‘Cobra Kai’ review: Netflix’s ‘The Karate Kid’ series delivers plenty of new hits in its fourth season
The main conflict once again concerns Cobra Kai, the karate dojo now run by not only John Kreese (Martin Kove) but his old friend Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), both of are ardent practitioners of the “No Mercy” code.
Their involvement has also forced Daniel and arch nemesis Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) to try to put their differences aside, but the pair’s personalities and styles don’t get along easily, and they do. hardly work from mutual trust.
The series also avoids dumb teen syndrome, introducing new characters and unexpected wrinkles associated with existing characters that, in theory, like Johnny’s part, that being the villain isn’t means stay forever.
As usual, the tensions built over the valley karate tournament were inevitable, but the real power lies in getting there, with Zabka delivering plenty of laugh-out-loud laughter as the dinosaur comes up. arranges his way, caught between his old rival and mentor for a while.
Johnny is equally annoyed (often hilariously so) pursuing a relationship with Carmen (Vanessa Rubio) while training her son Miguel (Xolo Maridueña).
At the same time, both Daniel and Johnny continue to have complex interactions with their own children, while acting as surrogate fathers for others.
Honestly, topnotch revivals are so rare that it seems inevitable that the “Cobra Kai” will crash or simply run out of gas. Happily, that’s certainly not the case with season four, which one – which spawned a pop culture breakout and Emmy Award nomination upon graduating from YouTube for Netflix – caters to everyone. from elderly to teenagers admirably. Just turning Kove’s 70th Kreese into a center-heavy movie has a certain boldness to it in a show that spends half its time looking like “Dawson’s Creek”.
Despite the familiar slogan “Never die” of the dojo, “Cobra Kai” cannot live forever. For now, however, it remains an example of how to take a known title and breathe life into it without taking yourself too seriously. Even if the karate actions get a little tedious, in terms of deftly squeezing a concept, it’s hard not to admire its form.
“Cobra Kai” begins its fourth season on December 31 on Netflix.
