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 likely one of the finest ones. From the second the primary season premiered on the defunct YouTube Purple 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 era of youngsters but in addition a fairly good pseudo-remake of the unique “Karate Child” films.
In any case, 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 achieve self-confidence, enters a match, and makes use of a crane kick to win the hearts of everybody (and a trophy). The distinction is Miguel wins the match as a part of Cobra Kai fairly than Miyagi-Do.
Since then, “Cobra Kai” has referenced just about each predominant character, occasion, iconic second, and even meme from not simply the primary movie however the complete unique trilogy. The now-Netflix collection 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 unique 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” tune “Glory of Love,” “Cobra Kai” by no means touched essentially the most iconic tune 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 tune that performs throughout a montage displaying Daniel’s progress advancing by means of the All Valley Karate Event. It’s a unbelievable tune that the showrunners of “Cobra Kai” have alluded to and talked about for years. Within the final episode of the present, in the mean time of reality, that tune lastly got here again round, and it could not have been extra good.
You are the most effective round
The tune comes within the closing episode of the season as Johnny Lawrence prepares to struggle 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 large struggle 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 at the moment are working collectively. The 2 interact 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 operating by means of the streets of Encino surrounded by a bunch of youngsters like within the coaching montage of “Rocky II.”
Actually, this is likely one of the finest references the present has carried out, 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 tune was scrapped in favor of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.”
However past simply wanting cool, using the tune on this specific scene works as a result of it’s the end result of six seasons (and a film) value of shared historical past between Johnny and Daniel. After seasons of bickering and preventing, the 2 lastly change into buddies, co-workers, and even companions this season. Not solely that, however 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 house. 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).
