Cobra Kai: Cheesy Goodness

Here's another new guilty pleasure of mine: Cobra Kai, a continuation of the original Karate Kid movies from the 80s.

If you've seen the first movie, you may remember the battle between Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Johnny was a member of the ruthless dojo Cobra Kai, and Daniel took up with Mr. Miyagi. While Johnny took advantage and cheated, Daniel was just trying to make it through high school and overcome bullying. It all came to a head when they battled in the All Valley Karate Championships.

34 years later, Johnny Lawrence is a big wash-up, and Daniel LaRusso is running a lucrative auto dealership. When Johnny decides to bring back Cobra Kai, it rocks the entire community. Even Daniel decides to get involved -- doing everything in his power to stop a terrible dojo from coming back.

The show is surprisingly good -- even with it relying on 80's references up the whazoo and really cheezy plot twists. Most everything is organic. Nothing is black and white. Practically all characters are believable and likable. The dialogue is strong (most of the time). And the villains are also fun to hate. Boo -- villains!

However, there remain a few spots of convoluted plot twists and a couple of not-quite-organic character developments -- particularly in the third season. But in the heat of the moment, it's hard for me not to mind so much.

My one main complaint is -- what's up with all the language (F-bombs and related words)? There are some shows where that kind of speech fits perfectly, but The Karate Kid? Just like Star Trek, Designated Survivor, and The Tick, these cuss words just feel out of place. In those universes it feels cliche, inorganic, forced, and distracting. As such, it took me a couple of years to get into this show -- but then VidAngel came along and it was goodbye to the bad language. It's very difficult for me to recommend this show to most of my "family" friends unless you combine it with VidAngel (look it up if interested). And for me, the show became much more enjoyable.

I enjoyed reliving the Karate Kid moments, all the fun fights, all the plot twists, the cute romances, the 80's music and references. I can't wait to see what comes next in Season 4, but we'll have to wait until the last quarter of 2021.