I have access to this show, commercial free, on Youtube TV while I’m subscribed, which was a nice surprise, since I have my subscription for another 12 days.
I watched the first episode last night. Man, that was so great. I can’t believe the bad guy from Karate Kid looks pretty much the same as he did back then, but Ralph Maccio looks so different, he’s not recognizable.
I was a bit worried that I hadn’t seen the movie in years, but I needn’t have. The first episode flashes back to key scenes from the movie throughout the episode for those like me who haven’t seen the movie in decades.
I watched Episode 5 last night, so I can speak to this a little bit. What I like about the show is how it approaches things from a different angle. We’re watching someone who was a bad guy try to redeem himself and get his life back together by helping the bullied. At the same time we’re watching our former hero laying more obstacles in his way because of old resentments.
Last night I saw the episode in which they flash back to Mr. Miagi telling Daniel-san about balance, and how he has to have balance not just in Karate but in life. I remember that being my favorite part of the original movie, so it was great to see it used here for the character to re-center himself.
I’m not sure if you’ll like it, but the show really cares about these characters, and it shows, and that’s why I can’t stop watching. That’s despite the show having a somewhat low budget feel when it comes to lighting and camerawork. The acting and writing is also just a bit better than okay, nothing extraordinary. I guess with so many good TV shows to choose from, this is a tough one to recommend. But if someone did have a fondness for the characters in the original Karate Kid, and wanted to see how those characters might have ended up, it feels like this show treats that subject very seriously and that makes it compelling to me. It also borrows a lot of the same sentiments and life lessons from the movie too, which I enjoyed originally.
Yeah, that’s the thing, I don’t really have any fondness for the characters. I have very mild nostalgia for the film overall. If this series doesn’t stand on its own feet, it’s not going to work for me.
This is exciting news. I never got around to subscribing to Youtube Red, as much as I wanted to watch this. Glad it’s landing somewhere I can finally watch it!
I’m super excited that it got picked up by Netflix. Hopefully the 3rd season is good so they can collect some well deserved attention. I still don’t see how this goes past another season or two though.
