COBRA KAI 3: New On Netflix
It’s amazing how this show has caught on with viewers, and yet not all that surprising. Just last year, Netflix acquired the rights and production duties for the throwback series after the show’s original programmer, YouTube Originals, probably decided it needed a bigger audience. Breaking viewership records on the streaming platform, it only makes sense that they bumped up the release date from January 5th to the 1st.
I’ve been a fan since it was first released in 2018, falling in love with its updates to the story, right down to shifting our sympathies back and forth between the main characters, a neat trick that some TV shows have difficulty doing. As actor Ralph Macchio put it in a recent interview, blurring the lines of good versus evil is the primal, successful ingredient of underdog shows, something current audiences appreciate much more. After all, who wants to watch a couple of aging, sworn enemies from the 80s duke it out without making some parallels to today’s generation?
The actors are all in. William Zabka is perfect as the villain-turned-hero Johnny Lawrence, a flawed, washed-out adult hanging onto the glory days. He has such a rootable redemption story carved out of his reputation as bad boy/champion student of the nefarious dojo Cobra Kai. The best scenes involve his short temper with the students, especially when it comes to being the bad-ass instructor — “QUIET!” — along with his flying solo moments, where his hopelessly outdated sensibilities score the biggest laughs. Martin Kove as Kreese, who returned in season two, excels as the sinister, former sensei of Johnny, now lording over the renewed dojo and students. It’s just plain fun seeing this veteran actor having such a rad comeback role. And Ralph Macchio as Daniel Larusso does another equally fine job as the other grown up dad/husband/mentor, leading his daughter and fellow students down the less aggressive, more defensive path of karate. Scenes with his wife Amanda, excellently played by Courtney Henggeler, are some of the most truthful and meaningful moments in the show.
As for the students, these young actors are also very good with the material. Mary Mouser, as Daniel and Amanda’s daughter, Samantha, remains the troubled diplomat of the new generation, torn between the nearly paralyzed Miguel, played by Xolo Mariduena, and Lawrence’s estranged son, Robby, played by Tanner Buchanan. My favorites are Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz, a nerd-turned-bully played by Jacob Bertrand, and the wise-cracking know-it-all Demetri, played by Gianni Decenzo. These two keep the humor and heart afloat amongst the ensemble of various high schoolers. And there are a few cool fight sequences, shot in long, unbroken camera takes.
The new season also delivers some extra backstory characters from the film series, like Kumiko (Tamyln Tomita) and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) from Karate Kid II, and Elisabeth Shue as Ali Mills from the original. It also continues to let the rivalry between Larusso, Lawrence, and Kreese play out. It does feel like it’s spinning its wheels at several junctures, plus this season’s emotional arc/resolution seems the most predictable, if still satisfying. After all, the show’s success has been consistently delivering what audiences want, while also creating some refreshing, unexpected twists. Most importantly, writers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg know how to weave spiritual themes into their work — like putting aside our differences and acknowledging that the past is the past. What we do with the present determines our future, for better or worse.
Let’s hope season four brings back Kreese’s Vietnam buddy, Terry Silver, who was the best thing about Karate Kid Part III. In the meantime, well done Netflix. And RIP Tommy (Rob Garrison). Your immortal line lives on forever: “Get ’em in a body bag! Yeahhhhhhhh!”
