Review - Cobra Kai (2018-2025)

        Alright guys, here it is. This is my review of Cobra Kai, the streaming television sequel to The Karate Kid film series. To be specific, the original three Karate Kid films. Created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, Cobra Kai ran for a total of six seasons, with two being produced for YouTube Red, and the latter four being produced for Netflix, who acquired the streaming rights when YouTube opted to shut down YouTube Red. Cobra Kai sports quite a collective of cast members over its six seasons. Included in the cast are the likes of Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Peyton List, Vanessa Rubio, and Martin Kove. 

        Now, interestingly enough, Cobra Kai was initially planned as a movie, but Sony passed on the idea in favor of what would become the 2010 version of The Karate Kid with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. However, with the advent of streaming television, as well as two videos produced around the same time, a William Zabka directed music video for the song "Sweep the Leg" by No More Kings, and a Funny or Die sketch starring Ralph Macchio titled "Wax On, F*ck Off," Sony decided to go ahead and make Cobra Kai as a streaming series. 

       So, thirty-four years have passed since the 1984 All-Valley Karate Championship, and life has been rough for Johnny Lawrence. For instance, he's divorced, has a delinquent teenage son named Robby, and owes some money to a man named Sid. Conversely, Daniel LaRusso is a successful businessman in the automotive industry, has a beautiful wife, Amanda, and two children, daughter Sam and son Anthony. 

       One night, Johnny sees a teenage boy named Miguel Diaz, who is one of his neighbors, being attacked by a group of teens, and proceeds to defend the boy by beating the hell out of them. After spending an overnight in jail, Johnny offers to train Miguel in karate. Specifically, the uncompromising style of karate crafted at the Cobra Kai dojo, which had been out of business for years. Johnny acquires a vacant space in a mini mall in Reseda, and reopens Cobra Kai with Miguel as his first student. Over the course of the first season, additional students join the newly reopened Cobra Kai, including Aisha Robinson, who has been a victim of cyberbullying by the popular girls at school, and Miguel's friends Eli and Demetri, the former of whom eventually is given the nickname Hawk due to rebuilding his image. 

        Johnny later attempts to bring Cobra Kai into the upcoming All-Valley Karate Championship tournament, only to learn that the Cobra Kai dojo was slapped with a lifetime ban from competition due to tactics crafted by its founders John Kreese and Terry Silver. However, Johnny makes an appeal to the tournament board, and clarifies that the group of students he's training are growing their self-confidence and are learning to stand up for themselves. Put at a vote of 3-2, with Daniel being one of the two voting against, Cobra Kai's ban is lifted, and Johnny's students are allowed to compete in the All-Valley Karate Championship tournament. 

        While Johnny is training his Cobra Kai students, Robby is learning the Miyagi style of karate from Daniel, who later drops him as a student upon learning that Robby is Johnny's son. Also, Miguel and the Cobra Kai students begin to genuinely stand up for themselves against the popular kids, with Aisha finally getting back at a girl named Yasmine. Unfortunately, Miguel's newfound attitude comes at the cost of his newly formed relationship with Sam. 

       The tournament finally arrives, and the trio of Miguel, Hawk, and Aisha go pretty far in the tournament, with Robby competing as an unaffiliated competitor, and Daniel simply watching due to the fact that his automotive dealership company is a sponsor. Hawk gets disqualified for a cheap shot, advancing Robby to the finals against Miguel, and Daniel ultimately helps Robby and stands in his corner. However, Miguel takes advantage of Robby's injured shoulder, and wins the championship. Sam reconciles her friendship with Aisha, and Daniel decides to reopen the Miyagi-Do karate dojo, with Robby as his first student. The season ends with Johnny, contemplating the way his students fought in the tournament, is approached by Kreese, who is proud that Johnny reopened Cobra Kai, and how things are just getting started. 

