For those who may not know, Cobra Kai is the sequel to the legendary 1984 movie The Karate Kid but takes place 34 years later.

 

Ralph Macchio played Daniel LaRusso in the movie as well as the two sequels that followed the first one. He’s back in Cobrai Kai to reprise his iconic role though now He’s in his 40s, a dad and a very successful car dealership businessman. It’s quite the contrast from not just when we first met him in the Karate Kid movies but his childhood rival.

Speaking of.

William Zabka reprises his imfamous role of Johnny Lawrence in Cobra Kai. Life has not been too kind to this now 40-something deadbeat dad in the 34 years since LaRusso beat him in the All Valley Martial Arts Tournament. When we meet him, he’s living by himself in an apartment complex drinking away his life. He has a teenage son he barely knows by choice and isn’t really doing anything with his life. After meeting Miguel Diaz, who recently moved into his apartment building Johnny decides to revive the Cobra Kai dojo with Miguel as his first student.

When Daniel learns the Karate school that made life for him as a teenager a living hell is back, he pulls out the stops to try to get Cobra Kai shut down and later block it from participating in the All Valley Martial Arts Tournament. This is basically the first season in which Daniel, who was the main protagonist of the three movies that made him famous is the main antagonist of the first season of Cobra Kai. It’s quite the role reversal to say the least and helps you get behind Johnny’s redemption story throughout the first season.

 

Things really come to a head when Cobra Kai takes the All Valley Martial Arts Tournament by storm. Johnny’s estranged son Robbie, who’s been getting trained by Daniel enters the tournament. Here we see Daniel begin to actively step into his role as the new Mr. Miyagi and speaking of, there was a tribute episode for him in the first season. Noriyuki “Pat” Morita died in 2005 for those who may not know though in Cobra Kai his tombstone says he died in 2011 meaning Mr. Miyagi was still alive after both of Daniel’s children were born. Miguel and Robbie face each other in the final round despite the latter having been injured in the previous round. This puts Johnny in an uncomfortable position and it is addressed in the second season as his star student and son face off. Miguel wins the tournament and Cobra Kai’s redemption under Johnny is now complete

 

…Or is it?

John Kresse, who ran the original Kobra Kai Dojo makes a shocking return in the final moments of the first season. Johnny had been told Kresse died several years earlier and seeing him walk into the dojo was the absolute last thing he expected. Cobra Kai’s second second season picks up where the first leaves off and just runs with it. Daniel decides to go all-in with establishing Miyago-Do Dojo to act as a counter to Cobra Kai. While Cobra Kai specializes in offense, Miyagi-Do specializes in defense.

Given Kresse tried to kill Johnny after the latter lost to LaRusso 34 years earlier, the two brawl in the dojo until a trash fire inadvertently set triggers the sprinklers. Kresse tells Johnny he decided to return when he learned Cobra Kai was back and he wanted both a second chance and a chance to make amends for their shared past. Johnny reluctantly agrees to bring Kresse on board as a Sensei but under the condition Kresse follow his lead.

After opening the dojo, Johnny learned times have changed from when he was a kid. As Kresse put it–and this is a real world connection–most American kids today are being coddled compared to back then. Not trying to get into politics too much but regardless of where you lean politically, this is 100% true. For those who don’t know, I worked in Education for 10 years and most of that time was spend working in “Progressive” Education. Our children need to learn how to survive in the real world, not an ideal world that doesn’t exist but I won’t digress further.

 

Daniel’s daughter Samantha, who dated Miguel for a short time in the first season decides to seriously take up karate for the first time in 8 years. She eventually becomes Miyago-Do Dojo’s second student after Robbie. Daniel eventually learns Robbie is Johnny’s son but he doesn’t hold it against the clearly troubled teenager. When Miguel learns Robbie is Johnny’s son, the repremand he and another student get suddenly makes a lot more sense. Kresse, Miguel and even Daniel ask Johnny about trying to patch things up with his son but Johnny firmly rejects the idea. He believes at this point there’s no hope of them ever having a normal relationship.

 

Originally released on YouTube Red (Now YouTube Premium), Cobra Kai was picked up by Netflix after the first two seasons. As of now, Cobra Kai has had 4 seasons though I have only seen the first two. I bought the first two seasons from iTunes and as of now, I am not planning to renew my Netflix subscription to watch Seasons 3 and 4. Season 5 premeired on Netflix at the end of December from what I’ve read. I plan to wait and see if Seasons 3 and 4 get released on iTunes. It would be great for me if that happens since I do want to own the whole series based on what I’m seeing so far. I won’t watch Seasons 3 or 4 otherwise if I can help it.

