Cobrai Kai (The Karate Kid series)

I binge-watched it with the free trial of YouTube Red. I don't think I'll keep the service, but Cobra Kai was dope as hell. I love all the call-backs to not only the original movie, but the Kreese/Johnny moment from #2 and the Cobra Kai menacing in #3.

Ralph Macchio did a great job, and so did William Zabka. The marketing by Macchio on the first two episodes was genius, as it worked and made me want to keep watching. The new Cobra Kai kids were hilarious and awesome.

The romance was cute, and overall it was just good! I really liked the moves in the tournament, made me wonder how much karate these kids took (as I know the original had them learning so they could do it for real in the movie). I'm thinking maybe more so these kids already knew karate since it's not an arthouse acting gig, but hey, maybe I'm wrong.

I got about 8 episodes into it and then told my wife about it, convincing her to sit and watch the whole thing with me. She liked it too. The respectful moments for Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) were sweet and heartfelt, and overall the mini-series gave a creative and sincere effort. I think it's definitely showing as I've yet to see a bad review, and most publicity so far about it is only about how cool and awesome it is.

Especially, I loved the contrast and role reversals they did. They almost overdid it, and yes, a lot of the scenarios and how they come about are hella contrived, but it all works for the best in the end.

Things I liked (Spoilers):

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WARNING: "Spoilers!" spoilers below

Johnny being the one to take in a bullied kid under his wing
Seeing Johnny's perspective on the events in the original movie, which lots of fans have shared about Daniel being the villain
Johnny's estranged son becoming Daniel's pupil
The main protagonist turns evil with Cobra Kai by the end of it
Cobra Kai wins the tournament, especially "No Mercy" declared by the Miguel
Miyagi-Do Karate making an appearance
Johnny and Daniel becoming buds, almost!
Them both lamenting the loss of Allie (Elisabeth Shue), lol
Johnny's backstory being fleshed out and why he became a bully

Not only all those cool things, but also Hawk, lol.

It sets up the next season very well. Lots of people are speculating on what route they'll take, but it's got a hella bunch of momentum, for sure.

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WARNING: "Spoilers!" spoilers below

Kreese being back, Sam finding renewed interest in karate, Johnny being conflicted about his son being hurt and not being there for him, Miguel going too Cobra Kai-y and Johnny not quite liking it.

They could've taken a far more dopey, cheap route and they didn't. You can't think too hard about the scenarios, but it's good fun and it does offer a more heartfelt take on karate and whatnot also. I was also a fan of the 30 minutes-or-so length, showing they know their audience's attention span of teenagers these days. It shows the same good writing and pacing of a show like FOX's Gotham. It's like a 4th sequel, or a proper #2 to #1 unlike the trip to Okinawa.

In closing, the writing is strong and uses the old material well to string themes together, how Daniel went full light-side and prospered but then lost balance and turned his dojo into a storage room, and how Johnny felt betrayed by karate after almost being killed by his Sensei and went dark side with Cobra Kai and never prospered. They both come closer back to that middle line like Mr. Miyagi told Daniel-san and realize that blessings are curses and curses ("Aw, geez, Cobra Kai's back in town!") are blessings.

It's really good stuff.

👍👍👍👍👍