       So, season two kicks off with Johnny expressing his displeasure in the way Miguel and Hawk competed in the tournament, and he ultimately decides to start from square one with the Cobra Kai students, with a focus on fighting with honor, in addition to the Cobra Kai mantra of "Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy." All the while, Daniel continues to work with Robby as his student at Miyagi-Do, with Sam (who had previously worked with Daniel to learn karate when she was a little girl) joining as the dojo's second student. Daniel also makes an advertisement, revealing the reopening of Miyagi-Do, who will be giving karate instruction for free. The ad is also a not-so-subtle jab against Cobra Kai, and Johnny creates a similar ad for Cobra Kai with a not-so-subtle jab against Miyagi-Do. This, ultimately, leads to Cobra Kai upstaging Miyagi-Do at a local festival. 

       Both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do receive a new batch of students, with Cobra Kai's most promising newcomer being a girl named Tory Nichols, and Hawk's friend Demetri joining Miyagi-Do. Unfortunately, Kreese has also reintegrated himself into Cobra Kai, and is pretty much completely undermining Johnny's teachings, opting to return to the old ways of Cobra Kai with the new generation of students z including Hawk, Tory, and so forth. And, yes, we do see many of the Cobra Kai students end in becoming arrogant bullying jackasses, with Hawk being the most arrogant of the bunch. This doesn't sit well with a number of Cobra Kai's newbies, who end up leaving and joining Miyagi-Do. 

         The incessant back-and-forth between the students of both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do comes to a head in the season two finale, where on the first day of the new school year, Tory goes after Sam for sharing a kiss with Miguel, who was going out with Tory at the time while Sam was in a relationship with Robby, during a party a night prior. This showdown between Tory and Sam explodes into a massive fight between the Cobra Kai students and the Miyagi-Do students, with Demetri taking down Hawk, Sam, after getting a bad scratch on her arm, taking down Tory, and Robby inadvertently knocking Miguel off of a balcony, hospitalizing him as a result. 

         Hearing the news, Johnny is barred from coming near Miguel by his mother Carmen, who Johnny has begun dating in this season, Amanda forbids Daniel from continuing to teach karate, and Kreese completely takes control of Cobra Kai once again. The season, and the YouTube Red era, ends with both Johnny and Daniel at their lowest points in the series. 

        Before we go on, I just want to genuinely compliment the creators of Cobra Kai for giving the show a level of nuance that is unique to the Karate Kid franchise. It would have been very easy to see a role reversal and make Johnny the good guy and Daniel the bad guy. But, in a clever way, neither is ever portrayed as a villain. Both are showcased as flawed men still holding on to the past. But, neither is any more wrong than the other because of that. But, by bringing back John Kreese, they guaranteed a villain for the audience to root against. And, it kinda makes sense to do so, for Johnny represents a potential positive future for the Cobra Kai dojo, while Kreese represents its unyielding and dangerous past. 

         Another fascinating point is the fact that Johnny and Daniel both want what's best for their respective students at Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do, which is to boost their confidence and give them the tools to stand up for themselves. However, there's also philosophical differences between them that makes their methodologies differ, but not necessarily standing diametrically opposed. And, this becomes more apparent when Johnny looks to also teach his students the difference between not showing mercy and not having honor. But again, Kreese completely undermines Johnny's teachings by way of teaching the Cobra Kai students in his own way. 

       So, the Netflix era kicks off with Season Three, where Daniel and Johnny are forced to set aside their issues and work together to locate Robby, who Daniel eventually meets with only to stand helpless as police arrest the boy, fueling a sense of animosity in Robby against Daniel. The community is still shook from the epic karate brawl between the Cobra Kai students and the Miyagi-Do students, and the school has completely banned karate on campus. And, unfortunately, business for the LaRusso dealership has declined due to the dealership's ties with karate, and one of his suppliers, a Japanese company called Doyona, is preparing to pull out. Daniel travels to Japan to meet directly with Doyona, who are more looking to avoid bad PR due to the school fight. This leads Daniel to take a spiritual journey in Okinawa, where he learns the village Mr. Miyagi took him to in Karate Kid - Part II is now a shopping mall. 

