New enemies will emerge.
Cobra Kai is a 2018-present comedy drama television series created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, produced by Counterbalance Entertainment, Westbrook Studios, and Sony Pictures Television, and distributed by Netflix. The series stars William Zabka and Ralph Macchio. This series is the sixth installment in the Karate Kid franchise. It acts as a sequel to The Karate Kid and will be followed by Karate Kid: Legends.
"How do we wanna go out?" - Robby Keene
Plot
After deciding the participants in the Sekai Taikai, Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso take Miyagi-do to Barcelona for their biggest fight yet. The members of Miyagi-do each struggle with their own problems as the fight with Cobra Kai approaches the world stage. However, as the tournament furthers on, Miyagi-do realizes that Cobra Kai is not the only enemy.
The Sweet
So, if you do not know, Cobra Kai's final season is being released in three parts. The first part was released in July and the final part will be released in January.
The first batch of episodes that we got in July was probably the worst stretch of the show thus far. I have had a rocky journey with Cobra Kai. I enjoy the first few seasons but don't find them to be particularly great...but seasons four and five were fantastic. However, it did feel like season five reached a natural conclusion. At the beginning of season six, it felt as though they were reaching for story and character arcs unnaturally. Season five felt like it closed everything out, but season six has gone beyond the natural endpoint of the show.
I think this batch of episodes, however, was much stronger than the first batch. Do I still think season six was necessary? No. But I feel like these five episodes had much more juice than the previous release. It did not really feel like they were just reaching for sitcom-esc plot lines and dumb character motivations. They add more characters and dojos because of the Sekai Taikai, and I think that drastically improves the dynamic between our main characters.
I was very worried about what the Sekai Taikai would be, because I did not think a world karate tournament would be a good direction to take Cobra Kai. Mr. Miyagi's whole philosophy involves not fighting in tournaments, so this seems like the exact opposite of what his legacy would be. However, I think it worked for the story. The Sekai Taikai brings a lot of stress and pressure to each of our characters so they are really working through their issues throughout these episodes. And I think that was something that was missing in the first five.
I really think the dynamic between the Miyagi-do kids works here. There are some aspects that definitely don't: I don't need to hear Hawk and Demetri fighting about college over and over again. But I thought that Miguel and Robby both had compelling journeys. It feels like the frustrations that they all have are merited. Tory's choice to turn to Cobra Kai isn't framed as her reverting back to her psycho tendencies - instead, we see her in a very vulnerable position as all of the Miyagi-do kids try to help her.
I also think that this part definitely delivers on the shocks and twists. I'm not sure if all of them are earned, but I have to see how the rest of the season plays out. There is an especially shocking moment that leaves this part on a major cliffhanger...and I don't know how I feel about it, but I definitely think the writers took Cobra Kai in a different, shocking direction that I appreciated.
The best part of this batch is when the writers tune out all of the outside noise and focus in on the emotional struggle of our characters. Say what you will about Cobra Kai, but it does have great characters. There's a pretty quick but highly effective subplot involving Johnny and Miguel in the middle section of episodes that delivers on an emotional level. There's a scene in the locker room with all of the Miyagi-do fighters that really hits. This season has definitely lacked on the emotional front, but these episodes pick it up a bit more.
The Sour
I think that this second part did what it could to get me excited for the third part, but I am still unsure as to how I feel about the sixth season as a whole.
As much as I enjoyed some of the new characters that were introduced here, some of them were also pretty bad. It feels like the writers decided to go so over-the-top into a stereotype that it just comes off as corny. The best example of this is Zara Malik, a "karate queen" who acts as some sort of social media influencer...but, of course, she's just a b**ch. There are a few new characters like that that are so far into stereotype that it just feels awkward.
But the worst aspect of this batch of episodes is definitely Daniel's ridiculous obsession with Mr. Miyagi's legacy. The first batch had Daniel begin to look into Mr. Miyagi's mysterious past. He discovers that Miyagi fought in the Sekai Taikai and becomes obsessed with uncovering all of his secrets. This is a great example of a show or movie answering questions that nobody was asking. We know a bit about Mr. Miyagi's backstory, but we don't need Daniel going on a season-long adventure to discover that he wasn't as perfect as Daniel thought. Not only is it boring and dull, but it feels like it's tainting Mr. Miyagi's character, which nobody wants. I just really, really hate this plot line. It feels like they needed to force something in to eventually connect Daniel with Jackie Chan's character from the remake so that they can get this new Karate Kid movie made.
As much as this part is better, it feels like it still has a lot of the problems of the previous batch. It still feels like they have to resort to repeating beats from the previous seasons. Every time Daniel and Johnny bicker, it just feels recycled. We know that they have had their problems, but we keep hitting this same note. Daniel wants Johnny to be more Miyagi-do. Johnny wants Daniel to be more Eagle Fang. We get it. There are so many instances in both of these batches of episodes where we just keep going back to plot lines and character beats that we've seen before.
I also found some of the action in this part to be ridiculous. Karate is not WWE. But Cobra Kai makes the Sekai Taikai this zany, overblown tournament where the dojos are tag-teaming on top of an elevated platform. This does make for some cool action sequences, but none of it feels like it's grounded or like it's actual karate. It just feels weird. The final episode in particular has an absolutely bonkers action sequence that I just found to be cartoonish. It felt like an unearned final battle that just does not work very well.
Final Thoughts and Score
The second part of Cobra Kai VI is a solid improvement and sets the stage for the third and final stretch of this show. Will it deliver? I don't know. I'm still iffy on this season as a whole, but I enjoyed this part.
I'm going Savory here. Age range is 12+.
SWEET N' SOUR SCALE
Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible)
"Cobra Kai VI"
Fun Factor: 7.5/10
Acting: 7.5/10
Story: 7/10
Characters: 7.5/10
Quality: 6.5/10
Created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg
Rated TV-14 for moderate violence and action, language, disturbing themes and images, thematic elements
Released on July 18, 2024
Episode runtime: 35 minutes
William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence
Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso
Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz
Courtney Henggeler as Amanda LaRusso
Tanner Buchanan as Robby Keene
Mary Mouser as Samantha LaRusso
Peyton List as Tory Nichols
Jacob Bertrand as Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
Gianni DeCenzo as Demetri Alexopoulos
Dallas Dupree Young as Kenny Payne
Vanessa Rubio as Carmen Diaz
Martin Kove as John Kreese
Yuji Okumoto as Chozen Toguchi
Oona O'Brien as Devon Lee
Alicia Hannah-Kim as Kim Da-Eun
Griffin Santopietro as Anthony LaRusso
Brandon H. Lee as Kwon Jae-Sung
Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver
Lewis Tan as Sensei Wolf
Patrick Luwis as Axel Kovacevic
Rayna Valladingham as Zara Malik
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