Ace Degenerate

I like the bit where Daniel gives away free banzai trees. What a great gimmick

This episode is great, it beautifully shows that Johnny Lawrence's life hasn't been going to good at all, he is just a pretty depressed alcoholic now, he doesn't care about the outside world and he's just still living in the 80s. This episode is great because after showing us now Johnny's life is going he decides to help a kid and get back into karate, this is the at the end of the episode and it perfectly sets up the next episode.

So basically now we have seen how Johnny's life is going and we know he's gonna help a kid learn karate, this is great, this invest's people into the show, they wanna se what happens to this kid Johnny's decided to help!

While i did not grow up watching the 1984 Karate Kid movie, i have watched it a couple of times and enjoyed it quite a bit for its underdog story and 80's vibe!

Therefore i was both surprised by this episode and I actually oiked it quite a lot! Shifting focus over to Johnny was a brilliant idea! Him living in the shadow of his former self, miserable, really shows how much has happened and it helps us understanding him a lot more than the original movie!

Him struggling with life, while Daniel achieved succes, makes perfect sense, and offers some great dynamic between the two and helps keep things fresh and interesting!

The episode also manages to keep the 80's vibe that made the movie so good!

Overall a great pilot with some interesting themes and a great way to continue off from the movie!

I was very skeptical when a Karate Kid TV show was announced. The first movie has become an all-time classic and while its two sequels or reboot have not been well-received and have not aged well, there was always that healthy dose of corny nostalgia, powerful character moments and Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi to bring any moviegoer back to the franchise. So I was pleasantly surprised when "Ace Degenerate", the launch of Cobra Kai was such a home-run. William Zabka really soled me on Johnny Lawrence and the fact that we are getting a reverse-plot is even better. The show really aims to portray Johnny as an anti-hero of sort, and succeeds in doing so. Seeing Ralph Macchio also co-star is just as fun as it was seeing him in the movies and the rest of the teenage cast help modernise the otherwise those occasional wacky 80's vibes. That's one gripe I have with the series so far. It seems a little to stuck in its time-period to move forward and thus the entire premise feels a little forced. However, when you take into account the fun story, well-written characters and the surprising amount of respect for the source "material", Cobra Kai is shaping up to be something special.

I love that the series is focused on Johnny, it's fun to see things from a different perspective. Th nods to the movies were awesome. Acting was surprisingly good.