      It's on this spiritual journey where Daniel has a few surprising reunions. First, he reconnects with Kumiko, his former flame from his last visit to Okinawa in Karate Kid - Part II, and later is reunited with his former rival from that time: Chozen Toguchi. Chozen helps Daniel on his spiritual journey, and the two have a bit of a spar, as both were proficient in Miyagi style karate. Lastly, Daniel reunites with Yuna, the little girl he saved from a typhoon, who is now a high-ranking executive at Doyona, and helps reestablish Doyona as a supplier for Daniel's dealership back in America. 

       Unfortunately, things back home are getting worse. Tensions between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do are more intense than ever, and it gets to the point where Hawk literally breaks Demetri's arm and Sam suffers from PTSD because of her encounter with Tory. Amanda attempts to reason with Kreese, but that backfires. Upon Daniel's return, the two attempt to file a legal restraining order against Kreese, only to learn he filed one against Amanda. They try to get the landlord of the mini mall to evict Kreese, but that backfires. So, without any alternatives, Amanda allows Daniel to reopen Miyagi-Do with her full support this time. Also, Daniel helps Sam work through her fears and she rejoins Miyagi-Do. 

         At the same time, Johnny looks to redeem himself for everything that's happened. He begins this path by anonymously paying for Miguel's back surgery, and working with Miguel on his rehabilitation, making him able to walk again. Still needing direction, Miguel reminds Johnny that he is a sensei, and that's what he needs to be. But, knowing that the teachings of Kreese at Cobra Kai are far too excessive, decides to open a new dojo that focuses on fighting with honor. Or, as Johnny puts it, "Being badass, but not being an asshole." Miguel and a handful of former Cobra Kai students displaced by Kreese's teachings join the new dojo, which Johnny names "Eagle Fang Karate." 

         So, now we have three Karate dojos: Cobra Kai, which focuses on offense-based karate without mercy, Eagle Fang, which focuses on offense-based karate while also fighting honorably, and Miyagi-Do, which focuses on defense-based karate. Unfortunately, the city council has banned the All-Valley Karate Championship from happening due to the violent animosity between the students of Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do. At a city council meeting, Kreese, Johnny, and Daniel all fail to make a case, but Sam and Miguel are able to convince the council to allow the tournament to take place... provided that all participants sign waivers absolving the city of any responsibility. 

         Unfortunately, Cobra Kai gets itself a new student: Robby. Having developed animosity against both Johnny AND Daniel, as well as being unable to see past Sam rebuilding her friendship with Miguel, Robby finds himself joining Kreese and his pack of karate lunatics. So, Miguel and Sam come up with a solution: have Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang join forces against their common foe: Cobra Kai. However, another epic fight between Cobra Kai and the other two dojo teams breaks out, only this time in the LaRusso house. The fight, which partially takes place to an electric guitar rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," sees Sam finally overcoming her fear of Tory, and Hawk truly realizing the corrupting influence of Kreese, and turning on Cobra Kai and re-teaming with Demetri. 

        At the same time, Daniel and Amanda are at a party, as is Johnny, and both Johnny and Daniel reunite with their former mutual flame Ali, who is visiting for Christmas. After the party, Johnny goes to confess his feelings to Carmen, only to see the beating Miguel took at the hands of Cobra Kai. Heading to confront Kreese, Johnny is shocked to see Robby has joined Cobra Kai. A fight breaks out between Kreese and Johnny, and it's shown just how far Robby has fallen under Kreese's influence. Kreese almost gets the better of Johnny, only for Daniel to show up in retaliation for Cobra Kai attack the LaRusso house. After Daniel and Kreese come to blows, Johnny gets back up, and the three agree to allow the All-Valley tournament decide, and if Cobra Kai loses, Kreese will go away. 

