YouTube Red is bringing us a brand new generation of karate kids with their series Cobra Kai, and they’ve just released a handful of videos to introduce us.
Cobra Kai is reviving the decades-long rivalry between Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. However, no one wants to watch a show that just has two middle-aged men with a grudge sneer at one another, right? So instead, this show will focus on how Johnny re-opens the infamous Cobra Kai dojo, and how he trains the next generation of karate kids.
Related: New Cobra Kai trailer paints Johnny in a new light
In particular, Johnny takes a young man named Miguel Diaz under his wing. Miguel is bullied at school, and Johnny works to help the young man stand up for himself. Of course, this is Johnny we’re talking about, not Mr. Miyagi, so Johnny’s training isn’t as gentle as wax on/wax off. Miguel will be put to the test as a student at the Cobra Kai dojo under the tutelage of his intense, new mentor. Let’s just hope that during their time together, Johnny gets a better grasp on how asthma works.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a Karate Kid story without a LaRusso to enter into the mix. In this show, we’ll be following Daniel LaRusso’s daughter, Sam. Things get complicated when Sam begins seeing Miguel. While Daniel expresses concern with her spending time with kids from the Cobra Kai dojo, but Sam promises that she can handle herself. And from the looks of some of her own karate moves, she most certainly can. Still, will Sam and Miguel be able to find love in the face of their father and mentor hating one another?
But the most surprising addition has got to be Robby. As it turns out, Johnny has an estranged son who he attempts to reconnect with after reopening Cobra Kai. Though Robby doesn’t seem to be on the healthiest of paths, he understandably has a hard time welcoming his father back into his life. We don’t see Robby engaging in any martial arts, but with the redemption arc Cobra Kai seems to be trying to give to Johnny, we wouldn’t be surprised to karate become a way for the two to repair their broken relationship.
You can meet the new karate kids properly when Cobra Kai premieres on YouTube Red on May 2.
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