ON DEMAND CHOICE: Cobra Kai

This sequel series to The Karate Kid films picks up the story of rivals Daniel and Johnny three decades on, and begins its third season on Netflix today. Here’s our guide to the show…

What’s it about? More than 30 years after Daniel (Ralph Macchio) crane-kicked Johnny (William Zabka, centre) out of a karate tournament, the men are in very different places. Daniel is a family man with his own car dealership, while Johnny is an angry handyman with a son he never sees. Then, one day, Johnny reopens his old dojo – Cobra Kai – and his rivalry with Daniel resumes. Twists come in the seasons that follow, some involving old faces, and a fourth run has been ordered.

It’s worth watching…

If you like seeing a story from a different perspective as, while Daniel was the hero of the films, the series makes you see that story from Johnny’s point of view. Johnny also carries most of the show’s humour, through his total mistrust of anything he didn’t use in the 1980s, and comedy is something that Cobra Kai manages well – it pokes fun at the original films and takes them seriously, too, because this is also a show about not passing on mistakes to your children.

If you like this, try… Creed (rent on Amazon, Apple TV), The Karate Kid (1984 film, Netflix), The Karate Kid (2010 film, Sky/now TV), The Karate Kid II/III (rent on Amazon, Apple TV).