Cobra Kai Will Never Die

“Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“NO SENSEI!”
“Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“NO SENSEI!”
“Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“NO SENSEI!”

Oh, hey there, don’t mind me, I’m just reveling in my new favorite show. In fact, let me share with you a poem I just wrote:

Why, oh why,
Do I love Cobra Kai?

Dude let me count the ways!

I would love to assume anyone reading this knows all about The Karate Kid (1984) but that would require a huge amount of faith on my part and, well, never mind, here’s a brief recap just in case:

A kid from New Jersey, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is uprooted from his life (gee, thanks mom!) and forced to move across the country to California, arguably during the most crucial, life-altering time in a young person’s life: high school. He’s got an East Coast accent, he’s a bit of a nerd/weakling, he doesn’t fit in with the Cali beach crowd, and he falls for the girlfriend, Ally Mills (Elizabeth Shue) of a local bad boy, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) who—not surprisingly—takes it personally. They fight karate-style, then they fight some more, and then Daniel gets his butt kicked by Johnny and his cronies, after which he catches the attention of a mysterious handyman, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), who on the surface lives a simple life nurturing bonsai trees from his native Okinawa, but in fact is an expert in a unique form of martial arts. Called kata, this style of karate focuses on balance (mind, body, life) and practiced movements and emphasizes karate as defense only. He takes Daniel San under his wing and begins teaching him the critical elements of Miyagi-Do Karate.

The rest of the movie progresses through all the usual … clichés. I hate using that word because it implies something negative and there ain’t nothin’ negative about this movie! Besides, something wouldn’t become a cliché if it wasn’t awesome and popular, right?! Exactly. OK, back to my post … all the usual clichés:

• Good guy versus bad guy (not just Daniel versus Johnny, but Mr. Miyagi versus Sensei John Krease (Martin Kove)
• Girlfriend of bad guy falls for bad guy’s arch enemy
• Good guy and bad guy agree to compete in a popular karate tournament
• Evil Sensei corrupts bad guy and bullies him into fighting dirty, while cool, calm, collected Mr. Miyagi teaches discipline and playing by the rules
• Underdog good guy battles the defeating champion bad guy
• Underdog prevails and wins the championship

It is the quintessential movie for anyone who has ever felt like the outsider or the dark horse, who has ever felt inadequate or weak, who has ever been bullied or beat up or peer pressured. In other words, pretty much every single one of us could relate to this story at one time or another. And in the end, when Daniel San calmly positions into Mr. Miyagi’s badass crane kick, smashes Johnny’s face with the final blow, and captures the win and the trophy, oh man, what a beautiful win! I’m pretty sure every kid who’d ever been the odd man out erupted from his (or her) seat in pure unadulterated joy, belted out a quick “wax on, wax off,” and then begged his momma to put him in karate. That scene is a classic moment in a movie that can only be defined as classic ’80s. It’s one of my favorite movies of all-time.

Which brings me to the point of this post: Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai dropped on Netflix in 2018 but didn’t come onto my radar until earlier this year. Inexcusable, I know; I can’t believe what I’ve been missing!! In a nutshell, Cobra Kai picks up 34 years after The Karate Kid movie ends. We begin with a broken, down-on-his-luck Johnny who is still bitter over his karate tournament loss to Daniel, who’s now a happily married father of two and a successful businessman running a luxury car dealership. Battling with his inner demons, Johnny decides to take back his life and prove his worth in the only way he knows how—karate—by resurrecting the Cobra Kai dojo of his youth and training high school kids to “strike first, strike hard, and show no mercy” against those who would beat them down. What follows is a smorgasbord of flashbacks to Daniel and Johnny as teenagers played out against their current “war” as competing dojos trying to get the upper hand using their own kids and other teens from the town’s high school. With a few surprises along the way. And that’s the gist of it; I don’t want to say anymore for fear of spoiling anything.

The truth is, I had no idea how much I needed this show. It is the perfect antidote for a girl (or guy) who is wiped out, in every sense of the word, from this godforsaken pandemic and desperate to reconnect with an “old friend” from arguably the best decade that ever was.

Here are five reasons why I am head over heels for Cobra Kai:

5) William Zabka: Hot damn, this man is the coolest! From his perfect deadpan facial expressions to his seamless and hilarious delivery of some of the show’s funniest lines (“What’s that on your face,” he sneers to his son’s teenage friend, referring to the kid’s gross, nasty, and highly unattractive mustache), there is something so charming and real and sweet about his character. Even when you want to hate him, you find yourself admiring and even rooting for him. And don’t even get me started on his passion and nostalgia for all things ’80s—the cars, the music, the vibe. He barely knows how to use a laptop let alone the Internet, although admittedly they go a little far in portraying him as a caveman, LOL. Still, it’s all part of his appeal and I cannot get enough. Go ahead, I dare you not to develop a crush—even my husband has a hardcore man-crush!

4) We get to see Johnny’s backstory (and Krease’s for that matter): The Karate Kid is told only from Daniel’s perspective; Johnny is portrayed solely as the “bad boy.” Cobra Kai, on the other hand, delves into Johnny’s past and shows us a wealthy but beaten-down kid who spent his formative years being verbally abused by his stepdad and eventually seeking solace (and power) in a karate dojo under the helm of an equally abusive, ex-military macho man, who we also learn has a bit of a murky, defeated, almost heartbreaking past (not enough to turn you to his side but enough to help you understand why he became the mercenary he is). These scenes showcase how certain tragic dynamics during their youth informed the adult versions of both Johnny and Krease. It’s quite sad to be honest, especially when you start to realize Johnny isn’t the bad guy everyone—including himself—makes him out to be. Zabka owns this role so hard, in the most genuine, seamless way. His Johnny is impossible not to like.

3) Zabka and Macchio’s delightful dynamic and banter: When these two are on the screen together, which doesn’t happen as often as you might think (or as much as I want!), the scenes just … rock! They are like an old married couple—cantankerous, childish, defensive, funny, insulting, and so darn lovable—an absolute pleasure to watch. Throughout all three seasons only one thought kept playing in my head whenever they shared the screen: please, oh please, let these two become friends and kick some serious karate ass!! One of the best scenes comes at the end of season 3, when the two are at a holiday party at a country club. They’re dressed up–Daniel to the nines in a blue velvet suit, white shirt, blue-striped tie, Johnny more “casual” in black pants, black button-down shirt (top buttons undone), and an open white suit jacket–and on the defensive with one another from the get-go. The quick exchange they have is hilarious:

Johnny: “That’s a nice suit. Is that made of velvet? You sleep in that?”
Daniel: “Ehh, you should talk there, Scarface.”

So funny! Writing it here doesn’t really do it justice because it’s their delivery and facial expressions that truly make the moment.

Oh, oh, and there’s a scene in season 1 where they are test driving a car (a 2009 Dodge Challenger) and Daniel turns on the stereo to REO Speedwagon’s “Take It On The Run” … they both start head nodding, singing along:

Johnny, doing a double take at Daniel as if shocked he could appreciate the song: “You like Speedwagon?”
Daniel, with almost an eye roll: “What kinda man doesn’t?”

Johnny doesn’t reply but you can see the begrudging respect on his face.

Amazing! Huge smile on my face every time I watch that scene!! Their banter, their expressions, the music (of course!). I can’t. It’s just The Best.

2) The cheesy clichés and predictability: Sure, I’m the first one to admit the show is cheesier than the tips of my fingers long buried in a bag of Cheetos, a tad far-fetched at times (mostly the kids’ high school fight scenes), and 110% predictable. But none of that matters because cheese is my life, I watched mostly for the ’80s nostalgia but also to be entertained (this is fiction, after all), and by the end of the third season, I was rooting so hard for the obvious sequence of events to come true—and when I say rooting I mean Miyagi-Do jabbing and kicking off my couch in the living room, fist-pumping along the way to the classic “In the Air Tonight” by The Protomen—that if this show hadn’t delivered that mother of all endings, well, let’s just say my TV would have taken a “strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir” round-house kick Cobra-Kai style. And that’s something you can take to the bank.

1) The good ole ’80s nostalgia: Whether it’s the scenes from The Karate Kid, including all the old familiar faces, the best of the best ’80s rock, the apropos call-outs to how much things have changed—and not in a positive way—over the past 40 years, or the coolness factor no kid today can beat, Cobra Kai brings all the feels. From the first minute of episode 1, it was as if I’d stepped back in time to my own childhood. Back to a time when life was simpler–before the Internet and cell phones and social media, not to mention a year-long pandemic. Back when kids played outside all day long and were actually allowed to be kids. When we socialized in person and not through the filter of a phone. When we had a sense of humor and didn’t take everything so seriously or personally (I’m looking at you, cancel culture). I appreciate technology’s role in advancing our society but if someone were to tell me today that we were getting rid of cell phones, social media, the Internet, and all the rest and taking it back to the chill, magical, uncomplicated times of the ’80s, my immediate response would be: I’m in, where do I sign up?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Cobra Kai will never die. Because we ’80s kids remember. We have always remembered, and we will always remember. That feeling, that nostalgia lives deep inside us, inspiring us, motivating us, sustaining us. That ain’t ever gonna change, at least for me. Ever. Why? Because while you can take the girl out of the ’80s … you can’t take the ’80s out of the girl.

Long live, Cobra Kai, and the glorious decade it signifies.

We walk the streets
In tattered armies
We got the lion in our heart
We’re not lookin’ for trouble
Just for some fun
But we’re all ready if you wanna start

So just remember
The kids are back
The kids are back
Oh, watch out
The kids are back

Well, can you blame us
For living our dreams?
Just look around and you’ll see why
We don’t want to follow
That same routine
Maybe it’s for nothin’, but we gotta try

So just remember
The kids are back

— “The Kids Are Back” (Twisted Sister)

 

*Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.