Pop Culture Pick: Cobra Kai Packs A Punch
The Karate Kid spin-off is a more than worthy follow-up
Image Credit: Netflix
Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, I explain why Cobra Kai is among the best around.
Karate sensei and all-round sage Mr. Miyagi once said, “for man with no forgiveness in heart, life worse punishment than death.” That quote, as spoken by Pat Morita’s character in 1984’s The Karate Kid still rings true in Cobra Kai, the spin-off series that began life as part of YouTube’s paid originals strand and has now moved to Netflix after two seasons.
I’m no sage, but I’m here to tell you: you really should be watching this show.
It’s not simply that Cobra Kai delivers a roundhouse kick of nostalgia for anyone with fond memories of the original film (it does). It’s more that it continues, broadens and deepens the story, finding the fun while treating its subject seriously. Picking up thirty years after they clashed, it finds Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) at very different points in their life. Daniel has flourished; he runs a car dealership and is happily married with a family. Johnny, on the other hand, has stagnated, living alone, finding solace in any nearby bottle of booze and without direction in life. Until he decides he’s going to re-open the Cobra Kai dojo that was the source of all Daniel’s troubles, albeit this time trying to find a less vicious path to victory for the students he rounds up. That brings the pair back into conflict, their rivalry renewed but channelled through the life experiences they bring to the present day. Daniel is successful, but while he’s still thoughtful and reflective, his success has pushed his ego ahead of the teachings of his old sensei. Johnny, on the other hand, is morose and bitter, but is trying to carve something new out of the mound of crap life has handed him.
Smartly, the team behind the series, led by Harold & Kumar co-writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, isn’t just telling Daniel and Johnny’s stories. Around them, they’ve built a compelling cast of younger characters who are on their own journeys the way Daniel was in the film. So we’re introduced to the likes of Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), who becomes Johnny’s star pupil, Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser), Daniel’s daughter, who follows in his footsteps, and various members of the Cobra Kai dojo. The occasional dip towards traditional teen drama aside, they’re all watchable, charismatic and believably conflicted. There’s even space for I, Tonya/Richard Jewell’s Paul Walter Hauser, who brings his typically goofy comic edge to the role of Raymond, a Cobra Kai devotee with dreams of working in security.
As Daniel and Johnny re-ignite their old animosity (tempered by the fact that neither is still a teenager anymore), the narrative grows and changes, peppered with impressive martial arts action that flows outside the dojos and tournaments into streets, beaches and, in one impressive sequence late in season two, the high school. There are plenty of call-backs to the films, but never to the level that newcomers will feel lost. It certainly adds more depth if you’ve seen the first two cinematic entries, but there’s no gatekeeping here; Cobra Kai has something to say without leaning on old glories. But talking of, there are touching tributes to Miyagi dotted about, the series never forgetting its past while building something that feels contemporary.
Netflix acquiring the show means it’s available to more people, and I certainly recommend it. If you’re a newcomer to the Karate Kid world, you might want to check out the film before you dive in, but you’ll still find something worth watching here. With season three on the way next year, now is the perfect time to jump in. Or wax on…
Cobra Kai is on Netflix now.