Cobra Kai’s new season is another winning combo of silly and earnest
Season 4 of the Netflix dramedy has plenty of kicks, laughs, and heart
TV Reviews Kai
The joy of Cobra Kai has always been in its mix of tones. Not many shows can pull off an earnest worldview combined with crass humor, an extremely silly premise, and insightful social commentary. But Cobra Kai does, which keeps this remake spinning through its latest season, premiering on Netflix on Friday, December 31.
The fourth season of The Karate Kid spin-off delivers 10 new episodes that will surely please those who’ve watched the first three seasons, the formula relaxing enough to enjoy itself. Once again, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is challenged to learn and grow. That he apparently spent the 34 years since losing the All Valley Karate Tournament to Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) without forming any real relationships, but in the last 18 months has built all sorts of meaningful connections continues to make little sense, yet does yield all sorts of hilarity. The new season sees Johnny grappling with social media (he has only one follower) and recognizing that Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) means more to him than his star pupil.
Perhaps Johnny’s best moment is when he tries to recruit female students using all the old tricks that got him “babes” back in the day. When that doesn’t work, he declares that he “even learned feminism” to recruit one particularly promising student who he momentarily convinces to join. With that failure adding to his many others, Johnny has to re-learn that a fighting instinct can come in more packages than one. His fumbling remains the best thing about the show, and season four has plenty of it.
For his part, Daniel is still stuck in his own narrative of himself. He appears to have some sort of lingering trauma (PTSD maybe?) from the events that spanned the original films. We see the ’80s in flashbacks, with Daniel still believing himself to be a bullied kid rather than a successful middle-aged dad. The result is a holier-than-thou attitude, believing he’s right by virtue of just being himself. That chip on his shoulder remains his biggest obstacle, whether he’s trying to partner with Johnny, parent his two kids, or deal with his “enemies,” a.k.a. the original leaders of Cobra Kai.
Speaking of, John Kreese (Martin Kove) is joined by an unhinged Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) in the villain role, furthering the show’s cartoonish tendencies. Silver starts off reluctant, echoing Johnny’s original skepticism in reuniting with Kreese in season two. But he leaves his cushy life in a beach house with a wine cellar and a grand piano to be the assistant teacher to a bunch of sweaty teenagers in the Valley. And then he loses all sense of scale, going to extreme lengths (like he did in Karate Kid 3) to win. Why? Because karate is a way of life! And the All Valley Tournament is apparently its unofficial apex.
Over the 10 episodes, Silver’s decisions make little sense, unless you can suspend belief and dive into the idea that the goings-on of a local club sport for teenagers would define grown men’s personalities immediately upon entering its orbit. But such is the premise of Cobra Kai (although it tries to spin that some backstory about Kreese and Silver’s time in Vietnam explains it all. Reader, it does not).
The kids continue to be largely pawns in the grown men’s ego battles, which does get a bit tiring. The heir to Daniel’s legacy, warm-hearted fighter Miguel, spends most of his time looking befuddled at senseis Lawrence and LaRusso in what surely represents a misuse of his talents. The eldest LaRusso child, Samantha (Mary Mouser), gets plenty to do, rebelling against her dad and continuing her season three feud with Tory. But she doesn’t quite pull it off, remaining the soft, sheltered child, even as we’re supposed to believe she’s becoming tougher and more independent.
That said, there’s a fight scene at prom that is exceptional: picture flouncing skirts, a pool, two couples warring, a love trapezoid, and more. The visually delightful sequence embodies the show’s mix of earnest and silly, letting the situation be both real and over the top, cliché and particular. Likewise, newcomer Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young) is a bright spot. He’s another edition of the Karate Kid archetype, like Daniel in 1984 and Miguel in 2018: the bullied kid who learns karate to defend himself. In his early scenes, his fear is palpable, more real than many of the show’s other, supposedly scary situations. The conclusion, tournament and all, has its own moments of growth and surprise.
Cobra Kai season four nicely continues the journeys of our favorite (and only) Valley karate fanatics, delivering fun along with impressively high kicks, moments of true emotion, and just enough stunted development to keep it all spinning.
