Reviewed By: Jay Andrews-Tracy
Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it? Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it? Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it? Prepare! What do we study here? Strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir! This is the famous saying of John Kreese. This is the famous quote from the original movie is repeated in this series multiple times, and boy, does it bring back memories!
Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is back, as is his longtime rival Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Daniel LaRusso is a lot older and much more of a sarcastic person than he was when he was a kid. He is a car dealership owner of LaRusso Auto Group, and is pretty rich, and so tries to help people out as much as he can.
When Johnny’s Car gets towed, it inevitably gets towed to Daniel’s dealership, and it brings back memories of when he was in high school. Daniel offers to get the car out for free for him, but Johnny does not really want to have anything to do with him because he still holds an enormous grudge against Daniel. Johnny gets his car out and then strives to do something meaningful with his life, and opens up Cobra Kai DoJo once again.
Johnny ends up teaching a kid named Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) Karate at his new Dojo. Daniel LaRusso has a daughter named Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser). And of course Miguel develops a crush on Samantha and takes her out on a date to the familiar miniature golf place that Daniel took Ali in the original ‘Karate Kid’ movie.
Cobra Kai pays tribute to the gone-but-never-forgotten Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita) and does it very well. There are hints of Mr. Miyagi throughout the whole series, and it is very powerful. The story line is pretty awesome, and the characters are very well written. I do however think Johnny’s character is written the best!
The show executive producer is Will Smith, along with Ralph Macchio, and a group of other people, 18 to be exact, and 5 directors. No wonder this series is one of the best out there so far. There are some special cameo appearances too, such as Randee Heller, who played Daniel’s mother in the original Karate Kid movies.
The soundtrack is Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg and brings the feel and ambience to the show, and hints from the original ‘Karate Kid’ movies that we all love. It also has a slew of 80s music that is catchy and people who that grew up from that time will remember them well. I am sure they will expand the music collection in the next season, which I cannot wait for.
The show had brought in 11 million views since it launched on YouTube Red. There already are plans for a second season, which I hope will just be as good as the first season. It seems that television production on small networks such as YouTube Red, seems to bring high viewers, sometimes more than the standard television networks.