As someone who recently acquired YouTube Red, I did it solely for one purpose: Cobra Kai. That show might be the best thing to come out of YouTube to date and for good reason. And according to a report in Variety, Cobra Kai is outshining all the top rated shows on Netflix and Hulu, including Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, Lost in Space and The Handmaid’s Tale.
The data was collected by a company named Parrot Analytics and noted that this was the highest rated show that YouTube Red has seen since its inception two years ago. Not only did it outperform its peers in YouTube Red, but received more attention than most programming in YouTube’s history since 2015.
You read that right: the continuation of the Karate Kid is kicking ass and taking names all over the place. For those of you that haven’t seen it (and why the hell haven’t you?), Cobra Kai picks up on our characters 30 years after the fateful fight. Instead of following that shithead Daniel LaRusso, we follow the real star, Johnny Lawrence.
Ralph Macchio and William Zabka return to play their titular roles and they are wonderful. I was always more on the side of Johnny’s anyway, but with the addition of never-before-seen footage from the original Karate Kid, we are given a look at the story from a different point of view and we see that LaRusso wasn’t as innocent as he claimed.
Over the years, Johnny hasn’t fared nearly as well as Daniel has. LaRusso has a successful car selling business, a wife and two semi-normal children. Johnny has an estranged son that hates him and an apartment with empty beer cans for carpeting. After his neighbor gets his teen ass handed to him, he enlists the help of a new sensei, Johnny.
It’s no surprise a second season has already been ordered and with the ending that season one had, there had BETTER be a continuation. If you haven’t checked out Cobra Kai, I can’t recommend it enough. Youtube Red has wonderful programming with movies like Lazer Team and shows like Cobra Kai and Good Game created by the Game Grumps. You can try YouTube Red free for a month and during that time, you can see why Cobra Kai wins this round.
