Counterbalance

Final you see William Zabka as he should have been seen since the first movie. As a good guy. And you see Ralph Macchio as the bad guy he was always!

Just like memoriam. Mr. Miyagi is far away but I feel his motto on behavior and words of Mr. LaRusso:) Good to see him even it's old screen shots. It is special show. I remember the first releasing time.

Greetings from Lithuania.

5th episode named "Counterbalance" was the best in the first season so far. The many good references to the original movie, the first big fight scene and lessons that were finally paid - it was all here, done smoothly in a 34 min episode. When series episodes are this short (and this one was the longest!), every minute counts, and so far this show has not disappointing to say the least - i like it very much. Who might thought that 35 years later the great movie will get a great follow up. What a world we are living it!

A great tribute to the wise man himself, Mr Miyagi. Good storyline and character development in this episode. Loved seeing Miguel kick some ass.

This is another solid episode that features some surprisingly fierce fight choreography, in a scene that mirrors Johnny's fight against the high-school punks in the first episode.

Outside of that there's some enjoyable work by Nichole Brown as she becomes only the second applicant to the struggling martial arts program at the new Cobra Kai dojo - it's just a shame for her, then, that William Zabka has a "no girls in Cobra Kai" rule; and Ralph Macchio admirably evokes a sense of mid-life soul-searching, returning to the grave of his old sensei Pat Morita in the hopes of recapturing a sense of "balance" in his life.

While this show does not have an original bone in its body - and, like some of the recent Star Wars films, seems intent on rehashing elements from the original source material beat for beat - there's still a really nice balance of humor and drama here. The writing also has a way of not being completely lazy, even when the episode plots undoubtably are.

To that end, what Daniel does in this episode to get back at Johnny (with the help of a sleazy Ken Davitian) is genuinely surprising - it's a jerk move that puts other peoples' livelihoods at risk, and he's rightly called out for it. Its character moments like this that make "Cobra Kai" worth viewing; without them, the show would be dangerously close to being just another cheesy nostalgia trip.