What is the best kind of movie or show you can watch?
One with clever writing, compelling characters, and an interesting story? Or one where you can simply turn your brain off and sit back and enjoy yourself?
Well, in an era of film and TV where distribution studios are constantly churning out “legacy sequels“to blockbuster juggernauts like Jurassic World or Star Wars, you may be shocked to hear that the title that manages to strongly appeal to both sides successfully, is Cobra Kai.
Yes, that is right. After the airing of the show’s finale on February 13th, I can safely say that the sequel series to the cheesy eighties story about a teenager learning karate through chores, manages to create a show that manages to be ridiculously entertaining, and a faithful continuation of the story and its characters.
But how?
The world’s greatest (and probably only) karate rivalry
Cobra Kai takes place thirty-four years after the events of The Karate Kid films, with the plot focusing on Johnny Lawrence (the bully from the first Karate Kid film) and his life struggles in the decades after his defeat in the 1984 All-Valley Tournament. After rescuing his neighbour Miguel Diaz by rekindling his skills in karate, Johnny agrees to train Miguel by becoming his sensei and re-opening his childhood dojo, Cobra Kai.
Along the way, Johnny also crosses paths with Daniel LaRusso (the protagonist of the films), who is living a far more successful life. However upon learning of Cobra Kai’s return, Daniel also starts up his own dojo. From that point on, battle lines are drawn, alliances are made or destroyed, and the next generation of karate students begin their training.
Now the premise itself sounds ridiculous. It reads like some sort of big budget fan fiction or an extremely bizarre premise to a soap opera. So once again, I have to ask the question. How the hell does Cobra Kai manage to be one of the best legacy sequels out there?
Nostalgia done right – and with a purpose
Like any legacy sequel, Cobra Kai has some heavy reliance on nostalgia, particularly throughout its first two seasons. However, what ends up being one of the show’s biggest strengths is that it gives its nostalgic moments meaning, and provides a true purpose for the callbacks, instead of them being used just for cheap fan service.
Season one and two are mainly focused on Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry and the contrast of their lifestyles after their showdown in the first film. Because of this, most callbacks, flashbacks or fan service moments in the earlier seasons shed a brighter spotlight on particular moments between the pair from the first film (the most common example being Daniel’s infamous “crane kick” that won him the tournament).
Despite the callbacks being the least subtle in the earlier seasons, they are cleverly utilised so that they provide character motivation and development, along with progressing the plot in a way that doesn’t feel forced. By the time audiences reach season six, Cobra Kai manages to find a way to naturally tie the series into all three Karate Kid films, and as a result, the stakes are raised in a way that feels well written, but also enhances the entertainment.
New names shine and old faces show no rust
Something else that Cobra Kai does that elevates it above other legacy sequels is the way that it manages to perfectly balance its ensemble cast. One of the more consistent critiques that legacy sequels seem to fall victim to is the inability to create new or younger characters that manage to capture the same charm as the originals.
However, the show not only manages to create characters that are compelling, charming and likeable, but also perfectly balance the screen time between the new and original cast members.
The individual performances from up and coming names like Xolo Maridueña, Peyton List, Mary Mouser and Tanner Buchanan are extremely impressive, but the true charm lies in the fact that being an ensemble allows for each cast member to build their own chemistry with each other behind the scenes.
As a result, this assists in helping the relationships between characters on-screen feel natural, and gives each season the opportunity to partner certain characters together that fans would not expect to see.
The same goes for the original cast, as there are plenty of relationships that are built with the characters from all three films, including certain team-ups that sent hardcore fans into overdrive.
What’s even more special about a majority of the original cast returning is how much commitment and love they all put into their characters.
There is not a single character or performance that feels half baked, and a certain level of maturity that is built with the actors ageing.
Performances from actors like Ralph Macchio and William Zabka feels like they never left these characters behind, whilst others such as Martin Kove or Thomas Ian Griffith feel like they took their roles and elevated them to new heights, providing the show with some truly intimidating presences in characters like John Kreese and Terry Silver.
A show that strikes first, strikes hard, and shows no mercy
The best part about Cobra Kai is that it understands its roots. It knows its premise is cheesy, but it fully embraces it, and creates its own unique style with it. It’s ridiculous how absurd some of the scenes get, particularly in the season finales but the odd thing is that it is always earned.
The only way I could describe it is that Cobra Kai is the greatest “raising stakes” show that I have ever seen. It always manages to get bigger and bigger without its audience ever questioning if it went too far, and as result, binging it feels like constant but consistent entertainment.
But what’s more important is that it also excels at delivering serious moments, and there are plenty of them.
Without providing any spoilers, the season two finale is wildly considered amongst the fanbase as the moment Cobra Kai went from a Karate Kid spinoff to its own thing. It goes somewhere that I do not believe many first time viewers would expect, and from there it maintains that course for the rest of the series.
Each season provides its own twists and turns and keeps you on your toes with every episode. It’s a format that just should not work, but through its ridiculous writing , it finds a way to make it clever.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but Cobra Kai is a show that I would recommend that everyone give a try. It’s a ton of fun, an easy binge watch, and doesn’t pull its punches when it needs to get serious. Like Mr Miyagi’s teachings about balance in karate, it emulates that message by providing the perfect balance of silliness and sincerity.
Original photo by Brodie Campbell