       So, Johnny and Daniel join their dojos, and begin preparing their students for the All-Valley tournament. At the same time, Kreese calls in an old friend and brother-in-arms: Cobra Kai's co-founder Terry Silver. Now, something this season does that is fascinating is that it fleshes out the backstory of Kreese, showing his time before the Army, his service in the Vietnam War, his first meeting with Silver, and the moment he made the concept of "no mercy" his personal philosophy. 

       Season Four sees Kreese training his students at Cobra Kai for the All-Valley tournament, and also sees Daniel and Johnny do the same for Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do. Initially, there's a bit of friction when it comes to the training and clashing ideologies, but Daniel and Johnny eventually come together, and agree to split the training duties, with Johnny focusing on offense, and Daniel focusing on defense. Meanwhile, Robby begins to integrate himself into the Cobra Kai dojo, even teaching a warped version of Miyagi style karate. At the same time, Kreese attempts to bring Terry Silver back into the fold, but Silver seems content in his quieter life. However, after having the thought summer for a while, Silver eventually relents and rejoins Cobra Kai. 

       Unfortunately, while both the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students are capable of learning from both Daniel and Johnny, their ideologies continue to clash, and eventually they agree to split off and train as separate dojos again. At Cobra Kai, things heat up, as Robby attempts to mentor a new kid named Kenny, who is being cyberbullied at school by a group of kids that includes Anthony. Also, the endless back-and-forth between Cobra Kai, Miyagi-Do, and Eagle Fang heats up, especially when Hawk's signature mohawk is forcibly shaved off. After a pep talk from Demetri, Hawk starts going by his original name of Eli and joins Miyagi-Do. 

        After a prom night gone wrong, which sees Miguel and Sam team up to defend themselves against Tory and Robby, and also sees Silver beating up a man who calls himself Stingray (who was briefly part of Cobra Kai in Season Two), it's finally time for the tournament, which has evolved to include skill-based events, and even an all-girls category. Luckily, Johnny brought in a very capable fighter named Devon, and she easily holds her own. 

       While Eagle Fang isn't quite able to go all the way, we do see that both Eli and Sam make it to the finals for Miyagi-Do, and the two are set to face Robby and Tory from Cobra Kai. Eli manages to defeat Robby, although the two are pretty evenly matched. But, unfortunately, Tory seems to squeak out a win over Sam, this securing the Grand Championship for Cobra Kai, and ending both Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do. Later on, Tory learns that Silver bribed the judge to secure Cobra Kai's victory, and so her win wasn't legitimate. 

       In the aftermath of the tournament, Robby confronts Kenny about going from bullied to bully against Anthony, later reconciling with Johnny over his mistakes in joining Cobra Kai. Miguel travels to Mexico on a journey of self-discovery. Silver begins to make plans to franchise Cobra Kai beginning with relocating the dojo to its original Encino location, and has Kreese arrested for the assault against Stingray, which of course was done by Silver himself. And, finally, while contemplating what's been happening with a visit to Mr. Miyagi's grave, Daniel begins the next step, which is to take down Cobra Kai for good. And, to help him with that goal, Daniel calls in an old adversary turned ally from Okinawa: Chozen. 

       Season Five picks up with Daniel and Chozen starting to lay the groundwork for taking down Silver and shutting down Cobra Kai for good. This starts with Chozen posing as a new sensei for Cobra Kai, only to reveal that he's not interested in joining Silver and leaving. However, Daniel and Chozen fall under a presumption that Silver will attempt to bring in his former protege, the "bad boy of karate" Mike Barnes. However, Mike is now running a successful furniture store, has moved on from karate after being banned from competing in it, and has had no contact with Silver in decades. Mike does give a possible lead, however,in the form of Silver's attorney. This, unfortunately, backfires, and Silver continues to go after Daniel, and burns Mike's store to the ground. 

