I got through season 1 of Cobra Kai on Neflix over the long weekend. I
expected a corny reboot of an 80's franchise...but it's quite a bit
smarter than that.
Likes:
Reviewing the Karate Kid story through the eyes of the antagonist.
Danny Larusso was certainly not blameless in that story. The other
guy's perspective is worth considering.
The role reversals. Johnny Lawrence was the typical teen movie
antagonist in Karate Kid. A selfish, affluent jock. Danny Laruso was
the poor, nice guy, underdog. The series starts with Danny as the
afluent, selfish, jerk and Johnny as a poor//underdog. Except really I
think we see that everyone is capable of being both the nice guy and the
jerk. Episode by episode each of them plays protagonist and antagonist
in turn.
Maybe a spoiler, but the "Cobra Kai" style of no nonsense, no quitting,
no being a pussy, no being afraid is shown to elevate some nerdy kids
into being able to stand up for themselves. By the end of the season
some of them have turned it up to 11 and gone all the way to being
bullies themselves. I like these perspective shifts. Sometimes we're
each the bully or the bullied, and I think that's worth being reminded of.
Dislikes:
I'm not a sociologist or anything, but I question whether the mean drill
sergeant karate teacher can really turn nice kids into assholes and the
nice guy teacher can turn a delinquent into a nice guy in the course of
a few months.
Some melodrama. Like over the top soap-opera situations. That stuff
makes me cringe and shake my head as I ponder the odds of it ever happening.
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