Cobrai Kai shows no mercy in telling a very strong story
For a significant amount of my childhood, it seems like karate was everywhere. On TV, I didn’t hear much about styles or historic martial arts. It was mostly just white guys (or mutant turtles) standing up to bullies or criminals by kicking them in the face.
I was a small, skinny kid with thick glasses and a persecution complex, so this type of entertainment appealed to me on every level. I even convinced my father to take taekwondo lessons with me from third through fifth grade, where I dutifully gained belt colors every year, not because I was becoming a master, but because my dad was never behind on his bill.
At home, I absorbed every show and movie I could find: Walker: Texas Ranger, Martial Law, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sidekicks, and of course, the seminal kid beats bullies with punching movie, The Karate Kid. I loved Danny LaRusso, hated Cobra Kai, and dreamed of one day taking down the mouth breathers I imagined lurking in the shadows of my school. I just needed to find my Mr. Miyagi. What I found were mostly white collar engineers from Oak Ridge who just needed some exercise after sitting down all day.
The karate fad eventually faded (later replaced with MMA) and the American style of boot wearing martial arts has all but disappeared.
That is until this spring.
YouTube Red, the backwater streaming service with such original hits as Step Up: High Water, Sing It!, and Scare Pewdiepie, has created an unexpected masterpiece. Out of nowhere, the folks at YouTube revived the Karate Kid saga with Cobra Kai, a legitimately funny and solid television show offering a different perspective on the original story.
Cobra Kai is, without a doubt, one of the best reboots of a well-known property ever done. In fact, other than FX’s Atlanta, Cobra Kai might be the best show out right now (prestige dramas like Westworld and The Terror notwithstanding).
The show catches us up with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), bad dude karate guy from the original film. Years later, he’s a middle-aged handy man with a crappy apartment, an aging Trans Am, and a drinking problem.
Every day, he’s faced with the same demon: the image of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Maccio), now a successful auto dealer capitalizing on his high school fame of All Valley Karate Champ.
A series of coincidences causes Johnny to grudgingly take a bullied young man from his apartment complex under his wing, offering to teach him old school karate to defend himself. But Johnny doesn’t teach through car waxes and chores. He’s uses the Cobra Kai way: strike first, strike hard, no mercy.
The shows works for a of variety reasons, none of which have anything to do with Maccio or Zabka. Neither actor have had major success after the Karate Kid series—they’ve worked steadily, but had no other breakout roles.
They fall back into their characters well enough, although Zabka seems to have the better chops. Both men are weakest during their fight scenes, particularly given how far action movie choreography has come in their absence.
But there’s a heart to their characters, to the frustration both men feel with their lives, and Danny and Johnny become far more developed in this series than they ever were in the original.
But what the leads lack in screen presence, the other characters make up for in spades. Miquel and Robby (Xolo Mariduena and Tanner Buchanan, respectively), the series’ de facto rivalry, as well as the other high school kids, are as engaging as they can be. Additionally, Mary Mouser as Danny’s daughter Sammy and Courtney Henggeler as Amana La Russo command the screen and pull their leading co-stasr through the scenes, making everyone around them look better.
What really makes the show is how it takes the weaknesses of the original series and turns them into strengths. Where the original film went all in with the good/bad dynamic, Cobra Kai opens up thematically, showing far more grey areas. It’s a show about competing philosophies, where each approach has benefits.
Cobra Kai argues that although balance and peace might be worthwhile goals, reality sometimes calls for aggression and confidence. It brings a little swagger back into the world. And kicking.
And who doesn’t like kicking?