Spoilers for Cobra Kai Season 1 follow!
Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy.
Cobra Kai, the decades-later sequel series to the iconic Karate Kid film franchise of the ’80s, (crane) kicks off its second season on YouTube Red this Wednesday, April 24.
To prepare you for the chops, blocks, sweeps, and sweeping drama of the next 10 episodes, here’s a quick and dirty rundown of all the ways Season 1 surprised and delighted us by subverting the established lore of the Karate-verse.
As the curtain dropped in 2018, William Zabka’s Johnny led his star Cobra Kai pupil, Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), to victory over Miyagi-Do and his own son Robby (Tanner Buchanan) in the All Valley Tournament. Starting to have serious reservations about the type of warrior he’d allowed Miguel to become, and possibly realizing that Cobra Kai’s toxic aggression was unhealthy, Johnny was promptly visited in the end by his old mentor, Kreese (Martin Kove), who emerged from self-exile to bask in the new glory of his old school.
Feel free to Wax On through the slideshow or Wax Off to the feature below.
\r\n\r\nWith Cobra Kai though, we start looking deeper into Johnny\u0027s backstory. Not just the fact that his home life as child was pretty atrocious (complete with an emotionally abusive stepfather that would give him cause to find a strong, supportive role model in Kreese), but also the fact that, from his point of view, Daniel was the one who was out of line. Daniel was the kid who transferred in and aggressively pursued his high school love, Ali, while Johnny, misguided as he was, tried to do his best under the tutelage of a problematic teacher. A teacher who\u0027d been the only person to believe in Johnny up until that point.\r\n”,”height”:1800,”width”:3429,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/mv5bmde4mzkwywmtytgzny00yzcxlwe2m2itmwmyzjg2zmqyotu2xkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynjkznjqzodi-v1–1556044036783.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/mv5bmde4mzkwywmtytgzny00yzcxlwe2m2itmwmyzjg2zmqyotu2xkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynjkznjqzodi-v1–1556044036783_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:”03″,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”A HOUSE OUT OF ORDER<\/strong>
\r\nOn the outside, Daniel has it all. Though within the opulent walls of Casa LaRusso, Daniel struggles with the death of Mr. Miyagi. He\u0027s not sure how to maintain balance and order in his life without his beloved mentor, and when his daughter, Sam (Mary Mouser), is unwittingly involved in a hit and run car accident that wrecks Johnny\u0027s car, it re-ignites an old feud that leads to some of Daniel\u0027s family members, without Daniel\u0027s knowledge, torching said car.
\r\nWith Miyagi gone, Daniel also finds himself thrown by the mere reemergence of Johnny in his life. And once things get out of hand and Johnny decides to re-open Cobra Kai, Daniel\u0027s emotions and resentment start to get the better of him. He truly believes that Cobra Kai is poison and that Johnny himself in incapable of change.”,”height”:421,”width”:778,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/jqjcua5yjowv-1556044116975.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/jqjcua5yjowv-1556044116975_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:”04″,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”THE NEW CLASS<\/strong>
\r\nAnd, yeah, let\u0027s not pretend that Johnny is a great person at the start of Season 1. Past mistakes and present day misunderstandings can only paint a character with so much sympathy. Johnny\u0027s choices are still less-than-ideal. He\u0027s got an ex-wife who hates him and an estranged son who wants nothing to do with him and he\u0027s still heavily fixated on the machismo of his \u002780s teen years and the idea that being an alpha male with a cool car that blasts hair metal is the best way to score chicks.
