Cobra Kai (series) season 2 - this series went downhill fast

It was a while ago but when season 1 of Cobra Kai was dropped I was excited to see it and actually pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I am certain that a great deal of my sentiment comes from the fact that I was in my "youthful prime" when the originals came out but aside from that I feel as though even on its own, it was a pretty solid series. Unfortunately, that is not the case with season 2.

In season one we saw the revitalization of "Johnny's" life as he found direction as the Sensei at the Cobra Kai karate dojo. This school, that you may recall if you are old enough, was the one he attended and was the number one student at during the original Karate Kid film. In season one, we see Johnny actually become the good guy in a way and Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio) emerges as kind of a villain. I thought this was a really creative twist that made all the nostalgia even more worthwhile.

Johnny's dojo emerges victorious at the end of season 1 at the same tournament that he and Larusso squared off against one-another back in the 80's. He seems to be the "better man" and I really liked the way that Daniel was painted as the bad guy because I have secretly been cheering for Johnny even as far back as the original film. I always thought that Larusso was kind of an annoying and impractical hero.

Johnny appears to want to have a legitimate dojo and even seems to be improving his own life until John Kreese (Johnny's Sensei in the original film and original Cobra Kai creator) appears on the scene, apparently dead set on recreating the rather ruthless mindset into the students.

This is all fine and dandy and reasonably entertaining. However, the flashback nostalgia starts to wear thin about 4 episodes in. It also just becomes more and more corny about how the two dojos are constantly at ends with one another and it is extremely improbable that the entire community would be enamored with some karate teenagers.

One of the most annoying characters is a Cobra Kai named "Hawk" who constantly had a colored mohawk, and has a giant tattoo of a hawk on his back despite the fact that he is in high-school and any tattoo parlor would face criminal charges if they were to ink a 16 year old.

Not only is the person playing Hawk a pretty terrible actor (Jacob Bertrand) but his character is just dumb. He is also so svelte that karate or not, he wouldn't be an imposing or intimidating force to anyone over the age of 12.

It is evident in this season that they are already running out of ideas and the rivalry between Johnny and Daniel has already made its apex and the tension simply isn't believable anymore that a couple of guys near 50 are so incredibly dedicated to having competing karate schools.

I think the thing i disliked the most about this season is that Ralph Macchio simply isn't a believable anything really. He doesn't have me convinced as a father, husband, businessman, or karate expert. Even his efforts at hiding his receding hairline annoy me. I would say that pretty much every scene he is in ends up being pretty cringe, especially when he fights.

That is actually a pretty good trailer and makes it seem a lot better than it actually is but you know, that's what trailers are supposed to do.

For anyone out there that remembers the original films as well as I do, season 1 would probably be worth a look but season 2 really didn't do it for me because it is just so impractical and there really isn't much of a story there. Eventually, this is leading to another "all valley" karate championship and probably a crane kick. The teenage drama that is mixed in there I suppose is necessary to attract a wider audience, but for the most part, i was really disappointed with how the series has turned.

That being said: I don't really know what else they could have done to have made it better.