Wax on, wax off.
We're still doing Cobra Kai! We've got to celebrate the end of this awesome show, so one of the final rankings I'm doing are my favorite moments. This was a tough list to make, because Cobra Kai is filled with amazing moments for all different reasons. There is powerful emotion, hilarious comedy, enthralling action...all of it. But I did narrow it down
15. Kreese and Silver Blow Up
The penultimate episode of Cobra Kai goes out with a bang...literally. Right when Silver is at his most evil and attempts to kidnap Carmen and baby Laura, Kreese shows up to fully complete his redemption arc. The friends-turned-enemies have their final fight, and during it, some gas starts to spill on Silver's yacht. Kreese tosses his cigar into the gas, killing himself but taking Silver with him. Was this ridiculous? Yes, of course. But was it an awesome and shocking way for our two villains of the show to go out? Hell yeah.
14. Miguel vs. Robby
The season one finale gives us the best example of Cobra Kai tension at its finest. There are so many layers to this fight, and we don't know who we want to win. Miguel has been our main karate kid all season, but we see him start to become the Cobra Kai bully that Johnny once was. Meanwhile, Johnny is working as the opposing sensei to his actual son...who is being sensei-d by Daniel. This fight is so intense and has so much meaning behind it. The action itself is great, but the character moments between Johnny and Miguel and then Daniel and Robby are really what makes this one of the best moments in the entire show.
13. Daniel Reunites with Chozen
Daniel's trip to Okinawa in season three allows us to reunite with the characters from The Karate Kid Part II. We initially find Kumiko...and then Daniel sees Chozen, who was the main antagonist of that film. When he first appears, Chozen seems to be hell-bent on revenge...but after sparring with Daniel, he reveals that he's actually a friendly guy. Chozen later becomes one of the most fun characters on the show, and his introduction is one of the best parts. I love the comical side of this character, so playing him off as serious and then revealing that he's really kind of a goofball was a lot of fun.
12. Silver Assaults Stingray
This was the moment where Terry Silver became the ultimate villain on Cobra Kai. Stingray is a silly character, but things with him become very serious after he tries to join Cobra Kai by appealing to Silver. Thomas Ian Griffith's slow-building mania is terrifying to watch, and it is paired beautifully with an incredible piano score in the background. This is one of the darkest and most disturbing moments on the show, and it solidified Silver as worse than Kreese.
11. Daniel Beats Silver
This moment was initially amazing, and it still is, but Silver's return in season six has knocked this down a bit. But this is still a great moment. Season five established Silver as the true big bad of Cobra Kai, and really makes him Daniel's true nemesis. So it is incredibly satisfying when Daniel crane kicks him in front of the entire Cobra Kai dojo, destroying the glass cobra logo and causing all of his students to walk out on him. This was an awesome way to end the Silver plot line, even despite his return in the final season.
10. Kreese's Therapy
Season five sees Kreese in prison, and, while I'm not crazy about that plot line, they have an awesome scene here. Kreese is in therapy, and, instead of just making this an uninteresting dialogue between him and his therapist, we get a visual representation of his inner turmoil. His therapist appears as all the different people that he's cared about throughout his life; his girlfriend, a younger version of himself, Silver, Tory, and then, incredibly, a young Johnny. It's a really awesome and unique scene inside of this very strange plot line, and it sets up Kreese's redemption beautifully.
9. Johnny Finds Miguel in Mexico
Johnny's relationships with Miguel and Robby are the heartbeat of the show, and this was one of those very hard-hitting, emotional moments. Miguel goes to Mexico to find his biological father only to discover that he sucks. As he walks out on his dad, he tearfully calls his mother, who asks him if he's okay. It's at this moment that Johnny, who has ben searching for Miguel the whole episode, finds him and embraces him, showing Miguel who his true father is. When Cobra Kai wants to, it can get really emotional, and it definitely did here.
8. Johnny and Miguel's First Training Session
The father-son relationship that I just discussed kicks off here with an absolutely hilarious and strangely endearing scene that establishes both of our characters really well. Miguel is this shrimpy high school loser and Johnny is this man-child stuck in the 80s, and that dynamic is just great. Johnny's training methods are not Mr. Miyagi's but they are effective in a different way, despite not seeming so initially. This scene has so many great, laugh-out-loud moments, but it also very subtly shows us that Miguel is actually learning from Johnny's unconditional training style and their relationship is blossoming.
