"Cobra Kai" ends where it began: Good

Imagine an ‘80s action movie villain growling the following line to a battered hero right before she stomps their fingers: You know, in some ways, I respect “Cobra Kai” for lasting this long.

Better series had shorter lives, some by their creators’ design. Not this one. “Cobra Kai” refused to die not out of fealty to the namesake dojo’s motto, but as a business matter. The show started on YouTube in 2018  and ended on a globally dominant streaming service. Netflix acquired “Cobra Kai” around the same time our mania for “Stranger Things” confirmed how lucrative selling reminiscence will always be. That, and the plot's simplicity, assured its longevity.

All in all, that's not a bad run for the spinoff of long-dormant intellectual property. Before "Cobra Kai," Daniel LaRusso's tormentor Johnny Lawrence starred in an Internet fantasy pitching him as the real hero of "The Karate Kid." Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg took that seriously, restoring his humanity and showcasing William Zabka’s dramatic versatility. It remains one of Netflix's most popular titles although, creatively speaking, it lost momentum ages ago.