Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Cobra Kai’ On Netflix, A ‘Karate Kid’ Sequel Where The Roles (Might) Be Reversed

When you think of “inspirational ’80s movies with a killer montage,” The Karate Kid comes to mind immediately. But where have the lives of Danny and Johnny gone since the crane kick 34 years ago? We find out in Cobra Kai, a series originally produced for YouTube but now available on Netflix. The show stars William Zabka and Ralph Macchio in the roles that made both of them famous. Does it make us long for the original movie or stand on its own?

COBRA KAI: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A flashback to the Under-18 All Valley Karate Championship on December 19, 1984. The defending champ, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) takes on underdog — and former punching bag — Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). You know what happens: Johnny sweeps the leg, and Danny does the crane kick, ending the championship match.

The Gist: Thirty-four years after that tournament, we see Johnny waking up in a seedy apartment in Reseda, hungover and depressed over what his life has become. He does odd jobs for wealthy people who treat him like garbage, he’s divorced and he barely knows his son, and he’s basically become a hermit that doesn’t even want to talk to his new neighbor Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) when the kid introduces himself.

Not only that, but he’s constantly reminded of his defeat all those years ago because Danny can be seen “kicking prices” all over the Los Angeles area in ads for his successful auto dealerships. After getting fired from his job, he’s despondently eating convenience store pizza in a mini-mall parking lot when he sees Miguel get bullied by some of his high school classmates. He ignores the beating until they start throwing Miguel on Johnny’s precious Firebird. “You pissed off the wrong guy on the wrong day,” he says before he kicks all of the kids’ asses.

After the cops come and he’s bailed out of jail, his crotchety stepdad Sid (Ed Asner) tries to write a check “to buy you out of my life.” Johnny doesn’t take it. Miguel asks Johnny to teach him what he knows, but all Johnny says is “stop being annoying.” He later drunkenly drives to the arena where he had his greatest defeat, and a bunch of teenagers in a Range Rover slam into his Firebird and drives off.

By sheer coincidence, his car is taken to Danny’s dealership, and the two meet for the first time in decades. Danny is magnanimous, and offers to fix the car for free, but sees that Johnny is still holding onto that crane kick. Johnny then sees Danny hug is daughter and recognizes the girl from the back of the SUV that hit his car. That anger, coupled with an inspirational scene from an old movie he watches that night, prods Johnny to take his stepdad’s check and open Cobra Kai Karate School, with Miguel as his first student.

Our Take: Cobra Kai comes from Will Smith’s production company, and we have to give credit to him, Zabka, Macchio and fellow EPs Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg for turning the Karate Kid formula on its head. In the first episode, Johnny is the focus, and he’s now helping the bullied stand up for themselves, instead of being the alpha dog who is telling the popular kids to “Strike First” and have “No Mercy” like Sensei Kreese (Martin Kove, shown in flashbacks using unused footage from the original film) used to. It’s a interesting mix; Johnny is going to impart what he learned, which is an aggressive, attacking philosophy, on kids who were as pushed around as Danny was back in the day.

Danny, though, hasn’t been turned into a bad guy, not by any means. Life is just going great for him: successful business, loving wife and kids, great house in Encino. But, whether he admits it or not, Johnny is still in his head all these years later, and it’ll manifest itself now that Cobra Kai has risen from the dead. Also, we snuck a peek at the second episode, and it seems that Danny’s life isn’t as idyllic as it seems, especially when it comes to his daughter Sam (Mary Mouser), who is a former nerd but is now popular and is dating one of the douches who beat the crap out of Miguel. He still has Mr. Miyagi’s lessons of non-violence in his heart, and it’s going to be challenged.

What comes through here is that Cobra Kai isn’t taking itself 100% seriously, but it’s also not a straight-up parody of ’80s action movies like Jean-Claude Van Johnson was. There’s a story there and no clear hero or bad guy, which fits into the world of 21st century binge TV perfectly.

Sex and Skin: Besides Sid talking about how “tight” Johnny’s mom was (ewww), there’s nothing.

Parting Shot: In his new dojo, Johnny has stenciled the words “Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy” on the wall. We see a newly-revived Johnny don the black headband and take a karate stance.

Sleeper Star: We like Maridueña as Miguel, who is essentially the new Danny, but might have chosen the wrong sensei to teach him how to defend himself.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Listen, Menudo, I’ve lived in this shithole for over ten years. The pipes don’t work, the fountain’s full of piss. The only good thing about it is I don’t have to talk to anybody.” — Johnny’s first words to Miguel. Kinda sets things up a bit obviously, doesn’t it?

Our Call: STREAM IT. It’s a reboot that works, because it’s a lot of fun and puts the familiar characters in a new light. And, we’re all looking forward to seeing Johnny and Danny square off again, aren’t we?

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch Cobra Kai on Netflix