As I spent some time discussing last week, Cobra Kai is an awesome show. It’s also one that should, theoretically, fail on almost every single level. At the very least, it should have run out its welcome after just a season or two. How long could the premise last, truly? How long could the heart, humor, and energy of the show be maintained?
The answer to that question is impossible (at least for the moment), because Cobra Kai has only continued to grow better and better with each season. Somehow, the creators cracked the “television show code” and have managed to produce a continually excellent and constantly improving product.
Season Four has just released, and in anticipation of a review of that season (and in-depth character studies relating to every single season), I’ve decided to do a fun little reflection on the first three seasons of the show.
Ready? Let’s begin!
Season One – Cobra Kai Never Dies
Season Summary: Johnny Lawrence, unable to stop living in the past after his humiliating loss to Daniel LaRusso in the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament, struggles to maintain a job and drinks his sorrows away. Things begin to change when he saves his new teenage neighbor Miguel Diaz from bullies, forming a budding friendship. After his car is totaled in a hit-and-run, Johnny also has an unfortunate encounter with Daniel, who is now a successful car dealership manager. Upon finding out that Daniel’s own daughter Samantha was partially responsible for the hit-and-run, Johnny buckles down on his personal devotion.
Johnny proceeds to reopen the Cobra Kai dojo as a means to relieve the glory days of his past. Miguel joins as his first student, and in the process of teaching the young kid how to fight back and strike first, Johnny sincerely starts to turn his life around. Complications arise, however, when an equally agitated and petty Daniel tries to get Cobra Kai banned from the valley, and eventually ends up taking Johnny’s estranged son Robby under his wing. Everything culminates in a showdown at the 50th anniversary All-Valley Karate Tournament.
Mini-Review: Cobra Kai knows exactly the story that it wants to tell, and it wastes no time in presenting that vision to viewers. Johnny is instantly an engaging protagonist (despite his obvious, often hilarious personality flaws), and the viewer quickly connects to Miguel’s struggles and desire to improve. Though clearly a parallel story with Daniel’s journey in The Karate Kid, Cobra Kai goes to great lengths to show the various ways in which the young generation is new and different, but also how old grudges and ties to the past hold us back.
The season isn’t without its faults however, and though the end product is definitely great, this first season demonstrates a few examples of freshman fumbles. It’s an extremely slow burn, which can be a bit of a pain as season one bends over backwards to focus on lesser and occasionally annoying subplots instead of the compelling central story. There’s a bit of aimlessness when compared to the greater scope of the later seasons, and this first season doubles-down on the crude and vulgar humor more than any other.
Still a great watch regardless, and well worth the time! 7.5/10
Most Hype Moment: Hawk Flips the Script. After spending the first half of this season being maliciously bullied to the point of entirely lacking confidence, Miguel’s good friend Eli views joining Cobra Kai as his chance to gain strength and learn to defend himself. However, even Johnny is dismissive of him. So, Eli decides to “flip the script” on his life by changing his entire demeanor and wardrobe, not to mention stylizing his hair into a prominent, spiky, blue mohawk. This drastic shift earns him the moniker of “Hawk”, and with a head-banging metallic accompaniment, Hawk joins Cobra Kai.
Favorite Character: Miguel. He’s just such an earnest kid trying his hardest to learn karate so that he can defend himself and his friends, and also so he can bond with his sensei, Johnny. Though there are a lot of similar shades between Miguel and Daniel from the original film, Miguel’s arc still feels fresh and engaging, especially as it begins to diverge drastically near the season finale. His relationship with Sam is super sweet, and his fighting skills are no joke either. He’s a force to be reckoned with in the season finale.
“But now they see…that the real story has only just begun.”
John Kreese
Season Two – Endless Bitter Rivalry
Season Summary: Picking up immediately after the finale to the previous season, Johnny tries to attack his old sensei Kreese, who has shown up from out of nowhere. However, it isn’t long before Kreese worms his way back into Johnny’s good graces, and the two begin co-teaching their Cobra Kai students. Under their dual tutelage, Cobra Kai flourishes, and brings in a bevy of new students, including one Tory Nichols (who proceeds to drastically influence the twists and turns of the show’s plot moving forward).
On the flip side, Daniel’s daughter Sam asks to be trained alongside Robby, and Daniel officially reopens his dearly departed father figures old dojo, Miyagi-Do. Their success is limited initially, but after Sam and Robby valiantly defend their friend Demetri from Cobra Kai bullies in a public mall, Miyagi-Do starts bringing in just as many students as their rival dojo. Sam begins dating Robby, and Tory begins dating Miguel, but as a mutual dislike erupts into a violent rivalry between Sam and Tory, the entire school is dragged into an all-out brawl with shocking consequences for everyone involved.
Mini-Review: Bigger isn’t always better, but it absolutely IS in the case of Cobra Kai. This show’s sophomore season knocks it out of the park, improving upon the first season in practically every single way. The Cobra Kai dojo continues to expand with more and more students, as does Daniel’s own Miyagi-Do dojo. Characters who were only lightly explored in the first season get richer development and arcs (Robby, Demetri, Sam), the choreography noticeably picks up across the season’s multiple fights, and the soundtrack begins to truly shine in its excellence.
