The previous 15 years or so have been dominated by legacy sequels, films that convey again beloved franchises with tales that land someplace between a reboot, a sequel, and a remake. Out of the bunch, “Cobra Kai” is among the finest ones. From the second the primary season premiered on the defunct YouTube Crimson platform, “Cobra Kai” has managed to excel at being not solely a continuation of Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) story on prime of a reboot following a brand new technology of youngsters but additionally a moderately good pseudo-remake of the unique “Karate Child” films.
In spite of everything, the story of Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) closely echoed that of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) within the first movie, however with a twist. Like Daniel, Miguel is a brand new child on the town who learns karate to defend himself from bullies and acquire self-confidence, enters a event, and makes use of a crane kick to win the hearts of everybody (and a trophy). The distinction is Miguel wins the event as a part of Cobra Kai moderately than Miyagi-Do.
Since then, “Cobra Kai” has referenced just about each principal character, occasion, iconic second, and even meme from not simply the primary movie however your complete authentic trilogy. The now-Netflix sequence has introduced again characters as memorable as John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and as small as Dennis De Guzman (William Christopher Ford) from “The Karate Child Half III” and Yuna the Bell Ringer (Traci Toguchi)from “The Karate Child Half II.”
All through the six seasons of the present, there was one big reference that “Cobra Kai” by some means averted. Regardless of paying homage to the soundtrack of the 1984 authentic film by, for instance, by having Carrie Underwood cowl “It is the Second of Fact” in season 4 or naming an episode after the “Half II” track “Glory of Love,” “Cobra Kai” by no means touched probably the most iconic track of the unique film: Joe Esposito’s “You are the Finest” (written by Invoice Conti and lyrics by Allee Willis).
It is the centerpiece of “The Karate Child,” and it is the track that performs throughout a montage displaying Daniel’s progress advancing by the All Valley Karate Match. It’s a incredible track that the showrunners of “Cobra Kai” have alluded to and talked about for years. Within the final episode of the present, in the intervening time of reality, that track lastly got here again round, and it could not have been extra good.
You are the perfect round
The track comes within the closing episode of the season as Johnny Lawrence prepares to combat the ultimate spherical of the seikai taikai — not as a part of Miyagi-Do however because the sensei of Cobra Kai. Afraid and with out a lot confidence that he can win, Daniel tells Johnny of his favourite sports activities film hero Rocky, who — regardless of going to ludicrous locations within the third and fourth films — truly misplaced his massive combat within the first movie. This motivates Johnny, who goes on a coaching montage with Daniel instructing him.
That is proper, “You are the Finest Round” performs to a coaching montage straight out of “Rocky III,” the place Johnny is Rocky and Daniel is Apollo Creed, and the 2 former rivals are actually working collectively. The 2 have interaction in shadow boxing on the seaside like the 2 boxers, they usually even do the crane kick stands on logs. There’s additionally a enjoyable second of Johnny and Daniel working by the streets of Encino surrounded by a bunch of youngsters like within the coaching montage of “Rocky II.”
Truthfully, this is among the finest references the present has performed, particularly due to the historical past between the 2 franchises, notably “The Karate Child” and “Rocky III.” You see, Invoice Conti and Joe Esposito’s “You are the Finest Round” was initially meant for use in “Rocky III,” which made sense given Conti scored the primary three movies in that franchise. Finally, the track was scrapped in favor of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.”
However past simply trying cool, using the track on this explicit scene works as a result of it’s the end result of six seasons (and a film) price of shared historical past between Johnny and Daniel. After seasons of bickering and preventing, the 2 lastly turn into buddies, co-workers, and even companions this season. Not solely that, nevertheless it’s a second of sheer respect that comes after Daniel encourages Johnny to take again Cobra Kai and even helps him get again his dojo area. That Daniel is now serving as a trainer to Johnny appears like a passing of the torch, like Apollo coaching Rocky (if Rocky was truly the world champion earlier than Apollo beat him within the first film).