From what I’ve read about things that happen in Seasons 3 and 4, things get interesting. Aisha is absent from Season 3 and this is explained both onscreen and otherwise. The producers left her out of Season 3 because they were not able to fit her anywhere into the direction the story goes in that season. On-screen, it’s explained in Season 3’s first episode she was transferred to a private school after Season 2’s finale. Samantha visits her in the beginning of Season 4 and she’s on her way back.

 

 

Probably the most shocking moment of the entire series no one sees coming involves Daniel and Amanda’s son Anthony. In the first two seasons, Anthony has only really seen playing video games or eating. The actor who plays him actually underwent a dramatic weight loss between seasons 2 and 3 to the point you’d think it was a different actor. In season 4, we start seeing Anthony getting a lot of character development as he’s suddenly interested in Karate. His parents soon find out a shocking truth no parent would ever feel proud of: Their son is a bully.

On that note, the signs were in plain sight from his introduction in Season 1. Anthony was characterized as your typical spoiled privileged kid from the beginning so his embracing Kreese’s Cobra Kai isn’t that big a surprise. His sister didn’t turn out that way despite growing up in the same home because she was their father’s favorite. I’ll just put it like that. It will be interesting to see the new dynamic with Anthony and Robbie in Cobra Kai. Robbie originally joined Miyagi-Do just to stick it to his father and Anthony joins Cobra Kai for the same reason. We’ve got a bonafide blood feud to say the least.

 

 

 

Speaking of. Season 2 ends with a massive brawl involving Cobra Kai and the dojo splits in two. While Johnny was sidetracked reconnecting with old friends from his past, Kresse usurped control of the Dojo in the second half of the second season. When Johnny returns, Kresse ousts him and and the dojo splits in two. Miguel and other students loyal to Johnny form of a new Dojo going into Season 3: Eagle Fang.

Up to now, you were led to believe Cobra Kai would be reformed under Johnny. He did his best but when Kresse came back, deep down he probably knew a fresh start would need to happen. Having Miguel, who won the previous All Valley tournament at the end of Season 1 gives Eagle Fang credability to start. That gets washed away when Hawk and Tory, who both side with Kresse in the Season 2 finale win the next tournament for Cobra Kai in Season 3’s finale.

Kresse gave the condition if Cobra Kai won the next tournament, both Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang must disband. Despite Cobra Kai winning the tournament, Daniel and Johnny both refuse to honor the deal and for the first time they decide to work together to take on a common enemy. Miguel injures his back during the tournament and though he can still fight, he decides to step aside and let Robbie face Hawk in the final match. Robbie realizes Miguel is to Johnny what he is to Daniel: A replacement son he could actually bond with.

When Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang start working together, Robbie ends up leaving Miyagi-Do for Cobra Kai at some point in Season 4. At the end of Season 4, Robbie confronts Miguel about his relationship with Johnny and basically tells him Johnny is so nice to him out of pity because he doesn’t have a father. It’s worth noting by that point, Johnny and Miguel’s mother Carmen have actually started dating. Miguel is so rattled by Robbie’s words, he suddenly decides to go on a trip to Mexico to look for his birth father. The show’s creators have assured fans despite how it looks, Miguel WILL be back in Season 5 so we’ll see.

Before I forget. The reason Cobra Kai is on premium streaming services is not because of violence but because of the profanity and crass humor as well as certain racist and sexist views expressed by Johnny and later Kresse in particular. I’ll put it like this: Johnny has no filter and either knows little or cares little for modern views. You’d think Johnny literally dropped out of the 1980s from the way he talks and this is repeatedly demonstrated in almost every episode.

Aside from starring in the series, Ralph Macchino is also one of the executive producers. William Zabka also works behind the camera as well. We’re 4 seasons in but clearly there are longterm plans for the series. The creative freedom they have is worth not having the series on a cable network. It also helps they’re not forced to parse episodes at intervals for commercial breaks. That’s great since every episode doesn’t have the same runtime. No rushing to stay within hard runtimes means scenes aren’t trimmed strictly for time.

 

It’s easy to see why this series is so popular across age groups. I highly reccommend it. I got the first two seasons for $8 each on iTunes so if you wanna get them first, go for it.

 

 

 

If you have enjoyed this post or other posts I have made on this blog, please consider making a monetary donation via PayPal. Whatever amount you can provide would be greatly appreciated.