In my review of COBRA KAI last year, I stated:
Season 1 was the perfect visit to the past to re-explore another side of THE KARATE KID. Season 2 was disappointingly stuck in a teenage love story. And Season 3 does a roundhouse kick and revisits KARATE KID II while clearly setting up a bright future for this kung fu soap opera.
I’m happy to report that S4 comes in with a ROCKY III-like plot that should be heaven for all 80s-90s nostalgia buffs.
Look, I’m not going to wax poetically about a guilty pleasure that’s the closest thing to a soap opera (outside of THE MORNING SHOW) that I watch. But what I will say is that it’s fun.
There’s a trend of challenging TV these days that leaves audiences feeling like the world will end. You can watch people behaving badly in SUCCESSION, the torture porn of THE HANDMAID’S TALE, or over-the-top comic-book violence in THE BOYS. Yet, it’s incredibly rare when a TV show comes out with excellent values and hooks you into binging all the episodes in just a few days.
That’s what happened with me and COBRA KAI S4. Is it a guilty pleasure? Hell yeah. Is there better content on TV right now? Of course. But is there something as pleasant as seeing Miyagi Do’s Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Eagle Hawk Fang’s Johnny (William Zabka) team up? Nope.
COBRA KAI S4 is available on Netflix.