And, let’s not forget to mention a certain John Kreese. Not only is he a fantastically hammy villain portrayed by an actor having the time of his life, but he sincerely heightens the stakes and drama of the season. In fact, the stakes and tension of the season are high across the board, for both the adult storylines and the teen storylines. This is a more serious season than the first, but it still doesn’t lose its trademark Cobra Kai humor and charm. It’s a balancing act handled perfectly.
An extremely solid season. Very, very fun! 9/10
Most Hype Moment: The West Valley High School Fight. Look, if you haven’t seen this season yet, you truly don’t understand. This school fight is incredible, and mind-bogglingly bonkers in scale, audacity, and consequence. This fight has been brewing for the entire season, and the way that it erupts into action and explodes into insanity more and more as the brawling escalates is a thing to behold. The choreography in this practically 10-minute-long fight scene is top notch, as is the banging soundtrack. The nearly 90-second-long oner (a single take with no cuts) that bounces along down the hallway following the action is the icing on the cake!
Favorite Character: Tory. To be clear, Tory is far and away my favorite character in the entire show, but this is her debut season, and BOY does she make an immediate impact. She climbs the Cobra Kai power hierarchy in record time, with a perfect mix of aggressive skills and acerbic sarcasm. Her relationship with Miguel, though short-lived, is actually quite cute, and her rivalry with Sam is intense. She’s never not entertaining, and her emotional time-bomb attitude builds and builds through one tense scene after the next, culminating in the explosive school fight.
“This isn’t a tournament! There are no rules. No. Mercy.”
Tory Nichols
Season Three – The Truth in the Past
Season Summary: The aftereffects of the school brawl are profoundly felt even two weeks after the incident. Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai have both closed down, with Daniel in a defeated slump and Johnny returning to his old drinking ways. Sam hides her scars and deals with petrifying panic attacks over another incident with Tory. Robby is on the run from the police, and when eventually found, is thrown in juvie. The karate committee has elected to cancel the upcoming All-Valley Karate Tournament. Above all, Miguel is still in a coma, fighting for his life.
Slowly but surely, however, things begin to turn around. Daniel visits old friends in Okinawa and refocuses his life on balance. Robby learns (unhealthy but applicable to his situation) life lessons from Kreese while in juvie. Sam steadily improves her confidence and works to overcome her fears. And, most notably, Miguel wakes up and pushes through the long road to recovery with Johnny by his side. Together, the two of them are able to tackle anything (including, as it so happens, a chaotic home invasion and an inevitable clash with Kreese).
Mini-Review: It’s not hyperbole to say that this season had a lot to live up to after the cataclysmic finale of the previous season. Though it’s a surprise to be sure, it is absolutely a welcome one to declare that this season more than lived up to expectations. It blew right past them! Season three continues the upward trend that Cobra Kai has been following by showcasing the best season yet, filled with mountains of humor, heart, sadness, drama, personal growth, and a boatload of top-notch karate action!
This season’s biggest strength is giving every single character something impactful to do. Johnny works through his feelings of guilt and failure by helping Miguel through his intense personal struggle and injury. Daniel as an awesome, nostalgic trip to Okinawa and reconnects with an old acquaintance to hone his focus. Robby succumbs to the dark side, Sam deals with traumatic anxiety, and so, so much more! No character feels wasted, and no arc unexplored. All of it is wonderfully backed-up by the flashback story arc focusing on a young Kreese in the Vietnam war. Those scenes are amazing and gut-wrenching, and the perfect subplot to be interwoven through the season.
A jam-packed season that somehow manages to do everything right! 10/10
Most Hype Moment: Johnny and Daniel vs Kreese. The showdown with three seasons worth of build-up, and it was definitely worth the wait. As Kreese himself puts it, “This was inevitable”. The three Karate Kid alumni duke it out in a battle to the death for the fate of the valley and all its children, and there are absolutely no-holds barred. The fighting is quick and brutal, executed with great choreography and camerawork, and all three actors put their best into the scene. The almost comically overblown orchestral soundtrack adds to the intensity (and is really evocative of Star Wars, which is ironic considering Robby’s character arc), and the parallel flashbacks to Kreese in Vietnam seal the deal on an unforgettable scene.
Favorite Character: Sam. I like Sam through all three seasons, but it isn’t until this season where she is given her own arc to explore her insecurities and grow. She struggles and fails to cope with her fear and trauma from the school fight with Tory, which leads her to make dumb decisions that get her friends hurt. It’s only by opening up and allowing herself to be vulnerable that Daniel is able to use his own experience with trauma to help his daughter back onto her feet with some sagely advice. Just in time too, as it enables Sam to kick some butt during the home invasion in the finale.
“If an enemy insists on war, then take away their ability to wage it.”
Chozen Toguchi
So that’s it for the little reflection on the first three seasons of Cobra Kai. This article was a lot of fun for me to write, and I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did! There will be a little break from Cobra Kai next week, but then we’ll be jumping right back into it the week after that. Prepare yourselves for more awesomeness!
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 