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I don’t know if this sells me on jumping back into the show tbh! I gave up halfway through S3 because I simply couldn’t buy the concept of a “karate rivalry” and even teens, let alone adults, defining their lives around it.
It’s all about suspension of disbelief. It’s a fantasy story set in a world very like our own. Would it be easier to swallow if there were giant sand worms or lightsabers? Not saying you’re wrong to not like it, but it’s just a matter of being able to accept the world as they present it or not. Because I think if you do, the writing and performances are hugely enjoyable. Hell, I don’t think it’s that much different than the imprtance placed on high school football in Texas, which seems just as ridiculous to me.
Ha yeah, I mean the karate fights are very “do not try this at home you will hurt yourself” too. And…seriously the football obsession is weird.
wtf world do you live in where this isn’t believable? I mean when I was growing up my high school got into full school participation karate fights that destroyed buildings multiple times. This is like watching a documentary to me.
Well, I grew up in Minnesota where it was all about lutefisk eating contests which, while contentious, rarely led to violence or destruction of public property.
That was my thought in response to the skepticism regarding grown-ass men still being obsessed with youth sports. I grew up in Texas, and, boy howdy, do many adult men still define themselves by their high school football days.
My boyfriend described it as “a life-action sports anime” which honestly made it make perfect sense
I have no problem suspending disbelief for fantasy shows that are clearly not meant to take place in the real world we live in. But Karate Kid and Cobra Kai both are supposed to take place in the real world and they ground a lot of their plots in that realism. Shows can’t have it both ways – they can’t build drama off of real-life situations and then not consider real-life implications of plot points they feature at the same time. That’s just lazy writing.And frankly, this show has suffered for it. The fun of it was never cartoonish fights with kids getting severe injuries, homes getting broken into, and unhinged adults fueling it all on. It was seeing a self-aware sequel to the original movie that kept the same story beats while poking fun at itself.Just my opinion – but I thought the only really fun aspects of S3 was when Johnny was helping Miguel recover because it felt like S1 again.
So obviously magical realism in general does that on purpose, introducing fantastical elements into an otherwise real-world setting. Often that is at least in part for the purpose of providing social commentary. And of course a lot of satire and other subversive comedies include implausible/impossible elements for similar purposes (meaning for beyond just the pure fun of slapstick/gross-out humor).I am not sure the makers of Cobra Kai are really consciously intending all that, but I do think it serves a similar purpose in effect. Specifically, by allowing the kids to have these wildly implausible violent encounters, it allows/heightens the implied social critiques we are discussing in this thread (e.g., involving parents and youth sports, and really society and sports in general—I found myself thinking a bit about boxing, American football, and so on when people were talking about how it is so implausible that parents/police would not intervene if young people were risking serious injury to each other).I guess my point is that the blend of the real and fantastical can serve well-documented purposes, and therefore it is not necessarily the product of poor writing if you see something like that. And while what is actually happening here behinds the scenes I don’t know, I am OK with the effect it has as a member of the audience.
Just seeing these older actors get steady work is pretty cool. Yeah, the nostalgia thing is working on me even though I gave up on the movies after KK2.
“It’s a fantasy story set in a world very like our own.”Yeah, we know it’s set in Southern California.
Just think to yourself it’s just a silly show and you should just relax.
I have tried! Something inspirational about trying again goes here.
I refused to relax when those wise-cracking, movie-watching robots told me to, and I’ll be damned if I relax now.
If you think of it more like pro wrestling with a dash of teen molodrama and it makes way more sense.
Pft, problem is I’m way more interested in the martial arts than the melodrama. (Well, the toxic masculinity bits were good too.)
One of the show’s biggest successes is showing that toxic alpha males can use all the right “woke” buzzwords just as well as anyone else to make themselves seem reasonable.
Yeah the depiction of gaslighting (am I using it correctly?? I think so) is very good.
I think that’s why I couldn’t get into it, I’m not a fan of pro-wrestling. I watched half the first season before giving up.
