choices consistently defy logic throughout the entire run of the series. It’s not because he’s evil or unredeemable; on the contrary. However, the most dependable aspect of the show is witnessing a man consistently select the worst option while firmly believing that he is acting morally. Additionally, there’s a peculiar genius in creating a character that is so foolish and still getting the audience to support him.
