I gotta admit. It all started as a joke when I half-heartedly said to my better half that I'd be binge-watching the Cobra Kai series on Netflix when I knew that she couldn't stand the sight of a very whiny Danny LaRusso from the first three movies. Hillary Swank's movie was so-so to me and Jaden Smith/Jackie Chan's movie was just.....well, let's just not go there.
I decided to give it a go and perhaps re-live the whole LaRusso/Miyagi vs Cobra Kai nostalgia by watching a couple of episodes before I search for a worthy successor to the Umbrella Academy series I've watched some weeks back.
Well guess what? I totally got into it and finished both seasons with high anticipations for Season 3. It's currently the #1 show on Netflix (at least in Malaysia it is!) and I can see why. Admittedly, the original Karate Kid movies still struck a chord with many (so much so I can still randomly see kids doing 'The Crane' every now and then at shopping malls) here in Malaysia. Yours truly was also eager to see what happened to the protagonists/antagonists after the movies and that animated globe-trotting cartoon series in 1989.
Is the animated series even canon? I mean would we even hear Danny at some point mention about his travels with Mr. Miyagi in the Cobra Kai series? I doubt it. One thing's good about the cartoon series is that Danny LaRusso was less whiny than his live-action counterpart.
So anywa, coming back to the Netflix Cobra Kai series, we find the kids of both LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence playing an integral part in the plot of the series. The good guys are from Miyagi Do and the bad guys are from...Cobra Kai, what else. But one interesting point to note is that the title of the series is a dead giveaway that Cobra Kai is very much a series through the viewpoint of Johnny Lawrence. A redemption arc that'll probably span through 3 seasons long...or 4 if we're lucky.
It's annoying to find that Danny is still that whiny brat who's now in his 50s. He's very suspicious towards everything Cobra Kai and the intermittent act of kindness towards Johnny will soon dissipate once a student of theirs start to create trouble.
The bully role seemed to have been reversed now. Danny threw the first punch when he publicly made comments about how he trashed Johnny back in '84 in front of his showroom staff. Johnny was surprisingly calm and only retaliated when Danny crossed the line deep into Season 1.
What I love most is the re-introduction of John Kreese, played by a wonderful Martin Kove who retained the ruthlessness that he once showed in the original Karate Kid movies. I bet Mr. Miyagi would've been in the new series too if actor Pat Morita was still around.
The next big question is whether Elizabeth Shue would make a return to the series to play Ali once again. That cliffhanger ending for Season 2 seems to be pointing to it. Please don't replace Shue if she doesn't want to come back. Keeping Ali in the background seems to be a better choice than to piss off fans who definitely want to see Shue back in the series.
Onward to Season 3!
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