\r\n\r\nHis decision to re-open Cobra Kai, with himself as the sensei, is done first and foremost for money. Secondly, it\u0027s his way to try to force outdated ideals on a world that never bent to his will. And probably also to stick it to Daniel.”,”height”:597,”width”:1006,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/wwqhq4twcpf0-1556044191456.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/wwqhq4twcpf0-1556044191456_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:”05″,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”THE NEW TAKE<\/strong>
\r\nThis is where Cobra Kai, as a series, triumphs. It asks \u0022What if Johnny actually started training a Daniel LaRusso-type? A new-in-town kid being bullied and harassed at school?\u0022 Johnny\u0027s first student is Miguel, a new next door neighbor who witnesses him using some karate on parking lot punks and yearns to be taught. After teaching Miguel for a spell, Johnny\u0027s class soon becomes filled with other victims of bullying. And Johnny himself becomes a shepherd for those who need skills to fight back and stand up for themselves. Johnny only knows how to give tough love, and be a general a-hole about most everything. But the kids respond to it. In the same way that he, as a young scared boy, once responded to Kreese.”,”height”:367,”width”:680,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/miguel-eli-demetri-large-1556044298577.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/miguel-eli-demetri-large-1556044298577_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:”06″,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”THE NEW DANIEL (ER, JOHNNY)<\/strong>
\r\nSchoolmates Miguel and Sam start up a romance, with Johnny\u0027s teachings giving Miguel a newfound confidence that allows him to feel more comfortable in his own skin, and in his ability to fight off bullies. But slowly, over the course of the season, Miguel, and his outcast friends who also joined Cobra Kai, start to become more aggressive. With their new skills, and power, come some swagger that\u0027s unbecoming. In a Dr. Frankenstein creating a monster scenario, that he might not have fully intended, Johnny promised his students that they\u0027d<\/em> become the ones who were feared. So when the previously picked-on see their chance to fight back against the jocks and popular kids who previously humiliated them, it becomes a corrupting moment.\r\n
\r\nAnd like with Johnny and Ali decades earlier, it ultimately leads to a rift between Miguel and Sam, as she starts to not like his transformation from a sweet boy into an over-protective prick.”,”height”:720,”width”:1280,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/maxresdefault-1556044369466.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/maxresdefault-1556044369466_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:”07″,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”THE NEW JOHNNY (ER, DANIEL)<\/strong>
\r\nThrowing a wrench into absolutely everything is Johnny\u0027s own son, Robby, starting to work for Daniel at the car dealership. Of course Johnny doesn\u0027t know this, and Daniel doesn\u0027t know Robby is his adversary\u0027s son, but it all works out well for Robby in the end because he starts getting a bit of positive parental recognition for his work ethic. And his employment ultimately leads to him meeting Sam, and falling for her.
\r\n\r\nGranted, Robby knows Sam has a boyfriend, but she\u0027s in a weird spot with Miguel – like Ali used to be with Johnny – where she doesn\u0027t quite like the man Miguel is morphing into. So she\u0027s a little vulnerable to Robby, who actually really likes her dad and is very open to Daniel\u0027s tutelage of old Miyagi teachings. Which gives Robby a window into Sam\u0027s heart that he wasn\u0027t exactly looking for – but also isn\u0027t going to turn away from.”,”height”:350,”width”:660,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/cobra-3-1556044525781.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/cobra-3-1556044525781_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:”08″,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”BLOOD AND SAND<\/strong>
\r\nOne night, after feeling like he was being ignored by Sam (when, in fact, her phone had been taken from her), Miguel runs into Sam and Robby at a beach party and immediately thinks the worst. Having had too much to drink, he confronts Robby and, in the melee, accidentally hits Sam, pretty much ending their relationship.
\r\n\r\nThe circumstances leading to this moment were laced and layered with misunderstandings and accidents (including Sam keeping Miguel a secret from her dad because of his hate for Cobra Kai) and in the end it\u0027s easy to see how Miguel could emerge asking \u0022How am I the bad guy here?\u0022 But this is also the moment when he and Johnny start to diverge. As Miguel starts to become more and more like the kid Johnny used to be, Johnny starts to have a change of heart and see that, perhaps, his teaching method has had an adverse effect on Miguel.”,”height”:720,”width”:1280,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/asdf-1556044642597.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/asdf-1556044642597_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:”09″,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”THE OLD FEUD<\/strong>
\r\nIt\u0027s important to note that, while Cobra Kai nicely layers characters previously thought to be one-dimensional bullies, it also contains important messaging about how cycles are doomed to repeat themselves unless someone\u0027s willing to break them. Every time it seems like baby steps of progress are being made, the old Daniel\/Johnny feud resurfaces and clouds everything up. The two of them even have a nice(ish) bonding moment over drinks, only to have it ruined when old issues bubble up.
\r\n\r\nDaniel even appears before the All Valley Tournament board to argue against Johnny when he tries to get the lifetime ban against Cobra Kai lifted while Johnny argues that his dojo is helping outsiders stand up to the real bullies – like the kids Daniel\u0027s own daughter hangs out with. The whole season culminates with Cobra Kai facing Miyagi-Do in the All Valley finals.”,”height”:720,”width”:1280,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/df-1556044726911.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/df-1556044726911_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:10,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”\u0022YOU DON\u0027T HAVE TO FIGHT DIRTY\u0022<\/strong>
\r\nFor the most part, Miguel and the rest of Cobra Kai run roughshod over their foes in the All Valley tournament, Miguel fueled with anger after seeing that Sam came to watch Robby compete and not him… Robby, who had been taken under Daniel\u0027s wing and trained for the event out in the woods, in a very Mr. Miyagi-fashion.
