Decades after their 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament bout, a middle-aged Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence find themselves martial-arts rivals again.
It is the day of the 2018 All Valley Karate Tournament and Cobra Kai is determined to win. Robbie signs up unaffiliated. A familiar face from the past returns.
Thirty years after their final confrontation at the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, Johnny Lawrence is at rock-bottom as an unemployed handyman haunted by his wasted life. However, when Johnny rescues a bullied kid, Miguel, from bullies, he is inspired to restart the notorious Cobra Kai dojo. However, this revitalization of his life and related misunderstandings find Johnny restarting his old rivalry with Daniel LaRousso, a successful businessman who may be happily married, but is missing an essential balance in life since the death of his mentor, Mr. Miyagi. Meanwhile, even as this antipathy festers, it finds itself reflected in their protegees as Miguel and his comrades are gradually poisoned by Cobra Kai's thuggish philosophy. Meanwhile, while Daniel's daughter, Samantha, finds herself in the middle of this conflict amidst false friends, Johnny's estranged miscreant son, Robby, finds himself inadvertently coming under Daniel's wing and flourishes in ways worthy of Mr. Miyagi.Written by
Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
Each season has at least one episode named after a song, one named as a Spanish word, and one named for a phrase or line from the original movie. See more »
Goofs
Many people believe that Miyagi's name on his headstone is a continuity error, given that in The Next Karate Kid his name is stated to be Keisuke, but it was actually shown previously on a sign being held for him by Chozen in The Karate Kid Part II to be Nariyoshi. This means that it was The Next Karate Kid that changed his name, while Cobra Kai kept the name previously given for him.
Another interesting fact, however, is that the name given in The Karate Kid Part II was not the original first name given to Miyagi. In The Karate Kid, it can briefly be seen on Miyagi's dog tags, attached to the keys of the 1948 Ford given to Daniel for his birthday, that Miyagi's first name is Hideo. See more »
There are many things to like about this series. Probably the best thing for me is its rejection of political correctness and victimhood culture. Actually, rejection is a strong word and this isn't a protest piece by any means but there is definitely a theme of taking responsibility for one's own fate and confronting adversity with resilience and even some agression. (The show is intelligent enough to portray overt agression or anger as counterproductive). There is one great scene during a karate tournament where a competitor starts pretentiously virtue signalling to the crowd. The reaction of Johnny Lawrence is priceless. Hopefully Hollywood takes note that virtue signalling is not a prerequisite for great entertainment. It's great to see a show that is intelligent with messages to tell but doesn't take itself too seriously.
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There are many things to like about this series. Probably the best thing for me is its rejection of political correctness and victimhood culture. Actually, rejection is a strong word and this isn't a protest piece by any means but there is definitely a theme of taking responsibility for one's own fate and confronting adversity with resilience and even some agression. (The show is intelligent enough to portray overt agression or anger as counterproductive). There is one great scene during a karate tournament where a competitor starts pretentiously virtue signalling to the crowd. The reaction of Johnny Lawrence is priceless. Hopefully Hollywood takes note that virtue signalling is not a prerequisite for great entertainment. It's great to see a show that is intelligent with messages to tell but doesn't take itself too seriously.