Feels right to say just "3" and not "Season 3" now that it found itself a nw home on Netflix. For all the quasi-criminal cancellations the streaming giant has perpetrated (Did you hear about Glow? Yeah, I'm lighting a candle too...), saving the sequel series to the original Karate Kid is an olive branch that feels to fans like a friggin giving tree: Season 4 is already a go!
For those outside the now-growing circle, Cobra Kai is a venture of the now-defunct You-Tube Red, an attempt by Google at Pokemoning the video site into something that could rival the rising tide of streaming sites; the whole thing produced a few series and films, but only one managed to get some traction: Cobra Kai. So when Google pulled the plug on the whole thing, new rivers were created from the flow of fan tears.
And then Netflix bought the first 2 seasons. Ever since the series became available on its new home it has been almost non-stop among the top-5 better performers. The company had already commissioned a 3rd season of their own to complete the show (some say Netflix is ancient Esperanto for "3 and done") but seeing how many viewers either followed or are discovering the show in the last 2 months alone, they took the very wise decision to break the... Fourth wall.
The series takes place 34 years after the original film (you know, the good one) and plays with a fan theory that simply refused to die and keeps gaining more and more adepts: the REAL villain of the film was Daniel (Ralph Macchio), not platinum-blondie Johnny (William Zabka). Watch it again: Johnny never instigates, it's always Daniel striking first or harassing the other, Johnny only retaliates to the half-pint who keeps asking for it. In that light, the show focuses a little more on Johnny Lawrence, divorced, deadbeat dad barely making due as a handy man.
Circumstances bring him back in the path of Daniel LaRusso, now a wealthy yuppie who owns a string of car dealerships and gives away bonsai trees with every vehicle. The encounter pushes ol' leg-sweeper to revisit the past in order to secure his future: re-open Cobra Kai dojo himself. Which of course Daniel won't accept, prompting him to step in Mr. Myiagi's footsteps to antagonize his old foe once again. Can these two old dogs learn the new trick of not letting their own kids repeat their mistakes?
No, so far there hasn't been any indication that the original object of contention between the two fighters, time-defying screen goddess Elizabeth Shue, will join the fun, although the second season ended on Johnny getting a call from her which he ignored when he threw his phone in the sea. Dude... Save the whales, damn you! Also rumors that Hilary Swank's character from The Next Karate Kid would show up have so far been unfounded, although having her own Netflix show just out last month might make her more receptive to the idea. We do however get a full serving of Martin Kove as original d-bag Kreese, and Johnny's old posse show up for possibly the best episode of the series where the gang gives their dying buddy Tommy a perfect ride into the sunset (actor Rob Garrison, who really WAS living out his last days, died 6 months after the season came out).
All that to say Hey, a quick first look at the new season, out this coming January and it won't be pushed back because it's a TV show not a feature film that studios want to squeeze every penny from, is available now. Enjoy!
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