Yes! I think Bill Simmons or someone wrote about how the showrunners are huge pro-wrestling fans, which explains some of the “heel turns” on the show. The first season was good, but the 2nd and 3rd were kind of hate watches. Netflix left my streaming rotation so maybe I’ll hate watch the new season later in 2022. For me, I can’t get over the massive brawls that happen with no adults around.
The show runners have admitted that the big climax of Season 3 was not originally going to be a home invasion, and changing it really messed with their plans for Season 4, as Cobra Kai having committed such an obvious crime that would need to have some kind of legal implications is so counter to the show’s typical plot structure.
As I’ve said, the show operates on pro wrestling logic where all legal disputes are settled by punching each other no matter how contrived it is.
What made me almost stop watching the show was probably Stingray. The joke of an overweight 30-something joining a kid’s karate class wasn’t that funny and veered into creepy very quickly when he starts hanging out with high school kids at parties.I’m glad he was written out in Season 3.
I’m glad he was written out in Season 3. I’m afraid I’m from the future, and I have bad news…
*Sigh* At the very least the him getting beaten up was satisfying
I just went through a season of HS soccer as a parent, and unfortunately it is sadly realistic for certain adults “that the goings-on of a local [] sport for teenagers would define [their] personalities immediately upon entering its orbit,” and that “[t]he kids [would] continue to be largely pawns in [their] ego battles.”Of course the massive karate fights without the cops intervening are fantasy (now, at least—back in the 1980s, kids could do a whole lot more to each other without parents or other authorities getting involved). But the emotional/psychological aspect of certain adults essentially trying to refight the battles of their own youth through a new generation of kids is a very real, regrettably common, thing.On the other hand, I think it is true the falsest note in the show is the kids themselves getting so wrapped up in this particular sort of conflict, as opposed to conflicts, bullying, and so on involving their smartphones. And in fact I think most of the aspects of the show I have not much enjoyed involve the kids. Not that I have a problem with them being part of the show, but when they are the focus for long periods of time, I tend to get bored, and I think part of that is because their characters have to be unrealistic versions of modern kids in order to fulfill their roles in those sequences.
Oh man how I could I forget about little league parents.Ha and seriously the lack of supervision/intervention is…I know it’s a thing, but they do stretch it pretty damn far.
Yeah I think the show is at its most interesting when it gets into the toxicity of the adults’ behavior and how they push it forward, but the teen drama sections…you’ve nailed why that’s not been landing well for me.
I mean, if that’s your gripe, I’m genuinely surprised you made it all the way to mid-season 3.
I *really* like martial arts.
Speaking just for myself, the adults plus SOME of the kid stuff was more than enough to keep me entertained and interested overall. And actually, I was more or less OK with pretty much all the content involving Miguel, Eli/Hawk, Demetri, Aisha, Tory, and other supporting kids.So it is really just a lot of the Sam stuff and a lot of the Robby stuff that I find tedious at times. I hate to blame the actors for what might just be suspect material, but regardless of the reason I find both of them to be very flat, to the point they are often frustratingly boring.
The absurdity of the premise is part of the fun, and they lampshade it occasionally. That’s the main purpose of Larusso’s wife. Arguably, this isn’t necessary, and the pointing out how ridiculous the premise is undermines the joys of the show. (See also The Fast and the Furious movies.) I’ll admit that I absolutely love this goofy show.
Ha yeah, that’s true. I guess my limit is just lower than I thought it was!
I personally really appreciate Amanda being available as a surrogate for any normal parents watching the show. Not just her initial reactions to things, but also things like her failed attempts to get Daniel to prioritize properly, her failed attempt to take legal action against Kreese, and so on. Those beats capture for me normal parents watching these sorts of things spiral out of control in very unhealthy ways, and yet being powerless to stop the other adults involved from continuing to feed the madness.
At times she veers close to the Mary Jane conundrum, where a character is expressing a reasonable concern, but that also means she’s trying to stop all the awesome stuff the audience wants to see. But I think the actress hits the right tone, and it helps that whenever she points out how ridiculous this all is, it’s actually funny.
