Cobra Kai

:

Season 2
Season #: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 67 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 67
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 67
  3. Negative: 3 out of 67
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User Reviews

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  1. baole58
    Apr 27, 2019
    4
    Cobra Kai Season 1 may be corny and follows every cliche in the book, but it successfully captured the spirit of the original film while expanding on the story. Season 2 tried to be bigger, but not better. The main characters from the first season often felt like supporting characters, as the show focused too heavily on teen love drama, but too little on character development.

    For    Cobra Kai Season 1 may be corny and follows every cliche in the book, but it successfully captured the spirit of the original film while expanding on the story. Season 2 tried to be bigger, but not better. The main characters from the first season often felt like supporting characters, as the show focused too heavily on teen love drama, but too little on character development.

    For example, Miguel's role in the second season has been greatly reduced. The bond between him and Johnny is gone and now he's barely in the show. And when he is in the show, he's with his new girlfriend, Tory, who was only written into the show so that two different girls can fight over Miguel. Oh yeah, they have a cute fight scene and all of a sudden they like each other. It's just so forced.

    There's absolutely nothing to like about Tory at all, even her sob story didn't make it easier to sympathize with her. She's a thief and she also bullies Sam for no reason, other than jealousy. Robbie was a supporting character who changed over the course of the first season, which made him a little bit likeable. Now he's the main character who doesn't change at all over the course of the second season with an utterly predictable character arc, making his character really bland, and all of these characters are involved in a stupid love triangle that takes up the bulk of the second season.

    The relationship between Johnny and Kreese was so contrived because Kreese doesn't say anything that's convincing enough to believe that he's not the same character. But Johnny has to be an idiot and give him a second chance for the plot to work. We also have a grown man joining Cobra Kai as an unfunny comic relief character and I just don't find Hawk very threatening as a villain (and Kreese for that matter as well). He gets a few tattoos and bullies people who are weaker than him, and gets his ass kicked everytime he fights a worthy opponent.

    There's also a pointless episode dedicated to Johnny's dying friend because... fan service? There are many flashbacks from Karate Kid in Cobra Kai, but they're often purposeful to the story. For example, all of the flashbacks of LaRusso's winning kick to Johnny's face was to show that there's still bad blood between them, and that they have never gotten over their past. They also used this flashback in the scene where LaRusso advertises his karate class and it was quite hilarious. The flashbacks of LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi was to show how much LaRusso misses him and how Mr. Miyagi is still very important to LaRusso. LaRusso had a great deal of respect for Mr. Miyagi because he was a huge influence in his life. The flashback of Johnny riding motorcycles with his high school friends isn't nostalgic because no one cares about them. There is no emotional impact because his old high school friends only make an appearance on one episode and are completely irrelevant for the rest of the season.

    The fight scenes weren't even good. Cobra Kai Season 1 (and even Karate Kid) didn't have great choreography, but it had well-written characters that made the fight scenes enjoyable because you had characters to root for. When you don't have that, it makes the fight scenes really silly, especially because the show really embraces '80s cheese. The fight choreography looked like fight scenes from Power Rangers and the stunt doubles were too obvious (especially the fight scene at the food court). The fight scene in the last episode did have some nice shots, but it was way too long. It took up half of the episode for no reason and no fight at a school would last that long without security trying to stop them. I know it was supposed to be a big fight scene where one of the characters get severely injured, but it was too hard to suspend my disbelief, and it was too over-the-top that I couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be comical or serious. There were pointless shots of two nerdy kids fighting each other, and it couldn't be more cringeworthy. There was also a jarring fight scene between Johnny and LaRusso that kept cutting to a flashback of their fight at the tournament. We've seen this flashback HUNDREDS OF TIMES. Just have the fight scene set in the present, and leave it at that!

