Majority of us were sceptical about this show when we first watched the trailer as most of the time these continuation series do not work. But boy, were we wrong. Cobra Kai exceeds all your expectations by connecting you with your childhood. If you are a fan of the Popular 80’s movie franchise “The Karate Kid”, this show is tailor-made for you. Even if you do not feel much about The karate Kid, this show would still blow your mind as it takes a lot of creative liberties, which appeals to all of us as the story is not one dimensional, the characters are complex and even the non-Karate Kid fans could relate to them.
Cobra Kai is a direct continuation of the Karate Kid storyline, but with a twist, this time we focus on the character of Johnny Lawrence played by William Zabka, who was the bad guy in the Karate Kid franchise. Sounds weird, right? Why would anyone want to watch a story about a bully?
Well, this show tells us that humans are not inherently good or bad, but instead they are moulded by the situation and the people who surround them. This show debunks the concept that life is Black and White. Everyone deserves a shot at redemption and given the proper opportunity, even the people who have done bad things in the past can change themselves for the better.
Cobra Kai is the story of Johnny Lawrence who is on the path of redemption and is haunted by the demons of his past. The story is set decades after the All Valley Karate tournament about between LaRusso and Johnny in which LaRusso Knocks out Johnny after defying all the odds with the help of Mr. Miyagi and ultimately becomes the champion.
After losing to LaRusso, Johnny’s life becomes a wreck as he fails to get it on track. Now a middle-aged man, without any regular job and a dead-beat apartment, Johnny is what you would call a failure at life. His personal life takes a hit as well as he has an estranged son with his ex-wife, with whom Johnny was never able to connect with.
Whereas on the complete contrary, Daniel Larusso has the perfect life. Daniel is now the successful owner of a car dealership in Southern California, with his beautiful wife Amanda, played by Courtney Henggeler and has two children with her.
Having nothing good left in life, Johnny stumbles upon a teenager named Miguel Diaz, who was being bullied by a bunch of teenagers. So, Johnny saves Miguel, just like Mr. Miyagi saved Daniel back in the first movie. From here on out Miguel wants Jonny to teach him martial arts, and after much deliberation, Johnny finally decides to re-open the dreaded Dojo, Cobra Kai.
This leads to a series a chain reactions, one being where Daniel opens his own Dojo to stop kids from joining the “evil” Cobra Kai. Conflict ensues between both these characters and their respective Dojo’s as the story progresses and the show does not hold back anything.
William Zabka is amazing in this show, you can really feel for his character and the credit to the success of this show definitely belongs to him. William Zabka never got a big break, as he was always type casted as the bad guy in movies in the 80’s. Through Cobra Kai he proves all his critics wrong by portraying the complexity of a character who has made some regrettable decisions in the past, perfectly.
This show is very funny as it does not hold back and does not care even a bit about political correctness. The Writing is amazing, the characters are complex with many layers and their development is very well portrayed and the one thing that the fans were worried about the most was the action, which is on point and does not disappoint at all.
You should definitely check out this show, which is currently on YouTube Premium as it will make you laugh, cry, and surprise you. There are currently 2 seasons with 10 episodes each. Mention your thoughts about the show in the comments below and let us know.
The Happiest person after the premiere of this show was definitely Barney Stinson, who was right all along in favouring Johnny.
