Cobra Kai-Karate Kid Sequel Series Starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Encuentro, Feb 16, 2018.

  1. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    It's okay. My parents wanted Hulu just so they can see Seinfeld which they are big fans of, but they didn’t want to cough up the money.
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  2. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    You’re a good egg, Mikaela :). Stay safe.
     
  3. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Thank you GodShifter. :)
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  4. James Slattery

    James Slattery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island
    I don't stream but I'll look forward to the DVD.
     
  5. Davosco

    Davosco Senior member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    From Forbes - "Netflix has taken Cobra Kai from Obscure Hit to the Number 1 Show in America."

    Netflix Has Taken ‘Cobra Kai’ From Obscure Hit To The #1 Show In America

    I had not seen the series until this past weekend but knew the original film series very well. As I have had Netflix for some time, I started watching early Friday evening from season 1 figuring to only watch 4 episodes that night. Next thing I know its 1 am and I am at season 2 episode 2. Didn't help that Netflix feeds you the next episode in 10 seconds or less after the prior one ends. Wow- is all I can say about the series. Not surprised it was at 100% Rotten Tomatoes for season 1.

    Great writing and wonderful use of flashbacks and original music with a very nice tribute to Pat Morita in episode 5- season 1. Wound up finishing the rest of season 2 on Sunday. Looking forward to season 3, I suppose in 2021 sometime.
     
    omikron, musicarus, polchik and 3 others like this.
  6. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Binged both seasons over the weekend and I thought it was great. Leans on humor more than the original films, and I like how it isn't always so clear cut that Daniel is the good guy and Johnny is the bad guy. Season two ended on quite the cliffhanger which has me upset it's going to be a while before season 3.
     
    mpayan, gitters, GodShifter and 3 others like this.
  7. This is a GOOD show! Much better than I expected.
     
    gitters, GodShifter, polchik and 3 others like this.
  8. johnny q

    johnny q Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bergen County, NJ
    I have been wanting to see this since 2018! But not enough to spring for YouTube's streaming service. Now that it's on NetFlix, we binged both seasons and flat out LOVED it! We even went back and watched the original movies (through part 3) because what else can we do while we wait for Season 3! :) One has to wonder who is coming back from the original movies - will we see Terry Silver, or Chozen from Part 2? Is there a big reveal in regards to "Tory with a Y?"

    And yes, it is not always clear who is the good guy vs. the bad. You find yourself having empathy for both sides.

    And as a child of the 80s, I absolutely love the 80s nostalgia. I couldn't believe Johnny was wearing a Zebra T-shirt!
     
  9. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I'd never seen any of the Karate Kid movies before I saw Cobra Kai (even though I was about 19 when it came out). They really nailed it with this reboot, it's the most successful example of the type I've ever seen. These characters are very complicated and nuanced - hell, even Kreese is sympathetic at times. And the way the series deals with Daniel is a wonder - they really have extrapolated on his latent self-centeredness and overconfidence in a context where it would have been so easy to just have him be the white knight. And Johnny - well, it's really his show now, and I predict he's going to have a breathtaking arc in the next season.
     
    mpayan, omikron, johnny q and 2 others like this.
  10. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA

    :hugs:
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  11. musicarus

    musicarus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Saratoga, NY
    This series is like a delicious and satisfying meal without the calories. It has it all, is simple, caters to basic emotions, has great empathetic characters and resolutions. Plus the music, history, and love stories and humor! Good for them, and not bad for us. Disbelief gratefully suspended! 2.5 thumbs up.
     
  12. JAuz

    JAuz Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    I watched the first two episodes of season 1 two years ago, but never bothered to pay for the rest. I recently heard that this had moved to Netflix so now I was finally able to watch it.

    This was way more enjoyable than it had any right to be. Part cheesy, part soap opera, and a horrible battle royale in S2E10, but still I thought it was throughly watchable. There's something that kept bringing me back ,and more than just the thrill of seeing the old characters show up. William Zabka is just fantastic in this. But I think it's that it's the same amount of time has passed in real life as it has in the show, and the characters' arcs are realistically (for the part) written. And there are so many quotes that are memorable, many of them from Johnny.

    A couple of minor complaints:
    - the karate itself seems basic. In the original, Cobra Kai was menacing and the tournament karate was of high quality. This series seems like the lot of jump cuts to make it look like the actors were good, but they still seemed slow. And nobody in Cobra Kai scares me, not even Hawk. I admit that might deliberate though as a point to show how kids today aren't tough.
    - Robbie, can you just get that smirk off your face? It seems like the actor plays every scene the same way. Plus, I spent about 10 episodes trying to figure out who he looked like. James Franco's younger brother? No, but I could have sworn that he was Val Kilmer's son at one point.

    The camping trip with the old Cobra Kai guys was a great scene. So was the one with Johnny and Daniel talking about Aly. Martin Kove is a great as a bad guy and Chubs is awesome.

