The Trailer for 'Cobra Kai' Season 3 Just Landed. Prepare to Sweep the Leg.

I'm not typically that guy who has to remind people that I was into some thing before they were. That I bought some band's first disc long before you ever heard of them or read the book of the movie you just saw or claim I discovered some bar way before it was popular. Frankly I've never understood the weird narcissism of that whole line of thought. 

Having said that, I've spent the last month or so having guys like my brother constantly asking me if I've been watching "Cobra Kai" on Netflix. And they're forcing me to be that guy because I was all over Seasons 1 & 2 when they were on the short-lived YouTube Red. Doing that thing where you sign up for a streaming service for the sole purpose of using the free trial week to watch one thing and then deleting your subscription. Twice, in fact. Once for each season. And I'm glad I did. 

Here's part of what I wrote in a review of Season 1:

[N]ot only has Cobra Kai not let me down, it’s exceeded my wildest, most optimistic expectations. Simply put, so far it’s the best new series to drop since Season 1 of "Stranger Things."

I promised you no spoilers and you’ll get no spoilers. Suffice to say every beat of this thing is spot on. Co-executive produced by Ralph Macchio and William Zabka – who was the second most iconic ’80s villain behind only Darth Vader – they cleverly give you the bad guy’s perspective you didn’t get in John G. Avildsen’s 1984 masterstroke. Macchio and Zabka look great. Their performances are perfect. It’s part comedy, part tribute to the original and part satire as adult Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence struggle to relate to kids the same age they were when they fought the All-Valley Tournament.  

And as much as I like "Stranger Things," that's a show that can at times be guilty of nostalgia just for the sake of nostalgia. What screenwriters call “intertextuality,” basically making old pop culture references as fan service. Just to make the audience go “Hey! That reminds me of Stand by Me!” Or “That’s just like the wig they put on ET!” and such. Or take everything Jar Jar Abrams ever does, like Chewbacca getting a medal that has nothing to do with "Rise of Skywalker," it's just to make fans say "OMG! That's the medal he never got in the original!" and so on. "Cobra Kai" does just enough of that to pay homage to the movies (for instance, Danny tells his daughter the perfect place to go on a date, jump cut to the sign for Golf 'n Stuff Family Fun Center), but it never gets in the way of story and character arcs. 

And now in Season 3 LaRusso and Lawrence are forced to team up to fight Kreese, who spent Season 2 taking over the dojo and poisoning young minds like did back in the day? Yes, please. Not to mention how last season ended, teasing the arrival of a character we've yet to see? Yes, please. Rarely have I ever been this excited for a show to pay off tease. And this one will put my heart in a body bag. "Cobra Kai" can't return fast enough.