Cobra Kai is a series that continues the Karate Kid franchise. The first season aired on YouTube TV in May 2018, and the second aired in April 2019. In it, Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprise their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Martin Kove also reprises his role as John Kreese from the original movies, which, to this point, consisted of the original movie, one very good sequel, and two lackluster to horrible sequels (depending on opinion in quality, of course). This series outdoes any of the source material, even the original movie.
The show picks up 34 years after the first movie's events and is primarily told from Johnny's perspective. We find out that his life basically went to crap after the tournament, and he was one whose best days were in high school. He is now a middle-aged Luddite working as a handyman and bordering on being an alcoholic. In a twist of fate, he ends up being a Miyagi-like character who comes to the aid of a kid who is being bullied. He ends up reopening the long-shuttered Cobra Kai dojo.
On the other hand, Daniel is now wealthy and owns several luxury car dealerships. Of course, Johnny and Daniel's paths cross, mostly because of the younger actors like Mary Mouser (who plays Daniel's daughter Samantha) and Xolo Mariduena, who plays Johnny's prize student, Miguel. Tanner Buchanan plays Johnny's estranged son, who ends up working for and then training with Daniel, driving the wedge between him and Johnny even deeper.
The show does a great job balancing the old and young characters. It also does a great job of giving Johnny depth that he never had in the original movie. And you see the events of the original movie through his eyes and why he thinks he was the wronged party back in 1984. The show also does a great job playing the two as rivals who still kind of hate each other because of a fight over a girl, yet have a begrudging respect for each other that almost borders on something that could be a friendship. Johnny still kind of believes the old Cobra Kai no mercy mantra, but also kind of knows that it is total BS. as well. Martin Kove also returns as Kreese to cause similar problems to those he caused in the movies.
The writers do a good job of balancing an original storyline and many tie-ins to the original movies, including bringing back some of the original characters. Of course, Pat Morita passed away in 2005, so the only appearances he makes are via flashbacks and pictures. Some of the original Cobra Kai members appear in what is a very emotional episode, and the show teases an eventual appearance by Elizabeth Shue, hopefully reprising her role as Ali.
For those who get the DVD set, it has the 20 episodes making up seasons 1 and 2 on 4 discs. They are stacked on top of each other in the case, which is kind of a dumb packaging choice. The episodes are about 30 minutes long, give or take, and it is definitely not totally PG like the movies. There is no nudity, but a lot of swearing, underage drinking, and drinking and driving that goes on. The characters are not all good or all bad, which I think really works well. The extras include a couple of gag reels, deleted scenes, a couple of live musical numbers from a band that does some of the music for the show, and a few making-of featurettes. A decent amount, but not a ton.
Overall, if you were a fan of the original movie(s) at least the original and Part II, you will likely love this series. You get a bit of nostalgia, quite a bit of humor, and much better martial arts action than was in at least the first movie. The set was only printed on a limited run, so it is very hard to find it at a reasonable price. It is not worth the $130 that tends to go for now, especially since you can watch the episodes for free on YouTube (with ads) or ad-free on YouTubeTV. But if you can snag one for the original $20 price, it is definitely worth picking up.
The show does a great job balancing the old and young characters. It also does a great job of giving Johnny depth that he never had in the original movie. And you see the events of the original movie through his eyes and why he thinks he was the wronged party back in 1984. The show also does a great job playing the two as rivals who still kind of hate each other because of a fight over a girl, yet have a begrudging respect for each other that almost borders on something that could be a friendship. Johnny still kind of believes the old Cobra Kai no mercy mantra, but also kind of knows that it is total BS. as well. Martin Kove also returns as Kreese to cause similar problems to those he caused in the movies.
The writers do a good job of balancing an original storyline and many tie-ins to the original movies, including bringing back some of the original characters. Of course, Pat Morita passed away in 2005, so the only appearances he makes are via flashbacks and pictures. Some of the original Cobra Kai members appear in what is a very emotional episode, and the show teases an eventual appearance by Elizabeth Shue, hopefully reprising her role as Ali.
For those who get the DVD set, it has the 20 episodes making up seasons 1 and 2 on 4 discs. They are stacked on top of each other in the case, which is kind of a dumb packaging choice. The episodes are about 30 minutes long, give or take, and it is definitely not totally PG like the movies. There is no nudity, but a lot of swearing, underage drinking, and drinking and driving that goes on. The characters are not all good or all bad, which I think really works well. The extras include a couple of gag reels, deleted scenes, a couple of live musical numbers from a band that does some of the music for the show, and a few making-of featurettes. A decent amount, but not a ton.
Overall, if you were a fan of the original movie(s) at least the original and Part II, you will likely love this series. You get a bit of nostalgia, quite a bit of humor, and much better martial arts action than was in at least the first movie. The set was only printed on a limited run, so it is very hard to find it at a reasonable price. It is not worth the $130 that tends to go for now, especially since you can watch the episodes for free on YouTube (with ads) or ad-free on YouTubeTV. But if you can snag one for the original $20 price, it is definitely worth picking up.
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