       Johnny, meanwhile, travels to Mexico along with Robby in order to bring Miguel home. Miguel, while in Mexico, meets his estranged father, Hector Salazar, and it doesn't exactly as expected. Upon returning home, however, Miguel accepts the fact that Carmen left Hector and moved to America to give Miguel a better life. Unfortunately, Miguel's issues with Robby are still unresolved, and Johnny does what he can to get both boys to put an end to their animosity, mostly for the sake of a single fact: Carmen is pregnant with Johnny's baby. 

        Daniel, all the while, is slowly losing his grip because of Silver, and Amanda ends up leaving and taking both Sam and Anthony with her. It's only after a conversation with Jessica Andrews, her cousin and an old friend of Daniel's, that Amanda realizes just how much pain Silver inflicted on Daniel, both physically and psychologically, back in the '80s. Now understanding the threat posed by Silver, Amanda is fully on board for Daniel to bring Silver down. But, he won't be alone, as both Chozen and Johnny are joining him to put an end to Silver's schemes. And just what are those schemes? Well, they are threefold: first, bring in some of the best karate senseis from overseas, including a sensei named Kim Dae-un; second, acquire every dojo, vacant or occupied, and convert them into Cobra Kai franchise locations; third, prepare Cobra Kai for the grandest stage in ALL of karate: a global karate tournament called the Sekai Taikai.

         Now, both Cobra Kai and the merged Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang dojos impress the committee for the Sekai Taikai, and both are allowed to compete. And, as the students of Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang celebrate, Tory shows up to inform Sam about how Silver bribed the All-Valley tournament referee. The kids also approach Stingray, who all but confirms that Silver assaulted him and forced him to testify that Kreese did it. To get proof, the kids break into the Cobra Kai dojo to get surveillance footage showing how dirty Silver really is. 

        At the same time, Johnny, Carmen, Daniel, Amanda, and Chozen go out to celebrate the exciting news of Johnny and Carmen's baby. Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen take off in the limo they rented, while Amanda and Carmen decide to take an Uber later on. However, the limo was hijacked by an inebriated Mike, who blames Daniel and Chozen for his store being burned down. However, when Daniel tells him that Silver was responsible, Mike, Johnny, and Chozen go straight to Silver's house, leaving Daniel stranded. Back at the LaRusso house, someone shows up, and it seems to be Cobra Kai. 

       And, it's here where we get two different mega-brawls. On one front, we see the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang kids fending off the Cobra Kai kids at the Cobra Kai dojo, while Mike, Chozen, and Johnny fight Silver and his crew of senseis at Silver's home. Daniel is picked up by Stingray, who also picked up Amanda and Carmen and catches them all up on everything Silver has done, and drives them to Cobra Kai. Luckily, the kids' plan to upload a video showcasing how dirty Silver is comes to fruition, but Silver manages to arrive close to the same time as Daniel and the others. Daniel and Silver have one last fight, and Daniel defeats Silver,.who is arrested thanks to the testimony of Stingray. Meanwhile, we see that Kreese staged getting attacked in prison and managed to escape, which is how the season ends. 

       And, this we come to the sixth and final season, which sees the merged Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang dojos having grown larger, with Tory being among the new members. Robby is allowed back in school. And, while things seem to be settling down, there's still a lot of work to do before the Sekai Taikai. Cobra Kai, luckily, is no more, thanks to Silver's imprisonment. But, there seems to be a disagreement between Johnny, Daniel, and Chozen regarding the name of the merged dojo, with both Daniel and Chozen preferring to stick to the Miyagi-Do name, while Johnny being unable to give up the name Eagle Fang. But, even though we still see Johnny and Chozen fight, Johnny decides to concede to the merged dojo being named Miyagi-Do. The reason? Well, as he puts it, "Eagle Fang" was just another take on Cobra Kai, and he wanted nothing more to do with the legacy of John Kreese. But, to honor the merging of dojos, Miyagi-Do gets a new logo: an eagle soaring above the bonsai tree. 