\r\n\r\nIt\u0027s here that Johnny, who also holds a slight affection for Miguel\u0027s mother, starts to see who Miguel has fully become as a student. And it\u0027s a dark picture. He tries to tell Miguel that he doesn\u0027t need to fight dirty, but Miguel just throws his own teachings back in his face. \u0022There\u0027s nothing dirty about winning,\u0022 he says.
\r\n\r\nAnd win he does. Miguel stands tall in the end as the victor while Johnny half-celebrates, knowing that he may have led this kid down a patchy path. And then…”,”height”:720,”width”:1280,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/ds-1556044828414.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/ds-1556044828414_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:11,”albumTotalCount”:12},{“caption”:”…John Kreese shows up. To congratulate Johnny on Cobra Kai\u0027s big win. But really, probably, to try and step back into the limelight as the main driving force behind the dojo in Season 2. So now, if Johnny has any doubts about this style of teaching, and the damage it might be causing to his students, he\u0027ll have to actually confront the man who taught these lessons to him.”,”height”:300,”width”:700,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/cobra-kai-season-2-cast-700×300-1556044911042.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/23\/cobra-kai-season-2-cast-700×300-1556044911042_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:”Cobra Kai”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/tv\/cobra-kai”,”albumName”:”Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know”,”relativePosition”:12,”albumTotalCount”:12}]’data-ads-disabled=’false’data-ad-frequency=’3’data-image-size=’1280w’>Cobra Kai Season 1: Everything You Need to Know10+ IMAGESFullscreen ImageESC 
On the outside, Daniel has it all. Though within the opulent walls of Casa LaRusso, Daniel struggles with the death of Mr. Miyagi. He’s not sure how to maintain balance and order in his life without his beloved mentor, and when his daughter, Sam (Mary Mouser), is unwittingly involved in a hit and run car accident that wrecks Johnny’s car, it re-ignites an old feud that leads to some of Daniel’s family members, without Daniel’s knowledge, torching said car.
With Miyagi gone, Daniel also finds himself thrown by the mere reemergence of Johnny in his life. And once things get out of hand and Johnny decides to re-open Cobra Kai, Daniel’s emotions and resentment start to get the better of him. He truly believes that Cobra Kai is poison and that Johnny himself in incapable of change.
THE NEW CLASS
And, yeah, let’s not pretend that Johnny is a great person at the start of Season 1. Past mistakes and present day misunderstandings can only paint a character with so much sympathy. Johnny’s choices are still less-than-ideal. He’s got an ex-wife who hates him and an estranged son who wants nothing to do with him and he’s still heavily fixated on the machismo of his ’80s teen years and the idea that being an alpha male with a cool car that blasts hair metal is the best way to score chicks.
His decision to re-open Cobra Kai, with himself as the sensei, is done first and foremost for money. Secondly, it’s his way to try to force outdated ideals on a world that never bent to his will. And probably also to stick it to Daniel.
THE NEW TAKE
This is where Cobra Kai, as a series, triumphs. It asks “What if Johnny actually started training a Daniel LaRusso-type? A new-in-town kid being bullied and harassed at school?” Johnny’s first student is Miguel, a new next door neighbor who witnesses him using some karate on parking lot punks and yearns to be taught. After teaching Miguel for a spell, Johnny’s class soon becomes filled with other victims of bullying. And Johnny himself becomes a shepherd for those who need skills to fight back and stand up for themselves. Johnny only knows how to give tough love, and be a general a-hole about most everything. But the kids respond to it. In the same way that he, as a young scared boy, once responded to Kreese.
THE NEW DANIEL (ER, JOHNNY)
Schoolmates Miguel and Sam start up a romance, with Johnny’s teachings giving Miguel a newfound confidence that allows him to feel more comfortable in his own skin, and in his ability to fight off bullies. But slowly, over the course of the season, Miguel, and his outcast friends who also joined Cobra Kai, start to become more aggressive. With their new skills, and power, come some swagger that’s unbecoming. In a Dr. Frankenstein creating a monster scenario, that he might not have fully intended, Johnny promised that they’d become the ones who were feared. So when the previously picked on see their chance to fight back against the jocks and popular kids who previously humiliated them, it becomes a corrupting moment.
And like with Johnny and Ali decades earlier, it ultimately leads to a rift between Miguel and Sam, as she start to not like his transformation from a sweet boy into an over-protective prick.
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