His breathing is splintered. Fear of his opponent is slowly drowned out by his confidence in his ability. The bright lights above him wash over his face with a calming warmth. The crowd cheers. He begins to position himself, raising his leg slowly off the ground. His opponent is unwavering. The referee to his right calls “Hai,” and he strikes. 

This is how we left Daniel Larusso 36 years ago at the end of the classic film “The Karate Kid.” Only, writers Josh Held, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg decided that it was not the end. In fact, it has become more of a glorious beginning. 

“Cobra Kai,” follows the characters from the “Karate Kid” over 30 years after we first met them. Ralph Macchio returns as famed karate kid Daniel Larusso, and William Zabka returns as famed antagonist and Cobra Kai student Johnny Lawrence. This time around, the lines drawn in the original are blurred. “Cobra Kai” shows us Johnny’s side of the story. It shows us that in real life, there are not always simple good guys and bad guys; other than of course John Kreese.

“Cobra Kai” not only focuses on extending to stories of the original characters, it introduces new characters of its own. The main three being Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz, Tanner Buchanan as Robby Keene (the son of Johnny Lawrence), and Mary Mouser as Samantha Larusso. The show surprisingly manages to balance all of these characters, and others, beautifully. This comes as a surprise as, generally speaking, the more characters a show has, the more boring and confusing it can become, especially when it is based on a property that is over 30 years old. “Cobra Kai” makes you not only care about the legacy characters and their struggles, but the kids too. 

Johnny Lawrence, 30 years after his defeat at the All Valley Karate Tournament, is basically a bum. He works odd jobs to make money and lives in a dilapidated apartment. This is until he gains a new neighbor, Miguel Diaz. Diaz is bullied at school and convinces Johnny to teach him karate. Eventually, Johnny decides to re-open the infamous Cobra Kai dojo and turn his life around. 

Johnny takes in many students, including Eli – a friend of Diaz that is also bullied at school. Eli, who, after training at Cobra Kai, becomes known as Hawk, is probably my favorite character of the show.  Hawk is also probably the show’s greatest example of character depth. Eli starts off very timid and shy, mostly due to the surgical scar on his upper lip. Through Cobra Kai dojo, Eli makes a 360 degree shift in his life, adopting a mohawk (first blue then red) and a large back tattoo of, you guessed it, a hawk. Hawk, through the duration of the first two seasons (mostly the second) becomes one of the most ruthless characters on screen. It is not only his ruthlessness we see though; there are some key moments in the second season that show us that Eli has many complicated feelings about himself and the people around him. 

“Cobra Kai” gives almost every character this level of depth, including Daniel Larusso, who now owns a successful car dealership. Daniel, contrary to the narrative of the original film, is not the protagonist of this show. As I said before, there are no clear-cut good guys and bad guys. Daniel, like all of the other characters, is portrayed with depth. While he is mostly a nice guy, he can sometimes be presented as rude and antagonistic towards Johnny.

The only character that perhaps could be labeled as a pure antagonist is John Kreese. Kreese, originally thought dead, is the old sensei of Johnny Lawrence and arguably the true antagonist of the original film. He returns in season two to launch his own nefarious plans upon Cobra Kai dojo. 

One thing “Cobra Kai” delivers the best is the action. The show, especially the second season, is littered with karate action. While some of the karate can seem choreographed and a little goofy, it serves the story well, and pumps the viewer full of pure adrenaline. The rivalry between Cobra Kai dojo and Miyagi-Do dojo (the dojo created by Daniel in season two) leads to plenty of well-crafted drama for the more sensitive viewer. “Cobra Kai” has everything that a viewer of any taste could look for.  For any fan of 80s action films, or just plain phenomenal storytelling, “Cobra Kai” should be a fulfilling watch.

“Cobra Kai” quickly became one of my favorite shows off all time. The first two seasons, originally airing on Youtube Red, are now available on Netflix. Season three premieres on Jan 8.