Cobra Kai (Season Three Review)
Cobra Kai
2021 Netflix
Season Three
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10
Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence are in a tailspin. The rival senseis were only trying to teach the kids in their California valley to defend themselves, but now the valley's most promising student is in a coma, and its second most promising student is behind bars. The two can't help but feel personally responsible. Johnny responds to the situation by becoming despondent and drinking his days and nights away. Daniel decides to travel to Japan, to the small Okinawan village he and his own sensei once visited many years before. While they're off figuring things out, the war they've started between the valley's kids continues. With the sensei power-vacuum, Johnny's wicked, brutal old sensei, Kreese, swoops in to guide all willing pupils down a merciless path. Can anyone stop this newly revitalized, and violently dangerous Cobra Kai?
I figured out this season what Cobra Kai is--it's Degrassi: The Next Generation with karate:
It's a teen soap, updating an
80's property. The original characters from the 80's property are integral to
the plot. There's even a terminal cancer storyline for one of the main original
character's old friends. Teenagers make ill-advised, rash decisions based on
fragile, volatile love triangles. A character will make big, declarative
statements to another character, then storm out, leaving that character to stand
silent and alone. Conversely, characters will enter a room to find another
character there, sitting and ruminating about something. It's a whole hell of a
lot of cheese. It's also entertaining as hell.
This third season of Cobra Kai manages to bring back the tonal balance of the first season, meaning that the laughs come just as frequently as the over-the-top plot twists and turns. This show is funny! The fights are also awesome, and as much as the drama is melodrama, it's frequently quite effective. The major emotional beats, generally involving the past's effect on the present, and most powerfully, the importance of father figures and teachers, almost always hit hard. However, as much as the show gets back on track from the slight tonal imbalance of the second season, it also is beginning to strain its credibility. For one thing, where are these kids' parents? If my kid comes home all beat to hell, I am finding out who did it and calling the police. That doesn't happen in this town, though, and BOY do these kids get all beat to hell. Also, one character goes from being completely paralyzed to fighting strength in seemingly months. I get that the drama is heightened here, but Cobra Kai hasn't shown quite this much wanton disregard for reality up to this point.
Three seasons in, though, and I really love this show. I do think that the first season was the most grounded, effective, and tonally balanced, though I think the amazing second season finale is still the best episode. I really appreciate the things Cobra Kai is trying to do, and it hits a lot of sweet spots. I love Karate Kid, I love the father-figure/teacher themes, I love laughing, and I love watching fictional characters beat the snot out of each other. I find a certain amount of melodrama entertaining, but I don't like when the show leans into it to a fault. I don't mind heightened or exaggerated reality, but I don't like when the show strains any sense of it. Season Four has a strong foundation on which to succeed. I hope it's the show's best yet.
This third season of Cobra Kai manages to bring back the tonal balance of the first season, meaning that the laughs come just as frequently as the over-the-top plot twists and turns. This show is funny! The fights are also awesome, and as much as the drama is melodrama, it's frequently quite effective. The major emotional beats, generally involving the past's effect on the present, and most powerfully, the importance of father figures and teachers, almost always hit hard. However, as much as the show gets back on track from the slight tonal imbalance of the second season, it also is beginning to strain its credibility. For one thing, where are these kids' parents? If my kid comes home all beat to hell, I am finding out who did it and calling the police. That doesn't happen in this town, though, and BOY do these kids get all beat to hell. Also, one character goes from being completely paralyzed to fighting strength in seemingly months. I get that the drama is heightened here, but Cobra Kai hasn't shown quite this much wanton disregard for reality up to this point.
Three seasons in, though, and I really love this show. I do think that the first season was the most grounded, effective, and tonally balanced, though I think the amazing second season finale is still the best episode. I really appreciate the things Cobra Kai is trying to do, and it hits a lot of sweet spots. I love Karate Kid, I love the father-figure/teacher themes, I love laughing, and I love watching fictional characters beat the snot out of each other. I find a certain amount of melodrama entertaining, but I don't like when the show leans into it to a fault. I don't mind heightened or exaggerated reality, but I don't like when the show strains any sense of it. Season Four has a strong foundation on which to succeed. I hope it's the show's best yet.
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