Cobra Kai

Our Review

The revival nobody asked for that became one of the best things on Netflix. Thirty-four years after the 1984 All Valley tournament, Johnny Lawrence is a washed-out alcoholic handyman and Daniel LaRusso is a successful car dealer — and when Johnny reopens Cobra Kai to teach a bullied neighbor’s kid, the rivalry reignites. The show’s radical move: Johnny is the protagonist. William Zabka plays him with such shaggy charm and buried decency that a franchise villain becomes TV’s most lovable bad influence, while Ralph Macchio’s Daniel gets the humbling of discovering he’s the story’s real antagonist half the time.

The teen cast (Xolo Maridueña’s Miguel, Tanner Buchanan’s Hawk and his mohawk redemption arc, Peyton List’s Tory) is genuinely excellent — the show’s coming-of-age engine is as strong as its nostalgia engine, which is why it works for viewers who never saw the films. The karate is choreographed with real affection, the montages are unironic joy, and the show understands the difference between honoring the source and worshipping it.

Verdict: Watch it. Strike first, strike hard — but with more heart than the slogan suggests.