Number One on Netflix is a weekly spotlight on whatever is currently the most popular thing on the world’s most popular streaming service. Sometimes it’ll be a movie. Sometimes it’ll be a TV show. Whatever it is, a lot of people are clearly watching, and we’ll try to understand why with a quick review. Today, we’re looking at the final season of Cobra Kai — as well as where it began.
The announcement that William Zabka and Ralph Macchio would be reuniting for a TV show continuing the story of the Karate Kid franchise was a memorable one. The Summer 2017 Television Critics Association press tour was in full swing when the lights of the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel went down; dramatic music began playing as Zabka and Macchio were introduced to the crowd, the executive on stage promising that the new show would “finally give Johnny Lawrence his shot at redemption.”
Macchio told journalists, “For the record, I was perfectly fine leaving him unredeemed, in 2nd place.” “That’s because you won with an illegal kick,” Zabka responded. It was a funny moment that immediately made the dynamic of the new show clear. It was also not paid for by Netflix.
With the release of Cobra Kai‘s series finale, it’s fun to remember that the story of underdogs fighting for respect was itself an underdog story: One of the streaming era’s most prominent examples of a show that was so good, it survived the death of the platform for which it was originally made.
The first two seasons of Cobra Kai were originally produced as exclusive content for YouTube, during the era when YouTube was funding large-scale Hollywood productions. Other productions from this time period include the scripted dance drama Step Up: High Water, the dystopian drama The Thinning and its sequel (starring Logan Paul), and Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television*. (The * was a wink to the fact the show was being made for YouTube, not traditional TV.)
“The best way I can describe [Cobra Kai] is like this: ‘Ali vs. Frazier,’ ‘Tyson vs. Holyfield,’ ‘Alien vs. Predator,’” YouTube Global Head of Original Content Susanne Daniels said. “We’ve seen some big rematches over the years, but in 2018, YouTube Red is going to present an unprecedented rematch over 30 years in the making.”
(That’s right, it was called YouTube Red, because apparently no one at the Google-owed company had heard of RedTube. The initiative was rebranded as “YouTube Originals” in May 2018, along with a price increase.)
YouTube Originals was one of many streaming endeavors launched optimistically in the years following Netflix’s explosion into original content in 2013, and one of many that ultimately didn’t survive due to market forces, poor strategy, or a simple lack of interest. It’s far from being as notorious as the NBCUniversal endeavor Seeso or new media punching bag Quibi, but when YouTube decided to stop producing original content in 2020, the fate of Cobra Kai hung in the balance.
Netflix then stepped in to acquire the two produced seasons and greenlight a third, bringing us to 2025, and the release of the sixth and final season. It was far from the first time Netflix had done something like this, but what was notable about Cobra Kai‘s rescue from the pit of cancellation was that as a Netflix series, it really grew into a cultural phenomenon.
To be clear, Cobra Kai was always a really fun show, cleverly designed by creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg to indulge in nostalgia while also playing with new dynamics. It just needed to find its audience, which unfortunately was not paying YouTube $12 a month to watch its scripted content. Once it launched on Netflix, it became a huge hit for the streamer — a classic example of how a good show can thrive… If it can find an audience.
And that’s always the tricky bit. Critics can rave about fantastic shows like The Good Fight or We Are Lady Parts, but if audiences don’t subscribe to Paramount+ or Peacock, they’ll never miss out. This gives Netflix a remarkable power in today’s pop culture, since of all the streaming services out there, it’s the one most commonly subscribed to — if a show is on Netflix, the odds are much better that a casual viewer might check it out.
Without revealing too much about the series finale of Cobra Kai, it paid loving tribute to the past, coming full circle not just on the series, but on the Karate Kid franchise as a whole. (Though the story is not over yet, thanks to the Macchio and Jackie Chan-starring Karate Kid: Legends, in theaters this May.) Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best” even gets used for a training montage!
And it actually packed in some moving moments, made all the more powerful by the fact that no way in hell was this the expected outcome, when the show was originally announced. As someone sitting in that Beverly Hills ballroom in 2017, I thought it was funny to see Zabka and Macchio together, but six seasons? The most popular show on Netflix? No chance. But that’s the magic of an underdog story — the best kind of surprise.
Cobra Kai is streaming now on Netflix.