You're the best around.
Cobra Kai is a 2018-2025 martial arts comedy drama series created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, produced by Hurwitz & Schlossberg Productions, Overbrook Entertainment, Heald Productions, Counterbalance Entertainment, Westbrook Studios, and Sony Pictures Television, and distributed by YouTube Red and Netflix. It stars William Zabka and Ralph Macchio. The series is a spin-off of The Karate Kid franchise and acts as a sequel to the entire franchise. It will be followed by Karate Kid: Legends.
"Rivalries don't need to last forever." - Daniel LaRusso
Plot
When a down-on-his-luck Johnny Lawrence strikes up a mentorship with a high schooler named Miguel Diaz, he restarts the Cobra Kai karate dojo...much to the fear of his old rival, Daniel LaRusso.
The Sweet
Cobra Kai is one of the first shows that I've watched as it came out and has finally ended. The other is Ted Lasso, but that was so much shorter in length and had a lot less good seasons than Cobra Kai, so this one hit much harder.
One of the things that is so impressive about the show is how well it stays true to what makes the original Karate Kid fantastic. At its core, this franchise has always been about fathers who need sons and sons who need fathers. Johnny is a father, but his relationship with his son is estranged, so he finds a new relationship with Miguel. Since Johnny is an absent father, Robby is looking for that figure in his life and finds it in Daniel. That's such an interesting dynamic that adds to the now decades-old feud between Johnny and Daniel, and it works as the main conflict for the first few seasons of this show.
I also think the idea of having Johnny Lawrence be your main protagonist was a small stroke of genius by the creators. Johnny is, of course, the main villain and bully of the first Karate Kid, but we now see the events of that film reframed by him because he is our main character. This entire show is about his redemption and him finding himself a family and happiness. He is an alcoholic, lonely guy at the beginning of the show, and, by the end, he is a world-renowned sensei that has a beautiful family and has redeemed himself in front of the entire valley by helping Cobra Kai win the Sekai Taikai.
One of the other things that made the show genius was adding this comedic, light-hearted side to The Karate Kid. I wouldn't say that the main Karate Kid movies are these serious, rich dramas with deep-seeded emotion and heaviness, but they are not really comedies. They have funny moments, but they are definitely not comedies. Cobra Kai is a bonafide comedy, with often multiple laugh-out-loud moments each episode. Johnny Lawrence is an inherently funny character as this jock stuck in the 80s. For example, there's a moment in season one where Johnny asks Hawk if he's one of those "challenged kids". Hawk says to Johnny that the doctors think he might be on the spectrum, and Johnny's response is "I don't know what that is, but get off it, pronto." That's such a funny moment, and there's so many more like that throughout the entire show.
The show (mostly) does a really good job of creating complex scenarios where you are unsure which characters you want to win and succeed. The first season, for example, builds up to a climactic fight between Robby and Miguel. Miguel is the bullied karate kid that we've been following throughout the season, and we very much want him to win...but we start to see him becoming the worst version of the Cobra Kai and becoming the bully that he had beaten earlier in the season. Robby, on the other hand, is the underdog that's been training under Daniel, so we also want to see him succeed. And to even deepen the conflict, Johnny is the sensei for his own son's opponent, and Daniel, his most hated rival, is his son's sensei. That's a complex, layered web of conflicts, and that exemplifies what Cobra Kai's tension can be when at its best.
This is also the best example of a legacy sequel done right. The show connects to the main Karate Kid films in all the right ways, without any of it really feeling forced or like fan service. If Kreese heard about Cobra Kai returning, he would obviously show up. If Daniel went to Okinawa, it's likely that he would run into Kumiko, and, by extension, Chozen. If Daniel and Johnny joined forces, it makes sense that Kreese would call Silver to help him out with Cobra Kai. These are sensical connections to the main films, and they all feel earned. Each character that returns also honestly is improved by their arcs in this show. Kreese resumes him manipulative, harsh ways, but we see a softer side to him where he does care about Johnny and about his students. Silver was hopped up on cocaine in The Karate Kid Part III and has since calmed down, but at his core, he is still a ruthless criminal willing to cross lines to win. Chozen and Mike Barnes have matured since their teenage years and want to fix their relationships with Daniel. These are all very interesting routes to take with these heroes and villains that we saw have such black-and-white, trope-y characterizations in their initial appearances.