7. The Cafeteria Fight
The mid-season finale of Cobra Kai's opening season sees Miguel finally conquer his bullies and impress Sam. This is the first real payoff that we've seen throughout the show and it is awesome. An underdog overcoming the odds and winning is always compelling, and this is a great example of it. The action is exciting and Miguel finally gets revenge on Kyler and his gang. This is the moment where Cobra Kai kicked it into high gear and our underdogs became respected, and it is so much fun.
6. Johnny Confronts Kreese
Kreese's redemption was one of the coolest parts of the final few episodes of the show, and this was really the most emotional part of that redemptive arc. Johnny lets loose all of his anger and insecurity that Kreese caused him by abandoning him after he lost to Daniel in 1984. It is a heart-wrenching moment elevated by some absolutely incredible acting by William Zabka. We finally understand why Johnny has always felt so hurt by Kreese and why he still hangs on to all that anger. He lets it out here in one of the most emotional and powerful moments in Cobra Kai.
5. Johnny Calls Miguel "Robby"
Probably the most emotional moment in the show comes at the end of season four, when Johnny is passed out from drinking after getting his ass kicked by Silver. Johnny returning to his drinking habits is sad enough, but the scene gets even more emotional when a broken Miguel walks in and helps him get to bed. Johnny drunkenly and tearfully tells Miguel that he always wanted to be a father figure to him. Miguel tells Johnny that he loves him, and Johnny responds by saying "I love you too, Robby". That single line is enough to break both Miguel and the audience. It is just the perfect heart-breaking moment for this show, and it makes it even better when Miguel, Johnny, and Robby actually do become family.
4. Johnny and Daniel Team Up
The first three seasons of Cobra Kai really do a good job of continuing Johnny and Daniel's rivalry. They still hate each other nearly forty years after their fight in the All-Valley...but when Kreese shows up, it becomes a whole different ballgame. After Johnny realizes that Kreese hasn't changed and is still a bad guy, he accepts what he needs to do. Daniel does the same, and, for the first time ever, these two characters are on good terms. The final shots of the third season show Daniel's students and Johnny's students combined at Miyagi-do and bowing to each other, setting the stage for an epic back half of Cobra Kai.
3. The School Fight
Season two is definitely the weakest season, but this finale is frickin' awesome. After Tory witnessed Sam kiss Miguel at a party, she threatens her over the school PA and meets up with her during passing time. Robby and Miguel both race to get there, and, when Miguel sees Robby trying to hit Tory, he gets involved. This leads to an all-out brawl that is just so amazing. The action is super fun, especially the incredible long take that takes place in the hallway. We see these karate fights actually have ramifications for the first time as Tory nearly seriously injures Sam. But the real ramifications are, of course, when Robby kicks Miguel off the balcony, breaking his back in one of the most horrific and shocking scenes in the show. This was the boiling point of all the tension built up across two seasons, and it did not disappoint. The stakes were high and the consequences were even higher. What an awesome ending to a season.
2. Miguel and Robby Reconcile
Although Johnny and Daniel are the more classic duo, Miguel and Robby arguably have the biggest rivalry on the show. Johnny's two sons hate each other, but, after Johnny reconciles with Robby, he tries to get them to stop fighting. After countless failed attempts, Johnny accepts his fate and tells the two of them to just duke it out. The resulting fight is awesome, and it finishes with the two of them finally putting aside their differences and becoming friends. This was one of the biggest and best payoffs in all of Cobra Kai as well as one of the best action sequences, so it is absolutely one of the show's highlights.
1. Johnny Wins the Sekai Taikai
The finale of Cobra Kai was probably the best episode, and the main reason is because of the incredible way it wrapped up all of these characters. It's fitting that the best character got the best ending. 40 years after suffering humiliating defeat at the hands of Daniel LaRusso, Johnny Lawrence wins the Sekai Taikai in front of the entire valley. It is a payoff of the entire Karate Kid franchise. It works on every level: it's an awesome scene and it hits all the feels. It lands the plane perfectly. It is a beautiful cherry on top of what was an absolutely incredible legacy sequel to the original Karate Kid series, so it is my favorite moment in the entire show.
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