Recently, I had the privilege of watching the first two episodes of the upcoming YouTube Red series Cobra Kai, which follows the story of Daniel Larusso and Johnny Lawrence about 34 years after the events in The Karate Kid. Generally, YouTube Red has not presented anything that even remotely interested me, but I was intrigued by this, at least for the sake of nostalgia. Add to that a one night only showing of The Karate Kid on the big screen and I was hooked! Well, after viewing the first two episodes I can tell YouTube Red to shut up and take my money, at least for this series, and here is why. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show. There are so many obvious plotlines and tropes that could sink this show within 5 minutes, but I was pleasantly surprised. It seems that the biggest character in this show is time. Time has changed Johnny, although he remains the same in so many ways. And the same can be said for Daniel. Except it seems now that Johnny is living in Reseda and Daniel is in Encino… but the attitudes are the same, for better or worse. And one character is on a path of rediscovery and redemption where the other has strayed from his path, although he thinks that he is still on course. And yet, at the same time, both characters operate in the gray, but don’t even realize it. Both see their way as right and fail to notice that, for as much time has changed them, in so many ways they are much more alike.

In Johnny we see someone who, in seeking his rebirth, reverts to the path that he’s always known, although with a touch more sympathy for the outcasts. Daniel is still ill at ease around the well to do of Encino, although he is at the top of that heap. Johnny, from what appears to be a place of good intent, chooses to take on a young nerd and teach him the way Kreese taught him, so that the kid can have a backbone and stand up to the ones who are bullying him. Johnny has no tolerance for weakness and it appears that he is genuinely trying to help, in his own misguided way. Daniel, on the other hand, has taken to using his karate background as a marketing gimmick. And, from what is inferred in the first two episodes, neither has trained for quite some time. So, play the training montage music and let’s watch the phoenix rise from the ashes in these two familiar, yet new, characters.

Johnny and Daniel are not completely likable people and I enjoy that. I’m loving that the years have pulled the two closer to the middle than either of them realize. Now, as these two forces begin to charge towards each other in the inevitable clash, what would that mean for them and for us as the audience? We’ll have to wait until May 2 to find out!