I’m an 80’s child. Although I came of age in the 90’s, I favor many things from the 80’s over other decades. As a kid, I remember Bush senior sending troops to Kuwait, being scared of Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video, watching Rocky fight Drago and Arnold’s duel with the Predator on the big screen.
My kids, seven and four years of age, have no idea who’s Taylor Swift, Justin Beiber or Drake but they can sing Master of Puppets, and We Will Rock You. I take pride in this.
No other pop culture icon has influenced my life more than the Karate Kid. I don’t remember seeing the first movie in the theaters; I was probably too little, but I do remember seeing the second one on the big screen. As a kid, I practiced the crane technique religiously, and I dreamed of one day meeting my own Mr. Miyagi. Following in the footsteps of my equally martial arts nerd older brother, I wore my first GI at age 5 when my mom enrolled me in Tae Kwon Do lessons with him. Although I only lasted a few months, I don’t really remember, the martial arts seed had already been planted, and it would take almost a decade to come to fruition. At age 15 I began Aikido training and after that moment every major life decision I’ve made, including meeting my wife, has centered around Aikido.
I tell you this so you can imagine how both excited and terrified I was when the new TV series Cobra Kai was announced. In this era of re-boots and nostalgia-inducing movies and shows, it just seemed like a bad idea all around to mess with the Karate Kid. I mean, they already tried with the Jackie Chan rehash, which I haven’t seen to this day and have no intention of doing so. The more I read about this new series, the worse it sounded. It just seemed like a desperate cash grab opportunity for a few forgotten actors who’ve moved on from Hollywood. And to make matters worse, it was going to be released on YouTube Red. Have you seen any show on YouTube Red? Yeah me neither. Nobody has. Why would you pay a monthly membership for that?
Then the first trailer came out. And it wasn’t bad. I was mildly interested in the fact that the focus of the show was going to be Johnny Lawrence and the Cobra Kai; not Daniel Larusso. Ok. In a surprisingly smart marketing act, YouTube released the first two episodes for free, so it was a no-brainer to give it a shot. I watched the first episode, and I was hooked. Instantly, I subscribed to YouTube Red (I’m on the free trial which I plan to cancel before it expires. You know, cause that’s what you do.) and convinced Rachel, who was equally reluctant, to watch it with me. We binged watch the thing over the weekend, and it was awesome.
Make no mistake; this is not a Netflix show. The production quality leaves a lot to be desired; the acting is weak at times and at thirty minutes running time for each episode, the story felt a bit rushed especially in the last two episodes. The writing is what made Cobra Kai an excellent show. There aren’t really any heroes or villains here. Instead, we have characters with different layers of complexity. Johnny Lawrence is basically an antihero, and Daniel Larusso is, well the same Daniel Larusso but now with a wife and kids. He is a dad, a businessman and he doesn’t always make the right decisions, you know like real people.
Cobra Kai is not a rehash of the Karate Kid. Unlike many franchise reboots lately, Cobra Kai doesn’t try to reckon Daniel’s story. While it feels like a direct sequel to the original Karate Kid, the show mentions events from part 2 and 3. The show is a new story from characters we already know. They did pay homage to our favorite moments of the original movie and made fun of the ridiculous ones. The Bill Conti score plays at the right moment, and the Pat Morita homage was beautiful and powerful.
As a martial artist, I do roll my eyes at the fact that in these stories people go from knowing nothing to fighting a tournament in a matter of a few weeks. In the original Karate Kid, I can go with the fact that Mr. Miyagi’s unconventional training methods make the process more believable. Two kids are learning Karate in Cobra Kai; Miguel who is Johnny’s students, and Robby who is Daniel’s student. We spend more time with Miguel, and we see how he progresses in his training, but I couldn’t get behind Robby’s. His training felt rushed, which again this may be due to the short running time of the episodes. When he shows up for the final fight, there was a lot of suspension of disbelief needed to get behind how well his character fought.
My favorite character in Cobra Kai is, of course, Johnny Lawrence. As an antihero, he is doing a noble thing, but his methods are questionable, and in some cases unethical, but you cheer for him and understand his motivation. Johnny is still a guy from the 80’s, and he has a hard time interacting with this new generation. In 2018 when political correctness, inclusiveness, diversity, and tolerance are the norm, Johnny pulls no punches to let these kid know how things were back in his day. More than once you say to yourself, wow did he really just say that? It was a breath of fresh air to have a character not afraid to be himself in an age where everyone walks on eggshells trying not to offend anybody on a daily basis. You know what he says is not right, but you want him to say it anyway. Johnny makes you care about his students, and you want him to succeed. I give kudos to the writers because by the final fight you’re definitely cheering for the Cobra Kai team, even when they’re acting like assholes and making bad decisions.
Johnny’s struggle to open his dojo was what I enjoyed the most about his story arc. For those of us who own or help run martial arts dojos know very well the anxiety an empty mat can bring. Johnny gets a little money to get things started. He finds a space, paints it, puts some mats down and opens the doors, but nobody shows up. He recruits his first student, Miguel, after defending him from getting his ass kicked by a bunch of bullies. Miguel, astonished, asked Johnny, “what was that? MMA, JiuJitsu?” to which Johnny replied, “Karate. Old school Karate”. This little detail nailed the struggle traditional martial arts face these days. With the rising popularity of MMA and BJJ in recent years, traditional martial arts dojos are struggling to keep their classes full. It was another nod to the generational differences between someone who grew up in the 80’s after the Kung Fu fever of Bruce Lee in the late 70’s to the current generation who view traditional martial arts as ineffective, full of unnecessary rituals, ethics, and complicated moves. Unfortunately most people today consider martial arts as combat sports. For the kids in Cobra Kai, Karate training transcended fighting and conflict. They found confidence, a community, friendship, and balance in their lives.
Cobra Kai is definitely the show you never asked for or thought you needed but are happy it showed up. If you grew up with the Karate Kid, you owe it to yourself and watch Cobra Kai.