Eight Observations about Cobra Kai

1.      Cobra Kai can best be thought of as a time capsule of the 1980s and that’s its appeal. Particularly in an era of endless reboots, Cobra Kai is carefully constructed to appear like something that would have been released in 1990. The way of drawing heroes and villains; the imagining of a school administration that hasn’t been re-educated post-Columbine to keep an eye on bullying; the synthesizer-heavy score and filming cues, are all very '80s. 

 

 

2.     Shows that are meant to preserve the old-school feel of their source material— I’m thinking prequels like Gotham (Tim Burton’s Batman universe) and Bates Motel (Psycho)—often attempt a middle ground by stripping away the modern elements like showing cell phones and other signs of 21^st century culture in the frame. This results in an odd anachronistic stew, whereas  Cobra Kai has the opposite (and I think better) approach of acknowledging that it is set in the present day while centering on two characters who are technologically stuck in the 20^th century. Of the pair, Johnny simply never learned to adapt technologically (and symbolically beyond) whereas Danny is aware that the 21^st century exists (particularly in the form of his bratty son) but wants to champion getting off the grid and sees karate as a means to that (a meta-commentary on how the show itself wants to celebrate karate)

3.       What might be best about the 80s fight scenes is the lack of special effects involved and distinct fighting styles. Again, popularity isn’t in a vacuum. When we have been inundated with special effects and CGI, watching fighting this pure is twice as appealing.

4.       The show is being championed for the shades of gray with which it paints Danny and Johnny. TV is a medium that is now being recognized for its ability to develop characters at a multi-layered level that a two-hour movie won’t be able to achieve. What’s genuinely impressive is that two high school rivals who haven’t let go (to various degrees) of their glory days is a great set-up for a show’s central relationship and Cobra Kai keeps the circumstances realistic.

5.       The '80s component of this series is that pretty much everyone they (and their students) encounter turn out to be jerks worth beating up. Otherwise, how can you keep these characters root-able through several violent turns? It’s a lot of straw-manning and plot contrivance but, hey, I like the plot, so I’m not complaining. Part of the subtext of the universe, where they’re constantly running into thugs like an eight-bit Nintendo game, is that the (now discredited) war on drugs and other media messaging of the 80s had us believe that to survive in poor, urban parts of the country (like Receta), kids had to have fighting ability. Films like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stand and Deliver, and the Terminator series seemed to enforce this narrative.   

 

6.       That being said, a lot of the main characters change at such lightning speed that it’s pure whiplash. Robbie suddenly turns from delinquent to All-American role model in five seconds? Moon bullied Asha in Season one without batting an eyelash and then her entire character backstory is that she’s all about peace and love? At least Hawk’s 180 from having too little to too much confidence were met with a self-awareness in-universe through Dimitri. Change in Golden Age TV is great and what keeps us going but generally shows like The Americans, Homeland, Ozark or Breaking Bad feature characters who are pushed to change through intense circumstances and those changes are gradual. Because the circumstances are far less extreme, it can come off as jarring. 

7.       The second season finale was just sublime. It bears so much resemblance to the conclusion of West Side Story that one has to wonder if the writers were conscious of that connection. Before the big (and extremely well-choreographed) fight, the stories were told from the melodramatic points of views of the characters. When actual damage was done, there was a major focus pull back to the real world as the kids woke up to the fact that kicking and punching can actually hurt people. Worth asking: Miguel was the obviously the biggest casualty of the fight, but how many others besides Sam landed in the hospital? I bet it would have been interesting to see the news coverage of that event. 

8.       Lively debates need to be had over whether Daniel LaRusso is a dorky or cool dad and whether the actors who play the LaRusso family have good chemistry with each other. There’s a certain schmaltzy, TGIF quality to the Amanda-Daniel scenes as well as the Daniel-Samantha scenes, but it’s genuinely convincing that Samantha is somewhat of a daddy’s girl. The dialogue in these scenes can seem a little stilted but Daniel is an impressive enough character to overcome it.