Excellent point. It would be easy for her character to just be an annoyance, but I find myself really liking her and sympathizing with her, and finding her scenes to be funny. And to be blunt—I’m not at all sure that Daniel would work without her. On the one hand, she provides some needed audience permission to be quite critical of Daniel. But on the other, she helps sell the idea he is a fundamentally decent and redeemable man, even if he is going through a pretty severe form of mid-life crisis.
I think you’re right that Daniel would seem like a complete asshole without her to balance her character. That’s a good point.
I like to call it Skylar White Syndrome.
There’s a lot about this that is unbelievable. But it’s still a fun watch. (So far in 3 seasons, with the mayhem, have the cops been called or show up, even once?)
It’s been a while since I finished S3, but I remember really liking it and constantly asking myself “How in the world is this actually a good show?” Seeing this S4 trailer still makes me wonder that exact question. Like, this looks ridiculous and kinda dumb and I can’t believe I watched this. But… they haven’t let me down yet, so I’m hoping they can pull off at least one more season without jumping the shark.
Actually, I guess the entire show kinda started mid-shark-jump from the get-go, so I guess I’m just hoping they can somehow keep it going.
ha, also a fair point! I am trying to tell myself that it’s *obviously* meant to be a parallel world. Maybe I’ll just skip the boring school/mall bits or something.
If it took you until s3 to have a problem with “karate rivalry”, in a show based on The Karate Kid, then there must have been stuff you liked in the other 2.5 seasons of Cobra Kai. Fortunately, that all continues throughout.
There was less melodrama in the beginning.
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I thought s2 had more melodrama than s3. If you got through s2, the subsequent season (now, seasons, probably) is more fun.
The main focus of S2 was still martial arts, though, IMO S3 spent a lot more time trying to build up the rivalry between the kids in ways that were mostly nonviolent and to be honest not all that interesting to me.
I’m with you, it’s just too stupid to enjoy. Oh gosh, Kreese magically took over your business! I guess he called the bank and told them to hand over your accounts, too! Too bad there’s no organization you can call when someone is falsely claiming ownership over your property!There is no direction to the writing, no plotting, and things just happen one after another with no rhyme or reason, like a fucking Stephen King book if old Steve was an idiot.The show was fun nostalgia for a season, and the second one looked like it was going somewhere but really didn’t. The third was a turd, so fuck this nonsense.Like Stranger Things, the buzz was far, far bigger than the content ever deserved.
For me it’s the lack of consequences for truly evil teenagers. The original movies had believable stakes but now it’s like sci fi or fantasy levels of cartoonish villainy.
Yeahh the adults are *way* too hands-off.
I’d laugh at this except… Check out the stories of rivalries in the BJJ clans/schools, the kung fu schools of Hong Kong and I’m sure a few others. If you love martial arts you’d know there are rivalries among schools sometimes really serious that happen off the competition circuit.
Ha I mean, I pay attention to the technique et al, not the competitive stuff. I’ve definitely seen East Asian movies where this rivalry was a thing and it made sense, it’s just…in an LA suburb??
Check out the rivalries between the BJJ crowd traditionally in Brazil. Still lots of drama even now within what’s called the DDS but yeah no street fights etc… Probably cause of fear of being sued and why fight if you’re not being paid?
I think the fact they all have severe mental health issues sold it for me. In my personal life I have seen the human mind can get REALLY fucked up. Maybe it just me being around my Dad but the obsession, the projection on the next generation and the ability to blow things out of proportion rings true. I especially like how they showed Silver relapsing into the psychosis he had in KK3. It takes something that was really fucking campy back then and elevates it into something almost scary in the derangement.
Yeah I definitely appreciate those aspects of the show! My friends who recommended it even mentioned the toxic masculinity.
