I have to be honest and say that when I first heard of a ‘Cobra Kai’ series – then still being shown in YouTube Red, I honestly couldn’t take it seriously, I couldn’t help but think that it was all an elaborate ploy from Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ to get to show the world that Johnny Lawrence (William Zabcka) is the real ‘Karate Kid’ and not the film’s “protagonist” Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio).
I even re-watched that hilarious episode “The Bro Mitz Vah” which features the original Karate Kid stars, playing different versions of themselves, while it was absolutely hilarious, especially with Neil Patrick Harris (Barney) and Allison Hannigan (Lily) interacting with Ralph Macchio and William Zabcka. That particular episode and Barney’s overall worship of William Zabcka also raised the question “Who is the REAL villain?” And it opens a really interesting character study for Johnny Lawrence who turns out to actually be a really likeable guy, as we get to know him in the first two seasons of Cobra Kai. I was finally able to catch the series when it was made available on Netflix.
We learn that Johnny, didn’t have many good role models in his life, his dad walked out on him, his step-dad is a jerk and his sensei John Kreese is definitely suffering from some kind of PTSD from the war, and is just thirsty enough for blood and violence to find the need to create and mold his own soldiers in the guise of a karate dojo.
Enter the 1985 “The Karate Kid” movie which was a big hit. I was born in 1986 and in my baby book, under the line for “Popular movies at the time” my mom wrote: The Karate Kid – so I sort of feel an affinity to the movie.
‘The Karate Kid’ had a number of sequels and remakes but none can actually capture that “Miyagi Magic” of the original which is pretty evident considering the success of the two seasons, which I finally got to see when the series became available on Netflix, I binged it in one weekend and absolutely loved it!
So I was really thrilled when I got screeners to the third season of Cobra Kai which picks up right after the nail biting season 2 finale- so here’s a quick recep:
Miguel is in a coma from his fall from said epic fight, Robbie is on the run, Tory with a ‘y’ is expelled from school, while Sam is suspended and dealing with a bit of trauma herself.
Of course our original Karate Kid stars Daniel and Johnny aren’t doing so good either. Johnny basically is going down in a spiral because of what happened to Miguel and of course it was his own son who is guilty. Daniel on the other hand is experiencing repercussions from the aftermath of the big school fight.
There really are a number of insights in the third season which really stuck to me, such that: There’s more to life than being caught up with one person’s mistake. We are also not defined by the mistakes that we make, so it goes that “the sins of the father are not the sins of the son.”
Also, that you can’t live in the past – which is of course what has been haunting Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Larusso has just been milking on his glory days, you know from being two time-All Valley champ, this is of course, when we first meet him in the first season, what I’m trying to say is that you have to live for the future-whatever that might bring and not get stuck in the past.
Daniel Goes to Japan
So this is not a spoiler anymore since it was already revealed in a teaser trailer and in photos that Daniel will be traveling to Japan, if you are around my age you will probably remember that The Karate Kid 2 saw Daniel going to Japan and in the third season of Cobra Kai Daniel reunites with some of the characters he met from the second movie. Don’t worry there is enough flash back so you can easily follow the story.
Without spoiling anything – let’s just say that Daniel picks up a thing or two in Japan which will help him with his troubles at home.
So I wasn’t really a big fan of Tory (turns out she has a lot of fans – check out the comments in our vlog review) but we do get to see more of her troubles in the third season, but again, having a sob story doesn’t excuse you from being a bully and contrary to popular belief, a quote from the series goes “being a badass doesn’t mean being an asshole”.
In conclusion
I’m glad to report that Cobra Kai Season 3 is in the same league as its predecessors and yes, there is also an epic fight scene in the finale. The series has already been renewed for a 4th season – and that’s really how it should be since it again, ends in a bit of a cliffhanger.
I’m currently reading Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ and in it he says: “It’s important to remember that no one is the ‘bad guy’ -in real life we each regard ourselves as the main character, the protagonist.” and in a lot of ways, most stories whether in books or in movies, have this black and white view of its characters but for “Cobra Kai” they tossed that right out of the window and offered a lot of grey areas for their characters, thus making them more real and relatable. Which is all part of its charm and reason why its so popular to fans, whether, you are an old fan like me or a new one. Cobra Kai Season is a good series binge and just keeps getting better and better.
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