5 Lessons Learned from Cobra Kai
Unless you are a die-hard Karate Kid fan, you probably haven’t heard of Cobra Kai until it appeared on Netflix this past Friday, August 28th. If you were like me, who saw the trailer and thought “eh, 30 minutes an episode, I’ll give the first episode a shot”, just to quickly binge watch both seasons in two days; to say that I was impressed is an understatement. What impressed me most was how they were able to bring the legacy of the original Karate Kid and incorporate it into relevant cultural narratives of the present.
Forbes writes — Cobra Kai is a decades-later sequel to the Karate Kid movies, an extremely self-aware, clever series starring the original main cast members, William Zabka and Ralph Macchio, all grown up and retaining their fierce rivalry. The series is beloved by critics and fans alike, as it’s rocking a 94% on RottenTomatoes among critics and a 96% audience score there.
Aside from the action-packed fight scenes, high-school romance, and a decades-long grudge, here are 5lessons learned from Cobra Kai.
*Very minor spoilers!
1. STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY
While the 1984 drama film only relates this matra to fighting, the cobra series relates this to the way of life. Strike first and hard doesn’t just mean to brutally attack whoever stands in your way, but also means to be the first to make a decision and to make it with confidence. As Johnny Lawrence would say — “You see a hot babe at a party, you don’t wait for the other guy to make a move first do you?”. No mercy symbolizes not showing weakness or compassion to the enemy. The other guy isn't thinking about you or your feelings when he swoops in on the girl of your dreams.
2. SHOW MERCY
Sometimes mercy is the only way to end a war. Someone has to be a bigger person. While no mercy is required when busting a move, the most mature thing one can do is walk away. Johnny battles with this lesson throughout the entire show, trying to reshape the learnings he learned from his sensei
3. WIN AS A TEAM, LOSE AS A TEAM
When Johnny Lawrence forced every student to do burpees after a few Cobra Kai members trashed Daniel LaRusso’s Karate Studio in order to get someone to own up, Hawk wanted to speak and spear everyone for further pain. Eventually, Johnny Lawrence allowed Kreese to take over. After hours of pain, every student wanted to quit, Kreese states “Hawk did it, and Miguel” and then started pointing at every student on the Cobra Kai team; “When one person does something, you all do it…you win and lose as a team.” It is important to hold your friends and family accountable for all of their actions. Taking accountability as a group ensures that decisions made as an individual are cautious due to others possibly being punished due to your actions.
4. A HERO TO ONE IS ALSO AN ENEMY TO ANOTHER
Cobra Kai is full of characters who are just simply misunderstood. Johnny Lawrence reflects on the past as if LaRusso took everything that matters to him including his girlfriend. While LaRusso reflects and remembers a group of bullies out to get him for no apparent reason. With Lawrence being the biggest bully of them all. Throughout the entire movie, as one attempts to be the bigger person and “show mercy” the other one assumes the worst and ruins creates a bigger war. Lawrance and Johnny as well as other characters, attempt to do what they think is right just to be misunderstood by the enemy.
5. LET GO OF THE PAST
Both Johnny Lawrance and Daniel Larusso are walking examples of stuck in the past. Johnny Lawrance let his loss of both the fight and his high-school crush ruin his life, Daniel Larusso used his victory to shape his future. However, both Lawrance and Larusso struggle to get over events from what happened decades ago which causes hardships in both of there lives decades later. They spend the entire series trying to get the upper hand on one another for things they should have been over years ago. Cobra Kai quickly reminds you of how being stuck on the harm some caused years ago can negatively impact you in ways we don’t even realize. We all have an enemy we hate to the core, who caused us extreme harm. But whether it’s an ex, high-school bully, or old best friend, we must eventually learn to move on or we’ll continue to harm ourselves.
Regardless of the lessons learned, Cobra Kai is the best show I watched in a very long time!
Who do you like better Daniel LaRusso or Johnny Lawrence?
