Yahoo Lifestyle TVLine’s Performer of the Week: William Zabka
THE PERFORMER | William Zabka
THE SHOW | Cobra Kai
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THE EPISODE | “Skeletons” (Feb. 13, 2025)
THE PERFORMANCE | It’s been four decades since Johnny Lawrence lost the All-Valley Karate Tournament to Daniel LaRusso, but in Cobra Kai’s final season, he was finally able to express his pain from the emotional and physical abuse he suffered at the hands of the diabolical John Kreese.
Zabka gave an affecting performance, first in a scene with his injured son Robby, as a teary-eyed Johnny told the boy how proud he was of him. The love and emotional maturity the actor conveyed spoke to how far the character had come throughout the years — which also helped Robby accept his unfortunate fate.
But the most powerful scene occurred afterward, when Kreese continued his apology tour in an effort to make up for his villainous past. As Johnny confronted his former sensei about his past trauma, Zabka absolutely unleashed. The actor employed a soft, hurt voice as his character recalled feelings of abandonment following his 1984 karate loss. “You threw me away like trash!” he said fighting back waterworks. “Right when I needed you the most.”
It didn’t take long for his hurt to boil over into sheer rage. The actor’s tone hardened as tears finally fell and his demeanor took a complete 180. But Kreese, knowing he’d done wrong, pulled his former student in for a surprising embrace. We then saw Zabka’s aggression melt away in real time as Kreese (finally!) delivered the sincerest apology in Karate Kid history. The entire affair served as an emotional narrative payoff more than 40 years in the making, and Zabka’s performance, which fired on all fronts, packed one hell of a punch.
Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
HONORABLE MENTION: Colman Domingo
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man took an admirably slow-burn approach with its depiction of Norman Osborn, and the two-episode finale proved why having an actor as great as Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo can make this work so well. Norman had been seemingly nothing but supportive of Peter Parker, but Domingo provided just the right underlying tension to the character. We saw a nastier side to Norman when he gloated to an imprisoned Otto Octavius in the season’s penultimate episode, then saw his true secret plans revealed in the finale — including collecting Peter’s superpowered DNA without his knowledge and creating a gateway to outer space using the work of Peter and his fellow genius interns. Domingo allowed us to feel Norman’s utmost confidence in both himself and in the would-be noble reasons for his actions, even as we wait to see when and how things will get more Green Goblin-y for him in seasons to come. — Eric Goldman
HONORABLE MENTION: Meryl Streep
It’s incredible to realize that Meryl Streep has never hosted Saturday Night Live (it’s true!), but Hollywood’s grande dame made up for lost time by stealing the show at Sunday’s SNL 50th anniversary special. She was a comedy revelation playing Kate McKinnon’s mom in a “Close Encounter” reprise, as she chain-smoked, leered at Pedro Pascal and fired off gems like “Underwear-wise, this devil wears nada.” But she even commanded our attention just sitting in the audience. She gave Will Ferrell the middle finger! She rocked out to Paul McCartney! Simply put, she had a ball, and we had a ball watching her. Hey Lorne, how about a hosting gig for Miss Streep this season? — Dave Nemetz
HONORABLE MENTION: Scott Wolf
Dammit, Doc. You went and made us feel for Dr. Richard Miller, who until now was giving love-to-hate villain vibes — and in turn you handed Scott Wolf a splendid showcase. We’ve known since the Fox drama’s pilot that Richard did a bad thing that led to a patient’s death, and only a pre-amnesia Amy (Molly Parker) was aware of his slip-up. But in this week’s heartbreaking cold open, we learned of the strife that Richard deals with at home, managing a son, Lucas (Anne With an E‘s Christian Martyn), plagued by anger issues. Wolf in his scenes with Martyn exuded warmth and compassion, as Richard juggled his son’s wants with the reality that in-patient treatment might be best. At episode’s end, when Richard confided in wife Vicky (Krista Bridges) that his focus on Lucas has had (deadly) professional repercussions — sobbing, “I don’t deserve to be a doctor” — Wolf forever altered our POV of Amy’s rival. — Matt Webb Mitovich
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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