Yeah, I’m a Cobra Kai fan and I can’t wait for Season 6 to drop at Netflix, even if that means the end of a gonzo karate soap opera that never should have worked but worked like a charm.

I loved the first two Karate Kid films as they came out, while Karate Kid III had some great baddies despite clumsy execution and a real drag of a plot. If anything, Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso turned the same Rocky premise into its own franchise into something more relatable for teens of my generation. What he and William Zabka created later, with danged near everyone of importance to the Karate Kid films (aside from the late Pat Morita) is pure, nostalgic Hollywood magic, bridging to a new school cast up to the task. Cobra Kai has been a drug for me and again, it’ll be sad to see it conclude.

I have the scores for first two Karate Kid flicks and the first five seasons of Cobra Kai, I’m that immersed into the experience. I also have the side CK soundtrack of regular songs, which are half gooey fun and half cringeworthy. All indicative of the 80s pop effervesence in which they made.

Hearkening back to the original film, here is Joe Esposito’s memorable rally song spinning through Daniel’s LaRusso’s improbable decimation of the Cobra Kai team who has been tormenting him all movie long. My generation was found walking around singing this peppy number because it does carry a sense of stride and a sense of pride. Even Johnny Lawrence, showing momentary good sportsmanship at the end of the first film when losing to LaRusso for the All-Valley championship, can take a song like this and run to the top with it. He was the best…around. Still is.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.