That’s kinda what makes seasons 3 and 4 so good is how much the show begins to comment on the inherent silliness of people taking karate THIS seriously.But at the same time, it also shows that the “karate rivalry” is not really about karate at all, and the karate is just a stand-in for bigger issues like wealth/class and lingering trauma.
oooh maybe I stopped right before then.yeah there’s some very clearly class-related stuff going on, it’s just their behavior went way too far into implausible for me. I should get back to it though!
Heh, it’s like the movies. Although the show does poke fun at the seriousness of the karate rivalries.
I guarantee that, if the actors and setting were all from Hong Kong (or elsewhere in China), and they were speaking in Mandarin, you wouldn’t have a problem.
Of course, the premise is utterly ludicrous. That’s besides the point.
Is it fun and engaging? To that, the entire series (through the early episodes of Season 4 that I have watched thus far) is a resounding yes.
As an 80s’ kid I find the show silly but enjoyable…but as a martial arts dork, I find that the “karate” is the worst part of this show. Look, I’m not expecting the level of fight coregography that The Witcher brings to the table, but almost none of these people can do clean technique…and I get that it’s more about the drama than the martial arts, it would just be nice to see some good fights even if they are cheesy.
I mean…by the shows timeline, they’ve been training for like three months now.
I get that and don’t get me started on how these kids have “black belts” but even Daniel and Johnny could have at least polished up their moves. I know this is apples/oranges but Simu Liu had no real martial arts experience prior to Shang Chi but he made it look convincing.
Simu Liu was a stunt guy and is a young dude in great shape. Macchio and Zapka on the other hand are fairly old. Just how that works.
It’s hard not to nitpick something portrayed in the media if you know anything about it.
The karate’s about on par with the movies, which is to say, absolutely terrible. It’s not really about that, though. The fights are just there for different characters to clash.It’s a bit like the lightsaber duel in the original Star Wars. It’s not particularly acrobatic or impressive, but serves its function plotwise.
I found the lightsaber duel in EP IV actually more realistic than the ones that came later in the prequels. It wasn’t flashy, but it actually aligned closer to what Kendo (samuari sparring) would look like compared to the way overcoreographed moves from EPs 1-3.
Yeah good point. Too bad Lucas wanted to go in a different direction.
I’m with you. That moment in Iron Fist where the actor playing Danny Rand attempts a taiji form was when I stopped watching. I mean, I wasn’t expecting to see something at the level of the actual masters of Chen taiji, but it wasn’t even a half-decent mimicry.
Yeah I tried to watch Iron Fist too and bailed. Daredevil had some legit fights though.
The Drunken Master fight was kinda fun. Colleen Wing wasn’t terrible. That was about it
I’m pretty sure Sam was doing full-on Hollywood Kung Fu by the end of her last bout. Karate is a loose concept at this point
I enjoy it because it’s fun escapism in the absurdity. I have a good laugh at it, because it takes itself so seriously with nobody once coming across a gun. Given the news when it comes to violence and gun violence, I have to imagine where they live at is the safest place to be in America if the most threatening thing to your health is Karate. The storyline, the characters, it’s all well written wrestling cliches. I mean it really does feel like wrestling storylines.
The high school part was pretty silly. They can’t have computers because of the devastating karate war.
The reviews for this season are really all over the place, so I have no idea what the hell I’m going into here. It’s pretty exciting.Especially promising, though not noted here, is that the show apparently finally came up with a reason for Anthony LaRusso to exist, after three seasons of him being the most baffling part.
I kept joking they were just going to have him walk upstairs one day and never come back down, like how they got rid of extra siblings on 80s sitcoms
As long as its not a repeat of the god awful second season, then i’m down. Especially if they keep Tori away in the background where she can’t be seen or heard.
Oh God, that psycho. Cannot stand her. Her ass should’ve been thrown in prison for assault.
The show did at least try to address that, saying the only reason she’s not in jail is that she’s the only means of support for her disabled mother, and even that won’t help if she steps out of line once more.
No court would care about this.Teen attempts murder…gets no jail time cause needs to work at McDonald’s.
