No Surrender Cinema: Cobra Kai (Season 6 – Part 3)
I knew this day would come, but it doesn’t make it any harder to write about. Six seasons that spanned nearly seven years, picking up on a story that started way back in 1984. Characters that were a huge part of my fandom ever since I was a kid, but who, over the past near decade, have enjoyed a second life as a pop culture juggernaut. Cobra Kai has officially ended its run with the sixth season finale this past week, so join me for a No Surrender Cinema that says a proper goodbye to our crane-kicking, leg-sweeping heroes from the Valley.
SPOILER ALERT: I’ll keep them to a minimum, but let’s face it…there’s a LOT I have to say about this. Don’t read on until you’ve completed your Cobra Kai binge!
As we start the third and final chapter of Cobra Kai’s last season, Kwon’s tragic death during the melee at the Sekai Taikai is having a ripple effect on our core characters. Johnny Lawrence finds himself confronted with fatherhood once again, while Daniel LaRusso dives headfirst back into his dealership business. The kids of Miyagi-Do, namely the core group of Samantha, Miguel, Robby, Hawk, and Dimitri are each dealing with the post-high school, non-karate chapters of their lives. As our heroes cope in their own special ways, the ever-present antagonist Terry Silver puts the wheels in motion for the Sekai Taikai to return. Much to Silver’s chagrin, it’s going to take a unanimous vote of all of the senseis to put the tournament back on. Since Silver is not a man that takes no for an answer, he tries to get results the Terry Silver way, though it’s surprisingly not an act of intimidation that gets Daniel and Johnny to agree to come back, but a conversation where Silver pulls back the curtain and shows himself to be a man who is vulnerable and remorseful, at least on the surface.
Elsewhere, after laying Kwon to rest, Kreese and Kim Da-Eun disagree about going back to the Sekai Taikai. Kreese opts to stay away, creating further tension between himself, Da-Eun, and Master Kim Sun-Yung. The already tense alliance reaches a boiling point, and in the aftermath Kreese is banished from the dojang, returning to the States (and the Valley) not as a sensei, but more of a nomad that shows up just in time to rattle his former charges like Johnny and Tory. It’s not that Kreese is purposefully trying to mess with their heads; in fact it’s quite the opposite. Kreese appears to want to make amends, going so far as to have re-entered Cobra Kai solely for Tory to have a chance at victory and to atone for Kwon’s death. Since it’s not the first time Kreese has screwed someone over everyone is hesitant to buy what he’s selling, but it’s clear that in this post-Barcelona world he’s become a gentler, kinder Kreese (at least to the aforementioned people).
With the tournament back on, taking place in the exact same spot where the fight that spawned this entire universe took place, Miyagi-Do does equal parts training and soul-searching as they prepare for Silver’s Iron Dragons. Combined with the unknown status of Cobra Kai, it puts Sam and Robby in an underdog status that both Daniel and Johnny know all too well. All of this drama has to be broken up somehow, and that’s another area where Cobra Kai excels; humor. From Gunther working to finalize the details of the Valley hosting the Sekai Taikai to Chozen being brought along on a double date with Daniel and Amanda to Johnny trying to make an “honest woman” out of Carmen before their baby is born, there are quite a few laughs to be had before we have to watch the younger set step into the fight of their lives. Oh, and I’d be a fool if I didn’t mention that Chozen’s date got a big reaction out of me, since it brought someone from my all time favorite television series (you could argue that it’s my favorite thing, period) into Karate Kid/Cobra Kai lore. Worlds collided here in the latter part of Season 6, and I am here for it!
Speaking of collisions, once it’s finally time for the Sekai Taikai, some curveballs are thrown Miyagi-Do’s way. In fact, these kids, who have been taught to rise up against adversity and believe in themselves are allowing their rivals to get into their heads far too easily. The same goes for both Johnny and Daniel, but both reach a point of clarity thanks to their own respective senseis. A cathartic encounter with Kreese enables Johnny to free himself of what has been holding him back all of these years, while Daniel gains a new outlook thanks to a dream that harkens back to a famous scene from The Karate Kid, complete with some questionable CGI. Both scenes serve to show that the students (Johnny and Daniel) have surpassed their teachers in their own way, and without going into too much detail I will freely admit right here that the scene between Johnny Lawrence and John Kreese had me BAWLING. A full-fledged face full of tears. It’s not out of the ordinary for me to be emotionally invested in film and television, but there are few things that I care about enough to elicit that type of reaction. That one scene took what was essentially a throwaway piece of Karate Kid history at one point, something which became a thread throughout Cobra Kai‘s entire run, and wrapped it all up with one big emotional bow on top. Cobra Kai has delivered a lot of major moments that I’ve loved (up to this point I’d probably call the Season 2 finale complete with the melancholy version of “Cruel Summer” playing at the end my favorite), but this one scene was everything to me.
Again, keeping it light on the spoilers, I feel like it’s obvious that the underdog Miyagi-Do’ers will have their moment in the spotlight, but it’s not a straight path to glory. The kids will have to deal with fear, confusion, and even injury before a victory could be claimed…and it’s also not out of the ordinary to say that someone like Terry Silver will go to any length to get a win (or, if he can’t get a win, get revenge on those who embarrass him). There’s also one last major shocking twist, one that I don’t think anyone would see coming. Fans know that Cobra Kai prides itself on a good redemption arc, and there is an instance here where redemption is taken to an extreme unseen in any previous season.
I was SO EXCITED when I first heard about Cobra Kai, and even more impressed with what I saw when YouTube Red (now known as YouTube Premium) dropped that first season on us. There’s no doubt that the move to Netflix was a huge help in carving Cobra Kai’s spot into the mainstream, but kudos have to go out to everyone involved with the show. The actors, the writers…everyone involved in this show did their part to make it as memorable and beloved as it is. To take The Karate Kid and an internet meme about Johnny Lawrence being the true hero of the story and craft a story where not only can you tell it from that point of view, but have nearly every major character from Karate Kid continuity involved…and have it ALL MAKE SENSE…is a truly amazing feat. I’m actually a bit shocked that we never got to see Julie Pierce show up to give advice to Samantha at some point, since Hilary Swank’s character from The Next Karate Kid is pretty much all that was missing here.
It will be interesting to see what parts of the lore that Cobra Kai has left us with makes it into the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends movie where the original and the 2010 reboot finally gain a connection. I’m also interested to see if that film ends up spawning off into something greater. With that said, if there was to be nothing more heard or seen from the world of The Karate Kid/Cobra Kai after this, I’d be OK with that. It’s not often that shows deliver the sendoff that the fanbase wants to see, but what was delivered here was a fitting end for all involved. There’s no greater Cobra Kai fan than me, and the biggest question I had once that last episode finished up was “what show am I going to be this excited for now”? My guess is that it will be a while, if ever, that I love a series as much as I love this one.
All seasons of Cobra Kai are now streaming on Netflix