    Overall, Season 2 was a very disappointing follow-up to Season 1. There's too much focus on the love triangle and not enough on character development. The relationship between Johnny and Kreese was contrived, the fight scenes were laughable, the last episode was quick to end on a cliffhanger, there were some really **** use of flashbacks, and some of the dialogues were insipid ("These things don't end well. Trust me. I've seen it with my own eyes"). While it did have its moments, Season 2 was consistently declining in quality with each episode. It's not so bad that it makes me lose all hope for another good season. Hopefully, Season 3 will put Cobra Kai on the right track.    … Expand
  2. dozb
    Apr 25, 2019
    6
    The feeling after finishing second season was... sadness and unsatisfied need of ….something that I cannot fully grasp. But something was missing. The last fight was not only violent and bitter but also unrealistic. It seems to me that the show was short on something very much needed and full of something completely unwanted. I can't name it but the feeling is... that "This season wentThe feeling after finishing second season was... sadness and unsatisfied need of ….something that I cannot fully grasp. But something was missing. The last fight was not only violent and bitter but also unrealistic. It seems to me that the show was short on something very much needed and full of something completely unwanted. I can't name it but the feeling is... that "This season went wrong" . Not liked : -The love triangle (too much soap opera), -Daniel not admitting that they (and mostly him) **** things up - The feeling that nothing led to nothing… Expand
  3. ScienceAdvisor
    May 3, 2019
    5
    The second season is peppered with repetition and artifical strife due to people choosing to not talk to each other. But the real downfall is the final epsiode which would see most of the cast spending the next year or two in juvenile hall, with two spending some quality time in an adult jail. Even with 1980's standards this went completely off the rails.
  4. jzathajenius
    May 9, 2019
    5
    S2 makes me question why the hell I liked S1 so much. Its that bad. Instead of interesting character arcs we get boring teen soap opera crap. It feels like a bad 90's Hallmark movie crossed with a Disney film. They really dumbed it down and tried to make it as accessible as possible to the mainstream. Any hint of an edge to the narrative is gone and its so PG13 and cheesey beyond belief. IS2 makes me question why the hell I liked S1 so much. Its that bad. Instead of interesting character arcs we get boring teen soap opera crap. It feels like a bad 90's Hallmark movie crossed with a Disney film. They really dumbed it down and tried to make it as accessible as possible to the mainstream. Any hint of an edge to the narrative is gone and its so PG13 and cheesey beyond belief. I struggled to make it through 5 eps before I threw in the towel.… Expand
  5. Kzix
    Sep 2, 2020
    4
    I know that staging a situation where an adult character would fight another human being is difficult but this series make 0 attempt at making any sense. The dialogues are laughingly bad throughout. We see the potential in the main adult characters but it is completely wasted by the "Hollywood" script
  6. Pdfortune
    Apr 28, 2019
    6
    It was ok. Really liked the first season. Do you remember Karate Kid 2 or 3? I don’t. This season 2 is a kin to the sequels. It isn’t bad it just is exciting. Stingray was entertaining.
  7. YorkMan
    Apr 28, 2019
    5
    After the first series was an unexpected pleasure to watch, mainly due to coming into it without any real expectations, the second series was something of a disappointment..

    A large sense of the nostalgia that was offered is pretty much gone, with a few sporadic flashbacks here and there (except for one episode which really does close part of 'Johnny's' saga in a very emotive way),    After the first series was an unexpected pleasure to watch, mainly due to coming into it without any real expectations, the second series was something of a disappointment..

    A large sense of the nostalgia that was offered is pretty much gone, with a few sporadic flashbacks here and there (except for one episode which really does close part of 'Johnny's' saga in a very emotive way), there is little in the way of promoting that narrative from the first series of two men coming to terms with their shared pasts.

    Instead, and I am sure this is a very conscious decision, the narrative now shifts onto the 'opposing' school's students, Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do..
    The reintroduction of Kreese does open up possibilities, but ultimately he is just the shifty villain who twirls his metaphorical moustache and smokes cigars. There is some attempt made to flesh out 'who' he is, but it just boils down to him being the same twisted psycho he was way back when.

    There is still the forced love triangle that carries over from series one, but to add another complication a second sexy female teen comes into the frame, and the usual shenanigans, misheard words and blatant stupidity all combine to the big fight finale.

    The ending of the series is probably the most disappointing aspect of it all, as a major character suffers a bad back injury (which they will inevitably recover from), whilst other less important story points will keep on rolling into series three.

    It's also worth pointing out that for a show which bases a lot of its' narrative and action on karate, the fight scenes in the show are appallingly bad. It doesn't help when it's clear those performing the martial arts clearly haven't trained very hard.. (Or if they have, they just aren't very good at the physical stuff!)

    All the negative aspects of the series do, unfortunately, outweigh what is good... Zabka, Macchio and the rest of the 'adult' actors are very watchable. The soundtrack has a good blend of 80s and contemporary music. The main crux of the story works well...
    It's just all undone by pretty much everything else!    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Most Discussed TV Season of 2019
66
#66 Most Shared TV Season of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Salon
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    Apr 24, 2019
    70
    Flawed as this second round may be, “Cobra Kai” remains worthwhile viewing with a slew of conversation starters, though perhaps not the ones that made the series worth recommending the first time around. But it remains entertaining enough to merit a sequel, even if only to find out whose way wins out in the end.
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  2. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Hanh Nguyen
    Apr 24, 2019
    67
    One could wax on (wax off) about these representation issues, but the show’s strength is also its weakness. “Cobra Kai” is simply too accurately a product of that specific ‘80s franchise. Sure, it could change, but why should it? The series remains entertaining despite its flaws, and fortunately it has a hero that negotiates this disconnect between retro mindset and contemporary consciousness.
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  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Alex McLevy
    Apr 24, 2019
    50
    It’s not until the second-to-last episode that anything approaching the goofball charm and wit of its freshman season arrives, and by then the entire narrative is so weighed down with the baggage of its sudsy dramatics that the show feels less like a witty relaunch of a beloved film, and more like a 2019 version of Beverly Hills, 90210 (but not, you know, the 2019 version of Beverly Hills, 90210), complete with hokey music sequences and soap opera-level plotting.
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