         So, the announcement of the Sekai Taikai arrives, and two things are learned: the competition will be held in Barcelona, and each dojo can only bring six competitors, including one boy and one girl to serve as co-captains. So, who's going to Barcelona? Well, unfortunately, Daniel and Johnny are both too biased to decide, although both seem to agree on Miguel, Robby, Sam, and Tory. But, to keep things fair, they decide to bring in another sensei who doesn't know any of the students on a personal level and can evaluate each one fairly. And, who do they get? The bad boy of karate himself: Mike Barnes. 

        Mike's tests put the students of Miyagi-Do to their absolute limit, which includes tests of speed, endurance, and combat. After three days, and three different sets of tests, the six competitors are chosen: Miguel, Robby, Sam, Tory, Demetri, and Devon. Unfortunately, Tory is approached by Kreese, who we see has been overseas secretly rebuilding Cobra Kai, and he reveals he wants Tory on his side, but she adamantly refuses. Now, it's down to deciding the two captains, and this means that Robby and Miguel will be facing off for one of the captain's spots, while Sam and Tory, who have buried their animosity and become the best of friends this season, facing off for the other. 

        Unfortunately, Tory returns home to find that her mother died, and on the day of the face-offs, she's a bit too out of sorts during her fight with Sam. When Amanda gets a call from the hospital, she and Daniel intervene in the fight, in spite of Johnny serving as referee, and Tory tells everyone about what's happened, and she withdraws her spot on the team going to Barcelona. On the other hand, Robby manages to win a close fight with Miguel to secure his captain's spot. Sam is named co-captain, and Hawk is given the now-vacant spot that was once Tory's. However, upon looking at the Sekai Taikai headbands for the two captains, Daniel recognizes the headband from Mr. Miyagi's secret box, revealing that Mr. Miyagi had previously fought in the Sekai Taikai. 

       So, Team Miyagi-Do arrives in Barcelona for the Sekai Taikai, and everyone is shocked to see Kreese and Dae-un are there along with a new batch of Cobra Kai students...and Tory is with them. While the kids prepare for the competition, Daniel goes in search for answers regarding Mr. Miyagi's time in the Sekai Taikai, only to be abducted and held prisoner. He does manage to escape, but while that's going on, Johnny and Miguel are forced to return to America, as Carmen has been taken to the hospital. Johnny asks Amanda to see if Kenny can fly to Barcelona to fill an empty spot left by Miguel, but Kenny is reluctant as he blames Anthony for an incident involving laxatives during training. However, Devon calls Kenny to reveal that SHE was responsible for the laxatives incident, not Anthony. Luckily, Carmen is okay, and she has Johnny and Miguel, joined by Kenny, head back to finish the Sekai Taikai and win it. 

         Initially, Daniel and Chozen believe that Kreese and Dae-un are behind Daniel's abduction, only to discover that the thug responsible, who turns out to be Dennis de Guzman (a former lackey of Mike Barnes), was working with Sensei Wolf, sensei of the Iron Dragons dojo, and Wolf's new benefactor: Terry Silver. Yep, Silver managed to avoid going to prison, and hid in Bangkok while his attorney worked to get the charges dropped. Silver also bought out Iron Dragons, put Wolf back in charge, and promised to return ownership to him when Iron Dragons won the Sekai Taikai. So, now it seems that both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai have a common foe: Silver and Iron Dragons. Unfortunately, Cobra Kai gets eliminated from competition, while both Iron Dragons and Miyagi-Do advance to the Tournament of Champions. But, Cobra Kai gets another chance when the Russian dojo, Tiger Strike, is disqualified when four of their fighters test positive for performance enhancing drugs. At the same time, Daniel learns that during his competition, Mr. Miyagi did, unfortunately, kill an opponent during the Sekai Taikai, which Gunther Braun of the Sekai Taikai board confirms. 

