Three years ago, Cobra Kai premiered its first chapter on YouTube. The expectation was maximum and that episode, broadcast in open unlike the rest that made up the first season, has been seen by almost 100 million people. A success that made the series grow until reaching Netflix, who took over his rights and has just released his third season.
If you want to know more about it, we will tell you what it is about and we give you five reasons not to miss it. Even if you don’t understand anything about krate or have seen (or remember) Karate Kid.
–
THE POWER OF NOSTALGIA
At the end of the mythical movie Karate Kid (1984), Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) se enfrentaba a Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). With the famous kick of the crane, the good boy took the All Valley karate championship and defeated the bad boy. Many years have passed since the release of that film, but Cobra Kai has recovered those figures to offer a current story in which the protagonism is more distributed and the ‘bad boy’ is now a gentleman trying to get afloat riding a karate dojo (school) called Cobra Kai. And it’s not so bad anymore. And the good … well, he has had better luck and owns a car dealership in Los Angeles, in addition to enjoying a family that loves and admires him.
Cobra Kai shows how those two characters fared But it also reflects other stories involving actors seen in the first two films of Karate Kid. For example, John Kreese (Martin Kove), the sensei Lawrence’s (teacher) and lousy bad of the show. Or several youth loves of Daniel and Johnny that it is better not to reveal.
––
ACTION AND HUMOR
In Cobra Kai, the Netflix series, they kick. Many. And there are almost as many fighting on the mat such as street fights in places such as a leisure center, a high school or a center for minors. All of them well choreographed and with characters of all ages. But there is also room for humor. Especially dialogues that include darts like the ones thrown Daniel and Johnny at the cost of their enmity and their different way of dealing with problems.
One, Daniel, is a man respected by customers and neighbors with the face of a good boy. The other, Johnny, he’s a stubborn guy, rooted in the 80’s and who finds it a bit difficult to put aside his outdated machismo. He is saved by his great heart and his ability to help Miguel Daz (Xolo Mariduea), his neighbor and the student who encourages him to reopen Cobra Kai, the karate dojo where he was a young man.
––
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
As can be seen in the three seasons already broadcast and available on Netflix, at Cobra Kai there is room to show the benefits of krate and the constant pique that LaRusso and Lawrence maintain. But also for talk about past hurts that should heal, the necessary rejection of violence and machismo or how the young people can get carried away by many dangers.
The series is designed so that the viewer doubts a thousand times whether You have to side with LaRusso, Lawrence or both at the same time. That versatility comes from showing his weaknesses and broadening his grief with a new generation of his sons (one a ‘loose cannon’; the other an exemplary girl) and the young man Lawrence treats better than his own. son.
––
A LUXURY BACKUP
The main claim in Cobra Kai son Ralph Macchio y William Zabka, the actors who staged the great duel in Karate Kid and that they reprise their roles as Daniel and Johnny long after (in addition to being producers), and the young Xolo Mariduea, which gives life to Miguel, Lawrence’s first student in Cobra Kai. Although, little by little, the focus shifts to Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) and Samantha (Mary Mouser), mother and daughter of Daniel LaRusso; Robby (Tanner Buchanan), Johnny’s son; and John Kreese (Martin Kove), the bad guy of the function. Not to mention the young people who study with Samantha and Miguel, Johnny’s friends and family, and each one of the young people who join the Cobra Kai dojo.
At the production level, we must highlight Will Smith as executive producer after having his son Jaden star in a new installment of the saga and the writers (Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Robert Mark Kamen, among others), renowned fans of Karate Kid.
––
THE SOUL OF HISTORY
Reliving a duel seen in an eighties movie hit doesn’t seem like it can go on for much more than a couple of chapters. But those responsible for Cobra Kai have taken their responsibility seriously and, in addition to reliving that story with flashbacks more than necessary, they have been used thoroughly so as not to bore. Neither young nor old. There are, as in the television comedies that triumphed in the 90s, stories to satisfy different generations. And with rhythm, that’s why chapters last about 30 minutes. Sometimes simple works.
And in Cobra KaiAlthough there are script twists that you see coming from far away, too many clichés or too many short shots in LaRusso fights, there is soul. The same that leads us to wonder how to get up after a fall. And that you do not have to believe at face value in him Cobra Kai dojo motto: “strike first, strike hard, no mercy.”
According to the criteria of
