Cobra Kai (Season Two Review)

Cobra Kai
2019 YouTube Premium
Season Two
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

As he watches his prized pupil win the All-Valley karate championship by continually hitting his opponent's wounded shoulder, Sensei, Johnny Lawrence, realizes that he's led his students astray. As Johnny has seen his own life begin to improve, and started to actually experience the painful realizations of empathy, he's learned that the "Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy" slogan of his dojo, Cobra Kai, may need a rewrite--at least to the last part. Unfortunately, he's already ingrained this philosophy into his students...and now, his old mentor, Kreese, who's heard of Cobra Kai's recent accomplishments, is back in town. Despite Johnny's recent misgivings, Kreese wants to make sure the slogan he himself created so many years ago is followed to the letter. Meanwhile, Daniel LaRusso, Johnny's old nemesis, is having none of Cobra Kai's karate dominance. He is sure Cobra Kai is a threat to the community--so sure, that he is going to make sure his own dojo, Miyago-do, is just as loaded with teenagers who can kick ass. However, as the valley begins to split into two factions of teenagers who want to kick each others' faces off, Johnny and Daniel find their love for the past may have just doomed the present.
Season Two of Cobra Kai is essentially about the loss of control that happens once you've pushed a big rock down a mountain. This results in a darker, more dramatic season of television, where the laughs now come not consistently, but sporadically. This is because the nostalgia that brought both Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso back to life in the first season shows its more negative side in the second. Had the two simply been content with getting back into their respective karate disciplines and helping out the surrogate sons they gained, things would have been fine. Unfortunately, neither can let go of their grudge against the other, resulting in a dojo arms race that essentially weaponizes their town's children. This results in a brutal and shockingly uncompromising finale that's also staggering in its scale. The show's finale hints at the fight that should happen in a fair world, then gives the audience the fight that actually would happen given all that came before it.
Leading up to that, Cobra Kai does lean more heavily into the melodrama than the first season. Season Two takes place during the summer, with teenage romance often at the forefront. These kids act as stupidly as most kids do, but now, thanks to Johnny and Daniel, they can kill each other with their fists. It's not the outcome either wanted, and it's certainly not as fun to watch as the first season, but it's still mostly fun and highly entertaining. The second season is a logical outcome to the first, even with all the melodrama, and I'm very much looking forward to the third.