“Cobra Kai” might be the greatest revival series of all time. It reinvents a very uneven “Karate Kid” franchise that arguably peaked in its first film and adds depth, intrigue and substance to an excellent ensemble cast. Its ability to perfectly balance the arcs of its new and returning cast is also laudable — so many reboot stories drop the torch instead of passing it on.

Season 6 Part 1 primarily focuses on the combined Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang dojos as they prepare for the international Sekai Taikai tournament. As such, their respective senseis, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zapka) and their differences are once again in the spotlight, except this time, they can’t afford another messy divorce.

Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto), Daniel’s rival from “The Karate Kid Part II,” serves as a third sensei and unlikely comic relief character. Chozen serves as the voice of reason when Daniel and Johnny clash, though after five full seasons, the pair have gotten a lot better at being receptive to opposing points of views and working through their disagreements like adults.

For the show’s “child” cast (high school characters played by actors primarily in their 20s), making the cut for the Sekai Takai is top of mind, as it’s revealed that dojo will only be able to send six fighters to the tournament. Daniel and Johnny enlist Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), Daniel’s Cobra Kai rival in “The Karate Kid Part III,” to narrow it down as an unbiased third party.

There is little surprise with the top picks for the tournament. The show has invested so much in Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) and Tory Nichols (Peyton List) — all top All Valley tournament finishers — for them to be discarded. Most of the suspense comes from the last few slots, as Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand), Demetri Alexopoulos (Gianni DeCenzo), Kenny Payne (Dallas Dupree Young) and Devon Lee (Oona O’Brien) are all closed to evenly matched.

Like previous seasons, Hawk and Demetri’s friendship is put under duress, namely because Demetri has caught up to Hawk in terms of martial arts proficiency and it’s likely that the two will attend different colleges, despite previously pledging to both attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Meanwhile, Kenny has begrudgingly returned to Miyagi-Do after coming under the wing of his delinquent older brother, Shawn Payne (Okea Eme-Akwari), who has led him astray but has a desire to prevent Kenny from repeating the mistakes in life he’s made. Devon just wants to not let Johnny down, and he vouches for her, perhaps because she was his first protege under Eagle Fang.

Tory and Sam, who have both deeply hurt each other physically and emotionally, and who found themselves on the same side after Terry Silver’s dishonorable rigging of the All Valley, manage to come to an understanding — a central theme of this season. However, Tory is unable to completely free herself of John Kreese’s (Martin Kove) influence, setting up what will inevitably rivalry matchup in Part 2 of Season 6.

Speaking of Kreese, he has very little presence in this portion of Season 6. He’s training a group of fighters we haven’t met yet in South Korea for the tournament with Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), who is one of the instructors Silver recruited last season for Cobra Kai. Their practices are as brutal as ever, but we only get to know one of their students, Kwon Jae-Sung (Brandon H. Lee), who doesn’t respect authority, but will no doubt come to fear Kreese.

The formula still works for “Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 1, but it’s far from its peak. Much of this is because this portion is all setup for the Sekai Taikai — I expect that it’ll up the ante in Part 2, but not enough to deflate Part 3.

If you’re looking to jump into this show now not having seen the previous seasons, don’t; you’ve got a lot of good television that you shouldn’t skip. If you’re a fan of the show, this is more of what you already love, but don’t expect it to match the highs of seasons 4 or 5.

“Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 1 gets an 8/10