        So, it's down to the semifinals, which sees Sam and Robby fighting for Miyagi-Do, along with Tory and Kwon for Cobra Kai, Zara and Axel for Iron Dragons, and both captains for the Furia de Pantera dojo. The semis seem to go pretty well, until things start to escalate during the match between Robby and Axel. Gunther attempts to calm the situation, but is knocked out cold by the sensei of Tiger Strike, leading to yet another massive mega-brawl. And, unlike past ones which was either Cobra Kai vs. Miyagi-Do or Cobra Kai vs. both Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang, THIS mega-brawl sees some of the best martial artist and fighters in the world, including Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. (for any All-Elite Wrestling fans out there) going to blows in epic fashion, and sees Chozen team-up with Sensei Dae-un (who he hooked up with in an earlier episode), and also sees Daniel and Johnny going toe-to-toe against Sensei Wolf. In the midst of the chaos, Kreese takes up a knife he found called a eunjangdo, in an attempt to finish off Silver with it. Unfortunately, the blade is lost amidst the chaos, forcing Kreese to fight Silver in hand-to-hand combat. The massive brawl comes to an end when, in an attempt to go after Axel with the eunjangdo, Kwon's attack is countered by Axel, and Kwon is fatally impaled in the chest by the blade, and Gunther cuts the broadcast. 

      After all the chaos at the Sekai Taikai, a funeral is held for Kwon in Korea, Kreese returns to the Valley for some unfinished business, and Silver goes to Gunther to try and get the Sekai Taikai to resume. Gunther agrees to allow the tournament to resume as long as ALL participating senseis are on board. And, while Johnny is on board, it takes a combination of himself and Silver to convince Daniel to be on board as well. And, it's at this point that Silver reveals the truth: he's dying of terminal illness, and wants one last championship to his name before he dies. Robby gets some training in with help from Miguel, Demetri, and Hawk, while Sam trains with Tory. 

        Johnny has a conversation with Rosa, and after paying a visit to his old friend Bobby, who is now a minister, he decides to marry Carmen, and has an impromptu wedding in the hospital, with Daniel, Amanda, Robby, Miguel, Rosa, and Chozen all attending, and Bobby officiating the affair. Johnny and Carmen are now married, and their baby girl is born, and they decide to name her Laura. Now, when the competition picks back up, most of Cobra Kai is a no-show, aside from Tory. This leaves her alone, with both Iron Dragons and Miyagi-Do having both captains in the competition. Unfortunately, during his rematch with Axel, Robby has his back seriously hurt, making him unable to compete further. In addition, Sam withdraws from competing, ending Miyagi-Do's run. 

     After Johnny and Kreese hash out the years of emotional trauma Johnny had when Kreese abandoned him back in '84, a surprise twist occurs. To help Tory in the finals, Johnny has taken back his old position as sensei for Cobra Kai, with Miguel joining as Cobra Kai's second captain. In other words, the finals will see Miguel face Axel, while Tory faces Zara. And, I must say, to see both Miguel and Johnny, after the journey the series had taken them both on since the two reopened Cobra Kai back in season one, back in Cobra Kai gear to take down Iron Dragons was easily one of the most awesome moments of the season for me. 

      Now, to prepare both Miguel and Tory for the finals, Daniel buys out the Reseda dojo that Johnny reopened Cobra Kai in back in season one, giving Johnny back a place to train both Miguel and Tory in the way Johnny knows how: his own Cobra Kai style. And, it's during their training with Johnny that both Tory and Miguel reflect on what a journey both of them have been on, with Tory reflecting on her journey with Sam, Amanda, and Daniel, and both Johnny and Miguel reflecting on where their journey began to how far it's come. 

