Home Arts & Lifestyle Strike hard, But Not That Hard

Strike hard, But Not That Hard

by Athena Mata

How do only two of these kids have criminal records? The third season of the Netflix original “Cobra Kai” recently came out on January 1. This show is a spin-off of the original “The Karate Kid” movies from the 1980s. The original movies follow Daniel LaRusso’s (Ralph Macchio) journey to learn karate from Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) and standing up to his bully, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). 

The “Cobra Kai” series takes place 34 years after the events of the first movie in 1984, and follows Lawrence’s and LaRusso’s lives. Both Lawrence and LaRusso end up becoming karate senseis and continue their rivalry well into their adult lives. They both end up reviving their past karate dojos and taking on numerous students, such as Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) and Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan). Lawrence and LaRusso’s rivalry lasts until they are forced to put their differences aside to put an end to John Kreese’s (Martin Kove) twisted influence over the kids of the Cobra Kai dojo. 

Obviously this show is all about karate and fighting, but most of these fights that break out are just extremely violent. I mean, Miguel almost died from a fight that broke out at the high school. I do not understand how only two of the kids who know karate in the Valley have a record when these kids, especially the Cobra Kais, commit violent crimes every other episode. 

I enjoyed the character development of everyone including LaRusso, Lawrence and many of the kids. The character development is intriguing and it had me rooting for people I absolutely hated at the beginning of the show. It also had me angry and hating people that I used to like. The thing that this show does best is making you both love and hate characters. I have never been able to fully support one character and their decisions throughout the entire show. I think that is incredibly interesting because all of these characters make bad decisions, just like everyone else. 

The acting may not be perfect, but neither was the acting in the original “The Karate Kid” movie, so I think it suits the content. The fight scenes are faked fairly well. There are times that you can tell that a punch or a kick did not actually land a hit on the other person, but it was the same way in the original movie. If you want to enjoy a show about kids fighting each other and karate gangs, then this is the show for you. 

 

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