What a ride. After six seasons, “Cobra Kai” has finally come to a close.
And at long last, we finally have world karate champions!
Coming into Season 6 Part 3 (the overall series finale), the Sekai Taikai world karate tournament has been called off just before its championship matches got underway because a kid was killed during a brawl — which John Kreese (Martin Kove) of Cobra Kai naturally helped instigate.
I didn’t review S6 Part 2 when it came out, but it’s some of the best television I’ve ever seen and is easily the show’s peak. While Part 1 focused on the preparation and thinning of the field for the tournament, an all-out dojo war erupted in Part 2 between Kreese and Kim Da-Eun’s (Alicia Hannah-Kim) Cobra Kai, Johnny Lawrence (William Zapka) and Daniel LaRusso’s (Ralph Maccio) Miyagi-Do and billionaire Terry Silver’s (Thomas Ian Griffith) Iron Dragons.
Miyagi-Do has completely evolved since Lawrence joined it, combining his offensive karate developed during his tenure leading the Cobra Kai and Eagle Fang dojos with LaRusso’s defensive-oriented fighting style he learned from his mentor, Nariyoshi Miyagi of “Karate Kid” fame. Despite that, the dojo entered the semifinals on the brink of elimination.
Silver in particular can’t let the tourney go; he has a terminal illness and it’s all that he has left. He does get several concessions from Sekai Taikai head Gunther Braun (Carsten Norgaard), including a location of his choosing, but in order for the competition to resume, the senseis of the three remaining dojos must sign off on it.
That’s easier said than done. But there are only five episodes left of this show, so obviously the tournament comes back in dramatic fashion — it even takes place at the oft-used All-Valley tournament arena back in California.
And that gets into what this finale is all about — giving the show an ending it deserves.
Daniel and Johnny have patched things up, finally understanding one another. The death of his student finally wakes Kreese up to error of his ways, though he realizes it’s too late to change or to atone for his sins. Silver has nowhere to grow and nothing to learn, serving as one of the only completely irredeemable characters.
We also wrap up the journeys of the show’s teenage cast (at this point, played mostly by people in their mid-to-late 20s), though they do take a firm back seat.
“Cobra Kai” began as Johnny Lawrence’s story and it ends on the same note. Its final episode hammers this home, contrasting his sad life as a has-been during Season 1 to him standing atop the karate world.
When we first met Johnny, he was a selfish and narrow-minded asshole who abandoned his child and alienated anyone who tried to help him, though he did have a few tough breaks. He had a distant stepfather who couldn’t care less about him, especially after his mom died, and he had almost no support network after high school.
When he met Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), a kid who was being bullied much like Daniel was in “The Karate Kid,” Johnny stepped up to protect him and his life forever changed. He became a father figure for Miguel and they eventually became family. Finding that helped him fix things with his own son, Robbie Keene (Tanner Buchanan), a delinquent in desperate need of intervention, and his old high school rival, who became his best friend.
In another world, Daniel and Johnny would have been friends since Day 1. Both were alienated as teenagers, looking desperately for acceptance. But they needed to emotionally mature to overcome — and appreciate — their conflicting personalities. The way their dynamic shifted from combative to complimentary is absolutely splendid.
Johnny finds happiness because he grows up. He learns to live for other people, and everything that comes with being a mentor to teenagers. He becomes a role model anyone can look up to, and most importantly, someone who is able to listen to opposing viewpoints and give them a chance.
His arc is arguably complete once he learns Miyagi-Do karate — recreating poses from “The Karate Kid” with Daniel. In Season 1, this was antithetical to everything he stood for. Now, it’s normal.
There is so much more praise to go around for this show as a whole, especially for its teenage cast that includes Cobra Kai prodigy Tory Nichols (Peyton List), Daniel’s daughter Samantha (Mary Mouser) and All-Valley champion Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand) and his best friend, Demetri Alexopoulos (Gianni DeCenzo). There’s also Miyagi-Do sensei Chozen Taguchi (Yuji Okumoto) from Okinawa, Japan, who provides some much-needed comic relief.
“Cobra Kai” is the gold standard for soft reboots of any kind. It enhances the “Karate Kid” mythos in every way it can and gives its returning characters arcs that surpass the ones they had in their original films in every way. At the same time, it introduces and fleshes out worthy successors, who are more than capable of carrying the torch if this franchise were ever to continue after this run.
This show stands alone. It’s one of the best Netflix has ever produced and well worthy of a rare perfect score.
“Cobra Kai” Season 6 gets a 10/10
InReview 
Leave a comment