Help keep Salon independent

Topic: The Karate Kid

William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence and Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso in "Cobra Kai" (Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix)

"Cobra Kai" ends where it began: Good

Melanie McFarland
William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence, Sean Kanan as Mike Barnes and Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso in "Cobra Kai" (Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix)

Karate kids shouldn't play "Star Wars"

Melanie McFarland
Ralph Macchio (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

"LaRusso felt like someone I knew"

Mary Elizabeth Williams
Ralph Macchio and William Zabka in "Cobra Kai" (YouTube)

The Way of Fatherhood, "Cobra Kai"-style

Melanie McFarland
"Cobra Kai" (YouTube Red)

Cobra Kai: making a villain great again

Melanie McFarland
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in "Rocky IV" (MGM Studios, Inc.)

Rocky Balboa just punched me

Jeffrey Zacks
Billy Zabka (Bjoern Kommerell)

Billy Zabka on "Karate Kid"

Kevin Smokler
Ralph Macchio in the original "Karate Kid."

In praise of the original "Karate Kid"

Bob Calhoun
Jaden Smith

Mary Elizabeth Williams
Advertisement: