Filmsane

You’ve guessed it folks. After a long long time, I finally binged an entire TV-Show. With work, and my blog I didn’t think I would have the time or the energy to do it, but this Saturday was special. So I knew it had to be done, and be done with passion. Me and my fiancée were both free this weekend and we finished an entire 10 episode season Cobra Kai in less than 12 hours. Yup… The binging of the season finale happened late at night (2 AM) but it was sooo worth it. Trust me… I don’t think that a lot of budget was poured into making Cobra Kai, but it sure had everything else. Love, determination, passion and lots of it.

There is the reversal of role in the YouTube Red’s TV series Cobra Kai. 34 years after the vents of the first Karate Kid, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is a dead beat dad struggling to find employment. His arch nemesis Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) on the other hand is a successful car dealership owner living with his wife and two kids in a wealthy suburb of the Valley.

They both are trying to find some balance in their lives, but actually they’ll both find themselves as mentors to the younger generation of unlikely Karate kids.

And you shouldn’t miss Cobra Kai even if you didn’t like the film series installment. I’m serious. It’s that good! And don’t even try to compare it with the horrible 2010 Karate Kid remake with Jayden Smith. I’m not going to even talk about it.

What I am going to talk (Ok write) about is the fact that there is plenty of nostalgia in Cobra Kai. In a good way. Flash back scenes from the first movie are peppered throughout the TV series, and there are also some nods to the Sensai himself. Mr. Miyagi. There is a great deal of humor throughout the series of course but a lot of that humor comes from Johnny himself. William Zabka’s Johnny is a riot here, and most of that humor is centered about his total lack of understanding how today modern society works. Some things like cyber bulling and modern technology (Facebook for instance) are new to him, and he’s not a big PC person, that’s for sure.

He and Daniel are the Ying and Yang even today, 30 something years after facing off in the finals. Oh there is another tournament yet again, but there is the reversal of the characters in that aspect too. I’m not going to spoil the final episode for you (sorry) but up to that point you’ll see the different methods of teaching from the two vastly different middle aged men. It’s not their fault actually. It’s how they were taught and they’re just passing the teachings and knowledge to the next generation.

Each of those 10 episodes is about 30 minutes long, so the narrative is smooth and digestible even for those you haven’t seen the first movie. If you haven’t… What on Earth are you waiting for?

You can see how the TV show touches on some rough subjects with even rougher honesty. There are traces of elitism, spoiled rich kids entitlement, antagonism towards the minorities, low self esteem, alcoholism, and bulling in Cobra Kai and the creators Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald are not afraid to show them to you.

Seriously… I’m going to stop here is just tell you that Cobra Kai is worth the binge and the watch. It’s that good. Do yourselves a favor and just write Cobra Kai on Youtube. You won’t be sorry. Here are the first 2 free of charge Cobra Kai episodes that you can watch here.