There is simply too much decent to good TV out there for critics to write about any program that does not evoke passion, whether positive or outrageous. This means that if a critic returns to write about the subsequent seasons of a program, whatever their verdict may be about the season, it should be taken as a sign that they – I – actually care about the program, or I know that you care.
With me? Big. Let’s talk now about the termination of ‘Cobra Kai’.
It sent some of you straight to the comments section to vent your anger, didn ‘t it? But why so serious? This discussion is theoretical at best. Currently, ‘Cobra Kai’ is one of Netflix’s most popular titles. It’s been picked up for a fourth season before the third one premieres on January 1st – ergo, there’s no danger of ending now or even after the fourth season. Then why even theorize to shut it down?
Because if a show like this slides from big to good to “Where’s it going?” it’s time to sit down and pull out the road map before the car falls into a ditch. And “Cobra Kai” was really exciting and poignant in its first season for the same reasons it’s now tangled.
The first season begins where ‘The Karate Kid’ left off, dropping us into the lives of the bad boy Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and the lovely underdog Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio, blessed with an ageless face) decades after the All-Valley Karate Tournament where Daniel defeated Johnny. . . permanently, it seems.
The resumption of the story in 2018 turned the dynamic on its head as he made use of components that make ‘The Karate Kid’ a classic: Johnny is off and on and takes his own skinny underdog Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) under his supervision, and revives his old dojo in the process.
Daniel is now rich and a famous car dealer in the Valley, and he takes Johnny’s estranged son, Robby (Tanner Buchanan), into his hands and gives the late Mr. Miyagi’s teachings to him. This setup benefits Zabka more than Macchio in that it gives us a window into its versatility. Macchios have appeared on numerous TV shows over the years, but Zabkas have flown under the radar. This series lets his comedian play, while also showing that he also carries anxiety.
Suddenly “Cobra Kai” follows very similar katas as the original journey of Daniel and Johnny from 1984, to pit Miguel and Robby against each other over the same sweet girl. . . who happens to be Daniel’s daughter Sam (Mary Mouser).
The first season ends in a tournament – like the first movie – the outcome of which helps Johnny and Daniel grow as fathers and mentors and set up season 2.
Enter John Kreese. Johnny’s malicious sensei played by Martin Kove. Kreese’s resurrection is a welcome surprise. . . to a point. Sending his entry into the story is a plot that telegraphs every turn, in part because the season draws many of the clues from ‘The Karate Kid III’ (except for the unsanctioned ‘Brawl in the Halls’ that rips the local high school apart ).
But wait – if you’m worried that series creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg have decided to skip the journey of The Karate Kid II to Japan, do not do it! They saved it for this current season, while also picking up the remnants of the three quarter. Actually, every episode of ‘Cobra Kai’ is somehow a remix of the original movies, and it does nothing. (Although Tamlyn Tomita did an admirable rendition of Kumiko, her character from “II”, despite the Magical Minority subplot mission bringing her back.)
And the excessive confidence in the glory of the past that diminishes with each new outing is embodied by Kreese. Kove plays him well; the problem is that there is not much to the character, as I said in my original review. Instead of lowering it again, let’s discuss why Kreese is a conspicuous symptom of the greater hardship that this series is weakening.
In short, he is a film villain who has fallen into an episodic story. And if a villain is a main focal point of a story, we’ll better know why he’s so dedicated to his path.
Film audiences give writers the chance to paint their boss antagonists with the widest range of paintings, because we know they only have a few hours to tell a story. The best films give its opponents a profound and a purpose that we can understand, but ‘The Karate Kid’ and ‘The Karate Kid III’ do not qualify as film epics.
Such lowered expectations mean that we do not have to worry about the reason why Kreese is in the first turn. The classic “sweep the leg” series is a simple, sociopathic prose that lets us know about what it’s about. Ten television episodes and about five hours of running time ask for a little more explanation. In the movies, it is never said why Kreese is so small for revenge and small interests; the threat at the end of the current season is that he will challenge Johnny and Daniel to a duel through, what more, tournament.
And this is the clearest example of a bigger problem with ‘Cobra Kai’. What started as a tribute to an adoring film franchise has been reformed to explore broader discussions about fatherhood, toxic masculinity, bias and the dangers of life in the past, has become a backdoor machine that has been captured.
Daniel and Johnny spend three seasons clashing before they are united to fend off a common enemy. Kreese spends two seasons committing his children to committing criminal acts and never declaring his motivation or his endgame – and those free, creepy flashbacks to Vietnam help little to put a stop to this void.
The children are fine until they are not. Eventually, some of them go on to become a complete psychologist, including the former geek Hawk (Jacob Bertrand), until he suddenly and with very little notice turns a face.
This is what happens when writers marry themselves with a mediocre premise. If you notice that Hurwitz and Schlossberg are behind the “Harold and Kumar” films, a trilogy that went from outstanding to meh to “I want my money back” in three films, which contributes to the understanding of why an intervention can be useful at this point.
This franchise, like this one, is blessed with memorable characters played by pleasant actors, who initially present themselves as a weed farce but comment on the other and first generation immigrant experience in America. It’s ‘Harold and Kumar go to White Castle’ that I describe. After that, the writers failed to anchor a storyline by aging a strange but wonderful couple. Now we enjoy the memory of the first film as opposed to the reality of the next two.
However, “Cobra Kai” can be great again if the writers demolish the old scriptures and pave a path that is not paved with old (as good) memories. It works for numerous series adaptations of films that the producers make use of the TV’s vastness to produce a completely different and profound experience.
‘Fargo’ is both a tribute to the Coen Bros. ‘original creation and very much an original vision. There’s one. “Westworld” is pretty awesome. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” throws the movie script out the window and starts fresh. (It helps that the creator of ‘Buffy’ realized his story as he wanted to tell it through the TV series). “M * A * S * H” sits on the throne in TV Valhalla. ‘Hannibal’ is staggering, as are ‘Friday Night Lights’, ‘The Odd Couple’ – all successful adaptations with movements that are worth studying.
Critics tend to be the hardest on the shows we (previously) love, and that’s the case here. Since the current season is relative to the previous season, there is not enough humor and humor, and there is enough to make it worthwhile to ride outside the row, above all urge. Johnny Lawrence, Daniel LaRusso and all their students can be wonderful again, but only if their creators take the advice an old friend gave Johnny.
“Sometimes it’s good to visit the past to know where you are now,” she says. “But you can not live in the past.”
“No. We have to live for today,” Johnny agrees.
“And the future,” she finished, “whatever it may bring.”
Yes, exactly that. And hopefully it does not look like what we have already seen.
Otherwise someone has to wipe the bone.
All seasons of “Cobra Kai” stream on Netflix.