I also love the 80s nostalgia in this show. I'm a sucker for some good 80s nostalgia (despite being born in 2006). My parents have raised me on 80s pop culture, so, even though I am not a child of the 80s, I've watched all the classic movies and listened to all the classic songs from that time period. Stranger Things is my favorite show of all time, and part of that is due to the 80s homages and inspirations it has. Cobra Kai is not Stranger Things when it comes to 80s references, but it has some awesome, nostalgic moments. The Karate Kid is an 80s property, so it still has that at its core. Johnny is always cracking jokes about the 80s. The soundtrack is filled with classic 80s songs. It feels like a more subtle love letter to the 80s than Stranger Things, but it's still very effective.
The Sour
It's difficult to talk about negatives, because this show just ended and it ended in such an awesome way that I don't really want to criticize it. So I'm just going to talk about a few things that bother me, but that's not the focus: Cobra Kai is a great show, and these negatives should not stop you from watching it at all.
The main negative I have on the show is that it is a ridiculous concept with some very cringe-inducing moments. This show is about a decades-old karate rivalry that turns into all-out war. That's insane. It's unrealistic. It can be cringe how much these characters care about karate. If you can move past that, Cobra Kai is a great show. If you cannot suspend some disbelief and cut the show some slack, you are just going to be rolling your eyes while watching.
The show also definitely slips into soap-opera overdramatic tendencies from time to time. Season three has this entire backstory for Kreese that just gets cartoonish with how ridiculous it becomes. There are character moments where they deliver a stupid line with complete sincerity. Again, this is a ridiculous show with a ridiculous concept, and sometimes, they take it too seriously. You have to forgive the show for those moments, because they do happen every so often.
My final negative is really the ups and downs that we face with the characters. Cobra Kai has some awesome characters, and the kids that we follow are some of those characters. However, they have some seasons where they are on point and compelling...and they have others where they are just straight unlikable and acting out of character and ridiculous. The main three that I'm referring to in this negative are Robby, Tory, and Hawk. The three of them can be some of the most compelling characters on the show...and they can be some of the most frustrating. There are inconsistent characters in Cobra Kai, but that does not take away from the show as a whole.
Final Thoughts and Score
Cobra Kai is one of the most popular shows of the last seven years for a reason. It is a great, fun, hilarious return to the Karate Kid franchise that is chock-full of heart and compelling characters. Sure, it's a bit ridiculous, but if you love The Karate Kid and haven't seen this show yet, than you deserve no mercy.
I am going Sweet here. Age range is 8+.
SWEET N' SOUR SCALE
Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible)
"Cobra Kai"
Fun Factor: 9/10
Acting: 7.5/10
Story: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Quality: 7.5/10
Created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg
Rated TV-14 for moderate violence and action, language, disturbing themes and images, thematic elements
Premiered on May 2, 2018
Episode runtime: 35 minutes
William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence
Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso
Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz
Tanner Buchanan as Robby Keene
Mary Mouser as Samantha LaRusso
Courtney Henggeler as Amanda LaRusso Vanessa Rubio as Carmen Diaz
Martin Kove as John Kreese
Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver
Jacob Bertrand as Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
Gianni DeCenzo as Demetri Alexopoulos
Peyton List as Tory Nichols
Dallas Dupree Young as Kenny Payne
Joe Seo as Kyler Park
Nichole Brown as Aisha Robinson
Annalisa Cochrane as Yasmine
Dan Ahdoot as Anoush Norouzi
Hannah Kepple as Moon Taylor
Bret Ernst as Louie LaRusso Jr.
Rose Bianco as Rosa Diaz
Paul Walter Hauser as Raymond "Stingray" Porter
Oona O'Brien as Devon Lee
Yuji Okumoto as Chozen Toguchi
Alicia Hannah-Kim as Kim Da-Eun
Carstern Norgaard as Gunther Braun
Brandon H. Lee as Kwon Jae-Sung
Lewis Tan as Sensei Wolf
Patrick Luwis as Axel Kovačević
Rayna Valladingham as Zara Malik
Bo Mitchell as Brucks
Aedin Mincks as Mitch
Khalil Everage as Chris
Owen Morgan as Bert
Nathaniel Oh as Nathaniel
Okea Eme-Akwari as Shawn Payne
Randee Heller as Lucille LaRusso
Barrett Carnahan as Young John Kreese
Tamlyn Tomita as Kumiko
Nick Marini as Young Terry Silver
Elisabeth Shue as Ali Mills
Terry Serpico as George Turner
Julia Macchio as Vanessa LaRusso
Sean Kanan as Mike Barnes
Robyn Lively as Jessica Andrews
Brian Takahashi as Young Mr. Miyagi
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