    And yes, I want to see Elizibeth Shue show up in season 3 like everyone else. But I want to see Tamlyn Tomita as Kumiko as well. Didn't she move to LA to study dance or something like that in Part III?

    Here's an interesting question: what would this series be like if Pat Morita were still alive?
     
    omikron, musicarus, '05Train and 2 others like this.
  13. JAuz

    JAuz Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Dang, I'm just coming across this news now. He must have died soon after filming his scenes. Wow.

    Plus, Johnny likes to watch Iron Eagle in the series, which Garrison was in.
     
    omikron and Matthew Tate like this.
  14. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Unfortunately Mr. Miyagi being dead is one of the important aspects of Daniel's personality and character arc, so his character might be missing something if he were still around, unless they wanted to take the cheesy method of going on for a couple of seasons about how Mr. Miyagi is dead or disappeared and then he shows up triumphantly in the climax of the third season or something like that. But that would be a total gimmick and probably wouldn't come off very well.
     
  15. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    I think the only way it could have worked is if Mr. Miyagi is still alive at the beginning of the series and dies shortly thereafter, and part of the story is how Daniel deals with his death. But it's probably better just the way it is.
     
    omikron, musicarus and dkmonroe like this.
  16. JAuz

    JAuz Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    That's kind of what I was thinking. There's NO WAY he wouldn't have been involved, and likely in a major way, but there's the thought that it might not have been as good for reasons stated above. And that's a strange thought, and a bit morbid.
     
    dkmonroe likes this.
  17. mr. steak

    mr. steak Forum Resident

    Location:
    chandler az
    10 episodes in. Good to veg out to. The level of misunderstanding to reveal to plot action is moving into the stupid range though.

    And the Hawk kid is really annoying. Also the cousin.
     
  18. JAuz

    JAuz Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    I have to say, they threw me for a loop when I heard Peter Cetera's voice singing a ballad and it wasn't "Glory Of Love". They fooled me by using Chicago's "You're The Inspiration"!

    But maybe they're saving that callback for a later season with some of the characters from Karate Kid Part 2.
     
    omikron, Matthew Tate and GodShifter like this.
  19. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    I had started this when it was first on YT Red, but got distracted and never finished, so I restarted it recently with it now on Netflix. Just finished Season 1.

    It is certainly highly entertaining, but it's almost comical how bad the writing is at times. Johnny comes to kick Daniel's ass for having guys light his car on fire, and then two minutes later they are sitting down and eating breakfast together, lol, okay.

    While I agree that neither is really the good guy or the bad guy here, Johnny is still an a-hole bully; Daniel is just far less likable than he was in the three films, and I question how likable he really was in the films (Mr. Miyagi made him far more likable than he would have been otherwise, IMO). Whatever action skills Ralph Macchio used to possess have really deteriorated. Not that he was ever an Al Pacino or Tom Hanks, but he could at least do a solid job back in the day. Not so much anymore, but fortunately it's not a show you are watching for all-time great acting performances. It's entertaining as heck, and I plan to plow through Season 2 very soon.
     
    omikron and Matthew Tate like this.
  20. finslaw

    finslaw muzak to my ears

    Location:
    Indiana
    Contrived as hell, but eventually if you view it as a cartoonish soap opera, it passes time. I enjoyed guessing each plot point. Not through the 2nd season but I'm going to assume for the remainder not one of the female students get punched in the face by a dude, even though all the male ones do. Found that aspect eyerolling when the daughter is kicking butt in the mall, she never once takes a significant hit/kick, unlike her male partner (the long haired sidewise Bruce Willis smirking dude - forgot his name.)
     
    omikron and Matthew Tate like this.
  21. jojopuppyfish

    jojopuppyfish Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Amazing how just moving it from Youtube to Netflix really has caused Cobra-Kai to reach a wider audience.
     
  22. StuJM84

    StuJM84 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    My wife and I just finished watching both series of Cobra Kai and we live it. A show that doesn't take itself seriously, is bags of fun and funny too.

    We look forward to seeing series 3 next year
     
    omikron and Matthew Tate like this.
  23. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. On YouTube Red this thing had kind of a cult following. Now that’s it on Netflix it’s far more talked about. Not a bad thing, mind, but interesting in terms of the expanse of its exposure.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  24. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I don’t think Macchio was ever a great actor. However, I see no drastic decline in his skills here than in any other movie he did years ago.

    I would agree the writing isn’t of the highest level, but the movies didn’t have the most brainiac plot lines, either. This is, essentially, an extension of the movies with the characters having more of a grey area in terms of their actions and motives. Of course, Johnny’s son and Daniel’s daughter would meet and dig each other. Was there any doubt?

    Some dumb characters in this and a STUPID brawl at the HS (the last episode if S2 pushes the limits big time), but overall this is a fun series.
     
  25. musicarus

    musicarus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Saratoga, NY
    Macchio def not a credible actor or even a 'presence...', but again it's no calorie entertainment, so suspend your disbelief and try to enjoy. I did, including that there's no way Ralph would score such a beautiful wife.
    Time to look her other roles up ;)
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine