Cobra Kai
Sixth and Final Season- Part I
review by Bobby Blakey
When the Karate Kid hit theaters in 1984 who would have thought that it would not only become a cult classic for marital arts fans but spawn an entire franchise. After the 4th film it seemed the franchise was dead until the series Cobra Kai debuted on YouTube Red in 2018 before moving to Netflix with the third season. The series stars Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Martin Kove, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Gianni Decenzo, Vanessa Rubio, and Peyton List. Now the series is coming to a close with season 6, but are they going out champions or will it fail to find the proper technique?​
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Cobra Kai takes place over 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament with the continuation of the inescapable conflict between Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. The sixth and final season picks up with Cobra Kai eliminated from the Valley and now our senseis and students must decide if and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai – the world championships of karate.
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I am going to keep this review completely spoiler free including discussing stuff that has already been revealed for those that have
skipped out on the trailers. This series should never have worked, but every season has been a ton of fun to watch, and this one is no different. The ongoing feuds and evolution between the characters continues making it feel like we are going somewhere with a purpose despite it often feeling like it is stuck in an endless loop of one step forward and ten steps back.
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I love this show as a fan of the film series and idea to what drives it but would be lying if I didn’t say I am baffled how much crime has continued throughout this violent group of kids since season one. Are there any police in the Valley? I know it is a show and that is part of the fun, and I am all in, but cracks me up the amount of stuff people get away with. At the same time as a martial artist there are so many more things that bother me especially dealing with the ongoing arguments, limited techniques to their styles, strange tournament rules and the white belt to black belts bouncing is infuriating, but I must separate them, or I would never get through it. It’s just something you must deal with to enjoy this show.
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This season looks to be stepping things up leading towards the end of it all and the first five episodes alone go all in. The addition of Chozen to the school brings a new dynamic to Daniel and Johnny’s ongoing dysfunctional relationship. One of my issues with that though is that he does kind of disappear suddenly after a few episodes but can only hope he will return sooner than later. They also bring back another legend character from the series we saw last season and give him some fun to get into keeping it all tied together once again.
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This season they have dived back into the Miyagi well to bring some unanswered things to the forefront so that maybe we didn’t know the man as well as we all thought. It has added a mystery to the story that gives them more things to play around with in mythology that helps to keep it from just more of the same which every season really is. There are a couple of story elements that came off rushed in these first 5 episodes but are also kind of side stories that probably aren’t so much important to the bigger tale and a way to start capping things off.
The show remains to be silly cheesy fun that despite my martial arts issues with, I still can’t help love the nostalgia and fun of it all. I am sad to see it coming to an end, but also surprised they were able to stretch it out this long and hope they have something great planned for us fans to wrap it all up before the new film with Macchio and Chan hits theaters.
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This final season is being released in 3 increments of five episodes with each feeling like a mini season on their own. Get ready for the final showdown when Cobra Kai returns for part 1 of its sixth and final season available now on Netflix.
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For more info on the series and this final season head over to https://www.netflix.com/title/81002370