Yeah, agree. Tori is the worst and most incongruous part of the show. How is she the only villain that we are not given any reason to have sympathy for? I feel like the character started out just fine and in keeping with the tenor of the show. Then somehow she quickly evolved into this one-dimensional monster, so I blame lazy writing more than the acting (whether I like the direction the character took or not, she actually is pretty scary).
Her villainous characterization is definitely over the top, but we are definitely given reasons to be sympathetic to her, which season 4, in particular, highlights (sick mom, absentee dad, she’s financially responsible for her family).
Yeah, Stink-Ray has absolutely overtaken him as the most inexplicable part of the show. Anthony could actually become a real character next season!
Amanda LaRusso is the best character in the show by miles. Totally over both Johnny and Daniel’s twin mid-life crisies and not afraid to call them on it without being a stereotypical “nagging” wife.
The real problem with Amanda is that she makes Daniel look so much worse. He already feels pretty pathetic, but it only gets worse when she pops up to remind you that right, Daniel could just be having a nice life with her instead
Dude! There’s a fanged mutant eagle hell beast bursting Alien-style from your tummy!
Anyone who doubts adults would act like this at a youth sporting program have never coached or been a referee at a youth sporting program. Those parents are psychopaths
Out of curiosity, how familiar do you have to be with the Karate Kid movies for this show to make sense? I’ve never seen any of the movies, but I have a basic level of pop culture osmosis (New Jersey dork becomes karate master, douchebag evil karate guys, “sweep the leg,” Johnny winning the big match with the weird crane kick thing). Is that enough?
I’ve only seen the first one, out of order and chopped to bits on cable. I’ve kept up just fine. I’m sure there are some deep cuts I’m missing, but every time something is the least bit unclear it just cuts to archive footage
You should see at least the first one. It holds up surprisingly well, so it’s a fun watch even all these years later.
I rewatched it with my wife a handful of years ago – she’d never seen it. I thought it would be hysterical.Honestly, it’s a really good movie that holds up shockingly well and even has a few very pretty bits of cinematography. Lots of heart in the movie. We expected to just laugh our asses off at how 80s and dumb it was, but it’s really one of the better sports movies.
With that level of knowledge I think you’d be fine, but I’d recommend watching the first movie (because, hey, it’s not a bad movie!). You can pretty safely skip the rest of the films, though there are a few plot points and easter eggs referenced throughout.
Season 3 also leans pretty heavily on the second film.
Eh, I did see Karate Kid II but I only barely remembered it and I did fine.
Waiting for them to bring in elements from the cartoon!
and also, the first season of Cobra Kai and throughout the series they will flashback to scenes from the original movies and with the knowledge you already have of the OG flick, it’s enough for you to feel caught up for this series. but yes, regardless just watch the Karate Kid, classic film!
Well, it’s kind of key to know that Johnny LOST (not won) the big fight in the original, to Daniel’s goofy crane kick.
Karate Kid is the same movie as Rocky, except he wins at the end. They’re both weird Italian guys who have to fight more established opponents. They both have a mentor who’s very small. They get the girl in the end. They’re even directed by the same guy.
Danny defeated Johnny with the crane kick. Other than that, you have the basics down.
My wife and I hadn’t seen any of the movies since we were children and remembered basically nothing from them. The series shows you everything you need to know to understand and even appreciate what’s happening.
If all else fails, just read the synapses for the movies on Wikipedia.
Tons of callbacks to the movies. That said, I think it does a decent job explaining things. And it sticks to the first 3 Karate Kids.
Wow – that was some press release – I mean, review!
So how much of this season’s drama relies entirely on misunderstandings and an inability to communicate?
150%. 80s roar.
If the characters talked to each other the series would have ended around episode five.
That’s my biggest gripe. The characters are fun, but if their issues can be solved by just a tiny bit of communicating, then that’s bad writing.
TBH I would say less so in previous seasons. Or if there is a failure to communicate it makes more sense now.
I can easily buy that a millionaire ex soldier who got completely humiliated and half beaten to death by a little old Japanese dude and his teenage protege holds a grudge over it really. It’s heightened obviously but motivation wise it works.
I saw Part 3 for the first time a few weeks ago and it’s kinda insane.
If by “kinda insane” you mean pure trash, agreed.
I really liked how this season opens outright pointing out how crazy Silver’s goal of manipulating a teenager because he and his mentor defeated his friend was and that it was partially fuelled by cocaine.
I’ve got one question, and I hope someone can answer it for me. The last episode of this show I can remember watching involved the massive fight at the high school.My question is: does a significant part of the subsequent episodes take place in courtrooms to settle the massive lawsuit brought against Daniel for teaching the kid who paralyzed his opponent? Because I would honestly watch that.
No, as with everything in this show there are no real repercussions. It’s just one random thing after another, as if when the screenwriters got to the end of the season they never even reviewed the prior scripts to see if they made any logical progression.It was cute and funny for the first season, but with the exception of Elizabeth Shue showing up to class up the place for five seconds, everything else has been idiotic bullshit for people too lazy to find anything else to watch. It’s doodoo.
No courtrooms for Daniel. His business is damaged by the bad PR and he suffers some social repercussions.
Yeah … I get that the show’s a throwback to more less realistic 80’s fare, but I can’t suspend my disbelief that much.
Bobby goes to Juvie and Tori is expelled and put on probation. They really did sell the consequences of that fight tbh. I don’t see how LaRusso would be legally liable though.
I love how those kid actors are now 39 playing 16 yr olds…or at least that’s how old they look now…
This show is based on a nearly 40 year old, maybe not forgotten, but not quite iconic kids’ movie and tries to make the same sensibilities relevant for kids today. This should be a laughable mess, but it isn’t.It succeeds because the acting is terrific. That’s really it, the story has stayed engaging at all because the actors sell it so well. Zabka, Macchio and Mariduena nailed it out of the gate and managed to stretch pretty thinly developed characters out for 3 seasons before it started to get a little stale. Zabka in particular is a revelation. Why wasn’t this guy a bigger star? The really effective acting from the entire cast allows the writing to be micro-corny and macro-prescient at the same time, without ever breaking character. It’s kind of an amazing feat. I’m not sure I needed a 4th season, but I will still give it a watch.
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You think “The Karate Kid” isn’t iconic?
No, not really, even though I was and still am a fan.It’s definitely a memorable movie, but there’s no way The Karate Kid had the same resonance within the zeitgeist as, say, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Or Rambo, or any of the original Star Wars films. Even something like Dirty Dancing had a cultural impact and stands on its own as iconic in a way that I just don’t think the original Karate Kid movie does.I think one could argue that Cobra Kai’s success is enough to put the franchise at that iconic level today, but to me that’s revisionist history; my point was about the original movie. Putting it up there at the level of those other movies now really feels bestowed, earned.
I think this comment is bonkers. As a fan of everything you mention, miyagi, wax on wax off, and the crane kick are as big or bigger than anything from those other films. I just couldn’t disagree more
Counterpoint: Google “Alabama football crane kick”
Zabka is fantastic. Impeccable timing and a great take on a character who was significantly less developed in the movies than Daniel. Pretty much everything about the show’s version of the character originates from his performance and he’s always making great choices. I thought it was fun that Season 3 got a Best Comedy nomination at the Emmys because…hey, why not, but I would really love to see Zabka get some recognition for the role.Thomas Ian Griffith is also a highlight this season. His arc doesn’t make a lot of sense given where the character is at in his life now, but it’s a blast watching Griffith lean into full scenery-chewing villain mode. Kinda reminded me of Michael Keaton or Christopher Walken at times. The guy’s been retired from acting for 15 years, but he jumped back in without missing a beat, and you can tell he’s having a lot of fun here.
I had kind of lost interest in this show and after about 1/3 of Season 3, I just skipped exclusively to scenes with legacy characters (Ali, Chozen, Kumiko.) While all of that was done very well, I had lost all interest in show’s increasingly nonsensical main stories.
Does the show at least bring Aisha back? Because that was some straight-up bullshit last year.
She’s in one episode.
Uuuugh.
