Dream Stream: Cobra Kai, Industry, and The X-Files
After a tantalising TV treat? Try a few of these hand-selected gems on for size...
Cobra Kai
Seasons 1-5 – Netflix
Some rivalries never end...
Created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, Cobra Kai is a martial arts comedy-drama series based on The Karate Kid film franchise.
Deliciously nostalgic and packed full of Easter eggs, the show stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, both of whom reprise their original roles from The Karate Kid of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence.
The series is set 34 years after the original Karate Kid film, re-examining the narrative from Johnny Lawrence’s point of view.
After losing his job, a down-and-out Johnny uses karate to defend his teenage neighbour Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) from a gang of bullies.
Miguel, an asthmatic kid who lives with his Ecuadorian single mother Carmen and grandmother Rosa, asks Johnny to teach him. Initially reluctant, Johnny finally agrees and decides to reopen the Cobra Kai karate dojo as a chance to recapture his past; however, this act reawakens his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso. Daniel, now the owner of a highly successful car dealership chain, is living the wealthy life he once dreamed of as a teenager, and is still true to the teachings of his former mentor, Mr Miyagi.
When he learns of the return of Cobra Kai, and what he believes is the antithesis of everything karate should stand for, his own rage is reawakened, and his age old rivalry with Lawrence resumes...
With brilliant and happily quite tongue-in-cheek turns from Macchio and Zabka, Cobra Kai is a delight for fans. Yet with a fantastic supporting cast of young actors including Maridueña, Mary Mouser and Jacob Bertrand, it also holds its own as a stand-alone series that will keep newcomers more than happy.
Industry
Series 1 and 2 – BBC iPlayer
The cut-throat world of finance is not always for the faint of heart...
Created by Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, Industry is a British drama that premiered on BBC Two in November 2020.
Under the mantle of ‘Skins meets the financial world’, Industry follows a group of young graduates competing for a limited set of permanent positions at Pierpoint & Co, a prestigious investment bank based in London.
The initial season explores how said graduates (from all walks of life) compete over the limited amount of full-time employment opportunities at the bank, and focuses on Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold), a black upstate New York native who uproots her life to pursue success at the London branch of Pierpoint despite not having graduated from where she claims to have graduated, if at all.
It also features other graduates, Hari Dhar (Nabhaan Rizwan), a state-school graduate and child of Urdu-speaking immigrants; Augustus ‘Gus’ Sackey (David Jonsson), a gay black British graduate of Eton and Oxford; Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey), a white working-class Oxford graduate who is eager to please but taken by surprise by the change in social norms that accompany the world of high finance; and Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), a privileged, well-connected child of Lebanese parents with an underachieving, drug-addled boyfriend.
As the graduates get drawn into the darker side and competitive nature of the banking world, choices must be made and consequences faced before all that they have worked for is lost.
Gripping, intelligent and featuring a fantastic young cast, Industry will have you hooked until the end.
The X-Files
Seasons 1-9 – Disney+
A sci-fi phenomenon like few others, its time to get back in touch with a true classic. The truth is out there...
Created by Chris Carter, The X-Files is one of the most famous and celebrated paranormal sci-fi series of all time, and if you’re looking for something to get the cogs turning, it could be the perfect choice.
The series revolves around FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who investigate X-Files: marginalised, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.
Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a medical doctor and a sceptic, is assigned to scientifically analyse Mulder’s discoveries, offer alternate rational theories to his work, and hopefully return him to mainstream cases. However, this plan often goes awry.
Both agents quickly become pawns in a larger conflict and come to trust only each other and a few select others.
And when they discover an agenda of the US government to keep the existence of extraterrestrial life a secret, their work becomes all the more important and dangerous...
With fantastic performances from Duchovny and Anderson in bringing to life one of the most famous partnerships in television history, The X-Files is an exceptional treat for sci-fi fans, and as a piece of true TV heritage, should be given a go at least once by everybody.
