I haven’t seen a discussion thread about Youtube Red’s “Cobra Kai” (only one thread talking about he trailers and previews). So I’m starting this one.
I thought the first season was very well done. They gave a lot of depth to Johnny Lawrence and really made me want to route for him. I liked that Daniel grew to be a successful businessman who learned the lessons of Mr. Miyagi well, yet was still having some issues with his family. I really liked the new generation of characters, and how their stories are progressing in the series.
One thing I’ve noticed is that it is very difficult to say that any one character in this series is “the good guy” or “the bad guy”. The producers went all out to give each character a very complex background.
Haven’t watched it yet, but I was quite astonished, looking at IMDB to see that after some 30 or so well written reviews, not a single one had a rating below 9. I’m planning to check it out, despite not being a huge fan of the source material.
They truly did a brilliant job making all of the characters look sympathetic and evil throughout the 10 episodes, not just Daniel and Johnny. The kids too, even.
Johnny was really funny! You could tell the writers were really trying to make him look silly but not TOO silly that you’d write him off.
They had a lot of cheese and schlock but it still felt way better than say a Hallmark movie.
Loved the way they seamlessly tied in the original movie.
Daniel’s wife was cool and the fact that he didn’t have a perfect son was funny.
Towards the end of the final episode I was wondering how they could possibly make a second series but they answered that question in the last scene.
This is a quality reboot (reboot?) I give it a 9 out of 10 too!
I’m about 6 episodes in and I am absolutely enjoying every minute.
And when I heard the first rumblings of, “hey did you hear they’re making a Karate Kid sequel series on YouTube?” I rolled my eyes really hard. Sounded like a Bad Idea. But they got the original actors back to play their characters, and actually gave them good characterization, and gave them something to do. And the new generation is great; I knew the Miguel kid looked familiar, but it took me some time to recognize him as the adopted son from the Parenthood series a few years ago. He was a talented kid actor then, and it looks like he’s only improved since then.
The actor that plays Johnny’s son Robby is also very good; he reminds me of River Phoenix in looks and intensity.
I mean, Citizen Kane this is not, but it’s way better than it really has any right to be.
I think this series will have lots of surprises. They have the ability to pull all the actors from the three films to make appearances and/or to make for some very good story lines.
I am very interested to see how John Kreese will stir things up in Season two. I would also like to see how Robby will develop (self discovery and his relationship with Johnny) after his defeat at the tournament.
I also loved the line Johnny said when he and Danny were nearly about to fight:
Danny: “Do you want to come in?”
Johnny: “I could eat.”
Oh lord, is THAT what this is? My YouTube searches for videos on the P-39 Airacobra have caused my feed to be filled with Cobra Kai ads for the last few weeks. I thought it was “GI Joe”-related.
The original Karate Kid is such a classic. It has everything: romance story, mentor/father figure story, mom/son story, underdog vs. bully story, cool cars and motorcycles everywhere and everything is 80s to the max. I’m 31 so I grew up watching that movie even though I’m not an “80s kid.” The bad guys are such good bad guys too. Martin Kove is so over the top as Kreese, it’s hilarious, but still somehow believable. And the other Cobra Kai guys have mad personality as well, for being such tertiary characters. One of them, Dutch, is even played by Chad McQueen, the son of Steve McQueen. Such an awesome movie.
Finished it last night, really enjoyed it. I didn’t know going in if it was a self-contained “mini-series” that left no dangling plot threads or if it was open-ended with the possibility of more seasons. Of course it did end with cliffhangers for season 2–anyone know if it has been approved yet?
That means a cost to me, right? I watched the first two eps, but then could only get previews for subsequent eps. I’m assuming that means they want money?
You can get a free trial of YT Red and watch all the episodes and cancel. But if you want to watch the next season you’ll have to pony up at least $10 for a month.
Or you can wait until season 2 comes out (in a year…?) and take your free trial then. And join us for the season 2 thread
I quickly watched all 10 episodes in less than a week. It’s the first time I’ve ever “binged” any series. I still don’t know if it’s as awesome as I think it is or if I’m just riding a huge wave of nostalgia…
Cutest thing: when you pause playback, a little hand comes up at the lower right, rubs in “Wax on”. “Wax off” appears when you unpause, then the little hand rubs it out. Sweet.