Zabka is what makes this show watchable for me – a flawed person trying to make a better life. He’s authentically imperfect without being a Mary Sue or pathetic, something Macchio struggles to do.I wish we could see a similar show featuring John Bender and the rest of The Breakfast Club. Wouldn’t Judd Nelson be outstanding in that capacity?
Friendly reminder that Thomas Ian Griffith is actually a few months younger than Ralph Macchio.
And the youngest possible American Vietnam vet is 65 years old.
WTF. This just blew my mind. I don’t think I could wrap my head around that if I ever watch the third movie again.
I have never watched a Karate Kid movie in my life and had little interest. This show but after recommendations, I binged the first 2 seasons a year or so back and loved the fun, slightly campy tone. However I do think the endless revenge plots and kids acting like utter assholes is wearing a bit thin. Miguel seems to have been hitting the enchiladas a bit – definitely looking a bit heavier this year. But while I enjoyed it – and watched the whole thing in a day – for me, the last 2 seasons have been pretty repetitive. Still, while people enjoy it, we will get more tit for tat for tit for tat grudge matches for evermore!
After finishing the season I will say there is definite progress if you’re tired of the various grudges.
I love this stupid show. It’s Legends of Tomorrow level absurd, but these writers love their characters, and these actors love their roles. It’s tonal extremes are hilarious and any missteps are inherently forgivable when looking at the show as a whole.Disclaimer: I loved the first two movies as a kid and was totally the bullied kid who learned karate to gain some confidence. Thankfully I never had to use it much but it did start a long hobby of martial arts and self discipline. I learned a lot from my senseis, and I kind of have this weird little tv universe to thank for it.
Finished the season. The ending ruled. Very exciting for season five.
Given the… quality… of Karate Kid 3 even in comparison to the first two films, I was really hoping Terry Silver was just going to be doing the guest star thing, like he’d just provide another welcome bit of meta commentary on the plot: something like “Jesus Kreese, it’s been 30 years, no I’m not coming back into your karate rivalry nonsense, go away”. One of my favorite lines from I think it was S1 was when Amanda and Daniel met Johnny and Carmen at the restaurant and was like “This is my husband, he and your boyfriend are having a karate feud”
He does say something similar initially, but then the fact that he’s a psychopath pretty much takes over.
Still a fun show. I loved that Cobra Kai ended up eating themselves in their moment of victory. I liked how Silver pointed out that he was obsessed with a high school karate tournament, then he goes and gets obsessed in it all over again. And where’d his wife go? Doesn’t he have a job or other commitments? Doesn’t matter, it’s ok.Also, Kenny turning into his protégé? Looking forward to that.
Still a fun show. I loved that Cobra Kai ended up eating themselves in their moment of victory. I liked how Silver pointed out that he was obsessed with a high school karate tournament, then he goes and gets obsessed in it all over again. And where’d his wife go? Doesn’t he have a job or other commitments? Doesn’t matter, it’s ok.Also, Kenny turning into his protégé? Looking forward to that.
The thing that seemed most promising to me early on in this show was the idea of Cobra Kai being a place for bullied kids to learn to defend themselves, with the uber macho Cobra Kai style giving them much needed confidence. That they then began to use their newfound skills and confidence to turn the tables on their bullies and *become* the bullies put a new perspective on Cobra Kai and maybe even on the original film’s antagonists (especially Johnny, obviously).I felt like they’d veered away from that over the past two seasons, but between Kenny’s story and Sam’s behaviour toward Tory, it felt like a nod to that (I loathe Sam, and I can’t even tell if I’m meant to or not).Anyway, long story short, I don’t think that’s the story they’re ultimately telling here, but whatever story it is they’re telling, it’s been a wild ride and I’m in for another year.
I hated season 3. Season 4 is awesome. Unexpectedly, some of the best moments in the (fantastic) season come from the governing body overseeing the All-Valley Tournament wrestling dramatically with the idea of adding a female championship. It was played straight, over the top, ridiculous, hilarious, perfect. Really strong season.
I liked this season more than any since season 1.