Although the franchise has since been rebooted with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan in the place of student and teacher, fans of the original Karate Kid have inevitably contemplated the fates of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence since the fateful All-Valley Karate Tournament 34 years ago.
Thanks to the new YouTube Red series, Cobra Kai, we now have a better sense of their individual fates. The first episode, presented in its entirety above, reveals that the passage of time hasn’t been particularly good for Lawrence, while LaRusso has become something of a used car magnate in the San Fernando Valley. After a car accident, their fates once again become intertwined, and Lawrence decides to once again open up the titular dojo.
For fans of the original, there are several call-backs to the source material, and of course, plenty of ’80s music which adds to the nostalgia.
The second episode of ‘Cobra Kai can be streamed here. For more streaming content, here is everything coming to and leaving Netflix in May.
