Cobra Kai is great and all... except for one thing
A sequel television show to Karate Kid was somehow the best and worst idea someone ever had at the same time. These are movies no one over 16 years old ever gave a fuck about except for nostalgia’s sake, so the only way it would ever succeed was to go against everything the movies were about. It’s exactly what Cobra Kai did and for a brief moment it was fucking awesome. So awesome, Johnny Lawrence himself would’ve fucking loved it.
If you talk to people my age, they will all tell you the same thing: the first season of Cobra Kai reconciled them with a dark, broken part of their upbringing. Those who actually watched the show understand: Cobra Kai is almost diabolically effective because it goes against everything our childhood movies stood for. You’re not inherently good and you’re not inherently evil. You’re just another dude trying to make it through life without fucking up.
Lessons from Cobra Kai
Everyone who have seen it remember Karate Kid: Daniel LaRusso is the downtrodden, fatherless kid and Johnny Lawrence is the entitled, privileged prick. The two fight in a regional tournament and write history together. Decency and hard work will always triumph over privilege and entitlement. This is the story Ralph Macchio, William Zabka and Pat Morita have told together. A story that moved and influenced and entire generation until it didn’t.
The power of the first season of Cobra Kai lies in exposing the lies of Karate Kid. No one ever embodies good and no one ever embodies evil. These are just stories we tell ourselves to get through the day. Daniel LaRusso was a condescending smart mouth who grew up to become a smarmy car salesman. Johnny Lawrence was a rudderless hot head who grew up to become a rudderless alcoholic. Doesn’t it sound even remotely familiar to you?
Everyone grows up a little crooked. Daniel LaRusso never became a noble dojo owner (at least now until the start of Cobra Kai) and Johnny Lawrence never disappeared up the corporate ladder he was destined to. Both guys sort of underachieved. That made Cobra Kai so powerful because most of us do underachieve. The reality behind our starry-eyed dreams is often mundane and disappointing. The show reconciled us with that.
Our lives is what we make it and they require a level of constant effort very few of us can provide, especially not Daniel or Johnny. Because they’re like us.
The problem with Robby
The reason why I’m talking of Cobra Kai like there was only one good season is the character of Johnny’s son Robby, played by Tanner Buchanan. The problem with Robby starts in the second half of season one, but culminates in the finale. He is not crooked like every other character in the series. He is pure and very much estranged from his old man. For that reason, he decides to study karate under the unwitting antagonist of Cobra Kai Daniel LaRusso.
Robby Keene undermines Cobra Kai because he provides the show with a moral compass. He is not underwritten or oblivious. He just goes against an idea the show built its entire identity on: Judeo-Christian morals are a lie. What movies sold you in the eighties is a philosophical fallacy. Life cannot be split into two categories: good and evil are constructions and every human being just do their best to get by. Everyone except fucking Robby.
Every decision he takes is fair and righteous even if he’s a teenager who shouldn’t know his ass from his head. Fuck that. Fuck him. Cobra Kai is not a show about growing up. It’s a show about growing old. None of us who liked it in the first place ever took two righteous decisions in the first place. Maybe one. Not two. Robby is not a terrible character, but he’s out of place. He’s too morally perfect to exist in this universe. He needs a mullet or a dumb surfer look.
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I really liked Cobra Kai, but halfway through season two I’m really wondering if the rest of it is meant for me. The first two seasons were aired on YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red), which make you think it might’ve been too insulated from its own success to understand why it was popular in the first place. Netflix bought the whole shebang this year and the stakes have never been higher. It could either become immortal or go down in flames.
If there is anything to learn from Cobra Kai’s belated success, it’s that anti-nostalgia is the only force stronger than nostalgia itself. Bringing your idols of yesteryear back to Earth is emotionally potent and if you’re going to bring them back down, don’t shoot them back up. No disrespect to Tanner Buchanan, but his character had no business in Cobra Kai. No one who gave a shit about Karate Kid gives a shit about Robby Keene.
