Cobra Kai: Reboot and Role Reversal Done Right
Every once in a while, a remake kicks tail. Like, big-time tail. The YouTube-turned-Netflix series, Cobra Kai is one of those. I know I’m coming in late on this, but I recently got the chance to binge-watch it and was completely blown away.
For those who haven’t seen it, the series initially focuses on Johnny Lawrence, who’s had a rough life since losing to Daniel LaRusso in the All-Valley Tournament, as shown in the first Karate Kid movie. His sensei, Kreese, kicked him to the curb because there’s no such thing as second place in the Cobra Kai world.
Johnny’s divorced from his wife, estranged from his son, Robbie, and now lives in a dirty Reseda apartment chugging Coors Banquet and eating gas station taquitos. He’s not necessarily a better person than he was in high school, but he’s at least somewhat nicer, albeit in a Homer Simpson kind of way, only with a lot less belching and overt buffoonery. Odds are good Homer Simpson would trade his last donut for Johnny’s karate skills.
Meanwhile, Daniel has gotten downright cocky if not a little full of himself. He’s not the nerdy little Jersey kid he used to be; he’s regarded as a hero and a pillar of the community. Daniel owns a chain of successful car dealerships and has parlayed his karate persona into his brand, giving away bonzai trees and karate-chopping his way through his advertising. He’s got a gorgeous wife, Amanda and two kids, Samantha and Anthony, not to mention a fancy house with a pizza oven and an atrium.
Johnny and Daniel are forced to come together when the car Sam is riding in accidentally hits Johnny’s and he has to go to LaRusso Motors for a replacement. Johnny doesn’t want any handouts although Daniel is eager to help. Johnny also gets another jolt when he defends a teenager, Miguel, who is getting beaten up by some bullies outside a convenience store. Johnny decides to start Cobra Kai up again and teach Miguel karate.
From there the series not only follows Johnny and Daniel, but their students (Daniel restarts Miyagi-Do Karate) and their various dramas, and the fanserve comes quick and deservedly. The characters go to Golf N’ Stuff, we get to hear a lot of the original music from the films, sometimes covered by current artists (Looking at you, Carrie Underwood), and a lot of the original situations and dialogue from the movies are worked into the action. None of it is tokenish; all of the references fit naturally into the story, and for the first few seasons it works so well that I wondered how long they would be able to keep it up.
Keep it up, they have, though, and the references aren’t confined to the first movie. I am always amazed at how well the show is paced and how well the different plot points are timed; when, for instance, Ally friends Johnny on Facebook and then shows up for a visit it’s really cool. And there are no contrived attempts to keep her around longer than strictly necessary.
What I also like about the series is that it’s very conscious of character progression and the natural maturing process that often comes after high school. The person who was a huge jerk may have humbled since their teen years and regret what they did. We see that in Johnny, although he’s got a long way to go. He and Daniel have so much baggage between them that it’s liberating when they show signs of moving beyond that. Whether they like it or not, these guys hold each other to a higher standard and can be quite the team when they let themselves.
Refreshingly, the series doesn’t get snarky about the Battle of the Generations. There is no battle here; each generation points out the foibles of the other, like when Johnny drunk tweets on Twitter and every teenager on the show expresses some version of “Oh no, you di’n’t.” Overall, though, there’s a lot of respect going on. Wokeness is allowed to exist but it gets called out if it tries to be too big for its britches: The overall message of the series seems to be, “Stop whining and get out of your comfort zone,” although it says it in the nicest possible way.
The only place where the series slightly falters is that there are so many characters the fight scenes seem to come every five minutes or so, and no locale is safe. Everything from the local water park to the prom is a possible site for a rumble. If I hadn’t bingewatched the series this may not have been so apparent, but after a while seeing teenagers smashing each other through windows and sweeping their opponents’ legs gets a wee bit eye-glazing. At the rate they’re going they’ll all be wearing full dentures by the time they graduate from high school.
Small beefs aside, I’ve been enjoying the series immensely—it makes me smile all over the place and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next.
Cobra Kai is currently streaming on Netflix. Rated TV-14.
My grade: A+
Principal cast: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Martin Kove, Xolo Mariduena, Courtney Heggeler, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Peyton List, Dallas Dupree Young, Ron Thomas, Chad McQueen
Directed by Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossburg, Josh Heald, Jennifer Celotta, Joel Novoa, Steven K. Tsuchida, Marielle Woods, Steve Pink, Michael Grossman, Tawnia McKiernan, Lin Oeding
Principal writers: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Robert Mark Kamen, Hayden Schlossburg