Cobra Kai

This show is the perfect mix of nostalgia, great 80s music, and badass karate. William Zabka makes this show as Johnny Lawrence, he is everything. Storylines are interesting, action scenes are well coordinated, and everyone and their brother comes back from the movies. It's lovely.

I remember watching the Karate Kid films as a kid, and I cannot express enough how impressed and surprised at the level of quality of this series. It successfully brings back the old "feel" of the films, while adding a new and complex storyline. It really embodies the legacy of the rivalry, and yet rebores the spirt of the films to a degree that is just unprecedented. I can't wait to see what they do in Season 2. Amazing job YouTube!

Even though Cobra Kai is corny sometimes, I still love it. Growing up a fan of Karate Kid makes this all the more better. Who would've thought that the worst part of the show would be the LaRusso family? Daniel is obnoxious and it's weird how every other word out of his mouth is about Mr. Miyagi. No one should be that obsessed over anything, especially another person. The son is annoying AF and the daughter, Sam is one of the worst casting decisions on all of tv. Not because she's a bad actress, she's as good as anyone on the show (outside of Zabka). The reason is bc she doesn't have an athletic bone in her entire body. Her kicks and punches don't look like they would hurt a new born baby. On top of that she just doesn't look the part. Again, not a bad actress and wouldn't mind her if she was on a show that doesn't require her trying to be athletic. Some of the fight scenes in general are laugh out loud funny, they look like something from the most generic Nickelodeon children's show. Not all of them but a lot. Having said all that, I still really enjoy the show. Now the best part BY FAR is Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka. Just look at the reviews and almost all of them agree he's easily the best part. Besides being hilarious, he has the best character arc on the show. I really hope this leads to bigger things for Zabka bc he deserves it. I'm glad to see he's getting a lot of love.

There are many things to like about this series. Probably the best thing for me is its rejection of political correctness and victimhood culture. Actually, rejection is a strong word and this isn't a protest piece by any means but there is definitely a theme of taking responsibility for one's own fate and confronting adversity with resilience and even some agression. (The show is intelligent enough to portray overt agression or anger as counterproductive). There is one great scene during a karate tournament where a competitor starts pretentiously virtue signalling to the crowd. The reaction of Johnny Lawrence is priceless. Hopefully Hollywood takes note that virtue signalling is not a prerequisite for great entertainment. It's great to see a show that is intelligent with messages to tell but doesn't take itself too seriously.

Cobra Kai is so much better than I thought it would be. I grew up a Karate Kid fan but wasn't sure what to expect from this and thought it would be some cheap kiddy money grab. I'm glad I was wrong. It's so much better than it has any business being, especially William Zabka! He absolutely is the star of this show as Johnny Lawrence. You root for him on this more than Daniel (Ralph Macchio).