Cobra Kai Sweeps the Leg to a Satisfying Finale in Season 6 Part 3

After two network homes (YouTube Premium and Netflix), six seasons and 65 episodes of blissful ‘80s nostalgia mixed with smart contemporary storytelling, the final five episodes of Cobra Kai have arrived. If you told me six years ago that this series sequel to The Karate Kid would be one of the most entertaining and rewarding big screen to small screen revivals ever, I’d never believe it. But Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg made me a believer as they’ve delivered some crowd-pleasing final episodes that take no mercy on our tear ducts and heartstrings. 

Episode 6.11, “Into the Fire,” picks up after “Eunjangdo” in the aftermath of the Sekai Taikai all-dojo brawl death of Kwon Jae-Sung (Brandon H. Lee), the captain of Cobra Kai’s South Korean branch. Despite all of the show’s various party brawls and individual nasty confrontations across all six seasons, death has been rare. So the loss of Kwon is potent enough to cancel the Sekai Taikai tournament, while providing the perfect emotional table setter for some real introspection and assessment of priorities for the adults and the karate students. 

Shaken by how the competition devolved, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is ready to move on and leave karate behind. Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), for very different reasons, want to continue the tournament. And then there’s Kreese (Martin Kove), who finally sees the devastating impact of Kim Sun-Yung’s (C.S. Lee) vengeance style of training, and subsequently the pain he’s inflicted on so many by disseminating that hateful mentality via Cobra Kai. In this world that honors the wisdom and authority of the sensei above all, it’s a necessary crisis point for all of the dojo leaders to look inward regarding their behaviors. 

Quite a few major moves are made by key players which sets up the return of the Sekai Taikai tournament to the full circle location of the San Fernando Valley. The Cobra Kai production team must have been giddy, going buckwild with their nostalgic set creation that’s taken straight from The Karate Kid (1986). If any show has earned this blast from the past moment, it’s Cobra Kai, because it has studiously avoided being derivative. Plus, they use those classic sets to set up some thrilling last episodes that swing for the fences when it comes to thrilling fight choreography, tension and effective call backs that honor the past and the present. 

From the first season, I’ve admired the Cobra Kai writing team’s aggressive story progression, how they pay off their emotional moments and manage to earn so many surprise reveals. And credit is due for them keeping their foot on the story gas all the way to the end. They’ve consistently taken storylines in directions with the adults and the kids that I never imagined they would, or could. For a nostalgia show that blew up in the pop culture zeitgeist, they could have easily gotten lazy and still kept their viewers. Instead, they’ve continued to zig instead of zag when it comes to story turns, and that’s no easy feat considering how big their ensemble has gotten and how many story threads they’ve connected from all corners of the Karate Kid franchise. In these last episodes, they pull off a few more big moves with only one misfire, give closure to just about all of their story threads, and make room for plenty of their beloved minor characters to return for a last moment to shine. 

That they’re able to be so deft and ambitious with this series is because of their fantastic cast. We’ve literally watched one half of them grow up like beanstalks right before our eyes, and they’ve all improved in their craft over the years. Xolo Maridueña as Miguel and Peyton List as Tory are now stars in their own right, and they earned that by totally investing in the arcs of their characters right to the end. This season also features some of the best work of Tanner Buchanan, turning Robbie into someone who finally believes in himself, and it’s so satisfying to see where he ends up.

The adults also take advantage of saying goodbye to these characters (at least in this iteration) with their whole selves. Yuji Okumoto as Chozen continues to flex his comedic side with charming results. Macchio’s Daniel delivers some excellent hero moments that play out with excitement in the tournament, and in tandem with his best scene partner, Zabka (who also directs one of the best episodes of the season in“Rattled”). Last but not least, Martin Kove is kind of a revelation in these last episodes, playing out Kreese’s arc with such vulnerability and remorse that I was sobbing more than once because of his choices.

Cobra Kai may never get categorized as “important television,” but in sticking the landing of their finale, the creators and their team have unequivocally raised the bar for how to reimagine a nostalgia property for the better. I actually love The Karate Kid more because of Cobra Kai. The series took those toxic masculinity standards of the past, applied them to the problems of this generation, and then proved that Mr. Miyagi’s lessons of compassion, empathy and kindness are even more relevant and important today no matter what age you are. Cobra Kai made a meal out of proving that every choice has a consequence, and then gave all of its characters the grace to make amends when they did wrong. Johnny and his lifelong struggle to overcome what he did to LaRusso personified that best and it comes full circle in the finale. Though he never fully cedes his inner ‘80s neanderthal, watching Johnny evolve into a father, a dad and a sensei worthy of his own dojo turned out to be a television journey I’ll always cherish.

Tara Bennett is a Los Angeles-based writer covering film, television and pop culture for publications such as SFX Magazine, NBC Insider, IGN and more. She’s also written official books on Sons of Anarchy, Outlander, Fringe, The Story of Marvel Studios, Avatar: The Way of Water and the latest, The Art of Ryan Meinerding. You can follow her on Twitter @TaraDBennett or Instagram @TaraDBen

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