The Checklist: Cobra Kai (S1 Ep1) “Ace Degenerate”

With more and more people cutting the cable cord and ripping the satellite dishes off their roof, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video are becoming strong and stronger each day. YouTube has been trying to get a bigger piece of the streaming pie with their YouTube Red service but for me personally I had no real reason to give YouTube Red a try.

But then YouTube announced that they would be continuing The Karate Kid saga that began way back in 1984 with a new YouTube Red original program starting in 2018 titled Cobra Kai. And suddenly YouTube Red had my interest and the countdown to Cobra Kai was on.

After months of waiting, Cobra Kai has premiered on YouTube Red and now I am going to put the first episode of the series, titled “Ace Degenerate”, to The Checklist test…

1. Do we get some flashbacks to the original Karate Kid? 

A show that is cashing in on the nostalgia of one of the most beloved movie franchises of the 1980’s certainly has to feature some of the footage from the original Karate Kid, right?

Karate Kid fans will not be disappointed as the very first episode of the Cobra Kai series begins with a flashback to December 19, 1984 and the finals of the All Valley Karate Tournament where the reigning champion Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) took on underdog Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). Honestly I can’t think of a better way to start off the series and get Cobra Kai off on the right foot. 1/1

2. Do we get reacquainted with Johnny and Daniel? 

If Cobra Kai was going to have any chance of success as a series you needed William Zabka and Ralph Macchio back to reprise the Johnny and Daniel characters. And like any good reunion show, the hook (especially for this first episode) is to see what happened to these iconic characters since they last appeared on the big screen. “Ace Degenerate” allows us to catch up with both Johnny and Daniel and see the different directions each of them went in.

Daniel LaRusso is married with two kids and is the owner of the LaRusso Auto Group. Daniel’s LaRusso Auto Group has several locations in the greater Los Angeles area and Daniel himself is something of a local celebrity thanks to his commercials that run on television and radio and his face being plastered on billboards around town. Daniel’s successful business has allowed him to give his children a life he could have only dreamed of when he was growing up in Newark.

When we first see Johnny Lawrence, he is passed out in his bed with an opened bag of nacho chips next to him and a half drank bottle of beer on his nightstand. Johnny wakes up, fries up some bologna for breakfast and watches a movie on his tube TV before he jumps into his red Firebird (that much like Johnny has seen better days) and heads off to his job as a handyman. But he loses that job after a disagreement with one of his customers. Later that evening Johnny ends up sitting in a parking lot eating a slice of pizza he bought at the mini-mart. When he sees a bunch of high school kids bullying Miguel, a neighbor kid who lives in Johnny’s crappy apartment complex, Johnny gets involved and his old Cobra Kai instincts kick in and next thing you know Johnny is kicking some high school ass… and then Johnny is getting arrested. Johnny is bailed out by his step father Sid (played by the cantankerous Ed Asner). Sid is quick to remind Johnny of the shambles his life has become and it is at this point we learn that Johnny is divorced and estranged from his son Robby. 2/2

3. Were there any notable guest stars? 

Following his super shitty day, Johnny is drinking in the dark and watching some television. On the TV that night is 1986’s Iron Eagle and the scene Johnny is watching is a really pivotal scene in Iron Eagle where Chappy Sinclair’s plane is shot down and Doug Masters is forced to fly the daring rescue mission all on his own. But Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick) is not really alone because he pops in a cassette tape with Chappy’s words of wisdom. And it is as if Chappy was talking to Johnny himself. Chappy’s wisdom strikes a chord with Johnny, realizing he has a gift for karate and it is a gift he should be using.

As far as I’m concerned this scene made Chappy Sinclair himself, Louis Gossett Jr., a notable guest star and furthers my long time belief that Louis could have made a shit ton of money selling motivational tapes, CD’s and MP3’s. 3/3

4. Was Mr. Miyagi referenced? 

If he were alive, I am sure that Pat Morita would have been a part of the Cobra Kai series but sadly Mr. Morita has long since passed. But Miyagi’s presence was still felt in the first episode… one of the gimmicks over at The LaRusso Autogroup is that every customer gets a bonsai tree an homage to Daniel’s friend and mentor. 4/4

5. Was there a killer 80’s soundtrack?

The original Karate Kid Trilogy featured some pretty memorable songs like Banarama’s “Cruel Summer”, Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best” and Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love”. To me it was a must that Cobra Kai featured some memorable songs from the 1980’s and “Ace Degenerate” did not disappoint as we got “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project, “Head Games” by Foreigner and “Nothin’ But a Good Time” by Poison. Radical! 5/5

• Final Score = 5/5 (100%) The first episode of Cobra Kai proved to be worth the wait and laid the foundation for what should be an entertaining renaissance of The Karate Kid franchise.