        So, it's on to the finals of the Sekai Taikai. While struggling in her first round, Tory makes a phenomenal second round comeback, and easily defeats Zara and becoming champion. In the next match, Miguel is able to go the distance, with all of his friends and family backing him, and defeats Axel, and becoming champion. But, this means that Iron Dragons and Cobra Kai are tied in overall scores,. leading to one final showdown: sensei vs. sensei. Which means that Johnny will be getting on the mat to face Sensei Wolf. After having a brief encounter with Silver, Johnny makes one request of Daniel: be his sensei for the upcoming match, which Daniel agrees to. On his yacht, Silver sends de Guzman to throw Johnny off his game...by targeting Johnny's family. Only one problem: de Guzman never makes it off the yacht. 

        It turns out that Kreese in on the yacht, and reveals that Johnny was never his weakness, but his great strength. Kreese and Silver have one last face-off, which ends with Kreese using his own cigar to ignite some spilled gasoline on the deck, blowing up the yacht and killing both himself and Silver. A fitting end for two '80s movie villains. 

        Meanwhile, Daniel and Chozen work together to prepare Johnny for his match against Sensei Wolf. And, of course, we get an '80s style training montage to the song "You're the Best" by Joe Esposito (which was featured in the original The Karate Kid movie). At the final match, Sensei Wolf almost completely dominates, but after a rousing speech from Daniel, Johnny comes back and wins, declaring Cobra Kai the championship dojo of the Sekai Taikai. 

       After the championship, Johnny buys a new home for himself, Carmen, and Laura. Robby and Tory begin an exciting career path that keeps them involved in karate. Demetri and Hawk head off to attend college at CalTech. Sam gets ready to fly out to Okinawa, with Miguel joining her. Chozen reunites with Sensei Dae-un, who has begun training new students. And, finally, Cobra Kai is reopened with a new batch of students being trained in offense by Johnny, who also has them learning defense with Daniel at Miyagi-Do. Truly a fitting ending for arguably one of the best shows in streaming television. 

         One thing I absolutely loved about Cobra Kai is the dynamics between its central characters, and the way that friendships become fierce rivalries, and the fiercest of rivalries forge the strongest of friendships, and how those dynamics evolve over the course of the series. Seeing characters like Eli/Hawk and Demetri going from being the best of friends to being the fiercest of rivals, and eventually back to being the best of friends, is so fascinating to behold, especially when Eli goes from being a bit of a dork, reinventing himself as an arrogant little punk named Hawk, to eventually being one of Miyagi-Do's most loyal fighters. The rivalry between Sam and Tory is also very fascinating, as it starts off incredibly fierce, and eventually evolves into the two growing a friendship that no one saw coming, and the same can be said about Anthony and Kenny. 

       But, the most fascinating dynamic to me is that of Miguel and Robby. What starts as Miguel loyally fighting for Cobra Kai and Robby loyally fighting for Miyagi-Do sees the script flipping to having Robby fighting for Cobra Kai and Miguel fighting for Eagle Fang. But, the two eventually work out their issues and forge a bond of brothers that makes them even stronger as characters. And, seeing how a relationship grows between Johnny, who is Robby's father, and Carmen, who is Miguel's mother, is also a fascinating element of the series. 

        However, Cobra Kai goes beyond just the dynamics between the new characters, and also builds on the dynamics of the returning characters from the Karate Kid movies, which encompasses Daniel's three biggest rivalries: Johnny, Chozen, and Mike. Seeing Daniel begin to hash out these rivalries, and eventually becoming friends with all three men, is something that is truly inspiring, as it teaches a valuable lesson that the rivalries of childhood can become the greatest friendships of adulthood. 

        It's also fascinating to see how far both Johnny and Daniel come as the series progresses. Johnny reopening Cobra Kai is his chance at finding himself after his biggest defeat, while Daniel reopening Miyagi-Do is his chance to pass on the knowledge he learned from Mr. Miyagi to a new generation. But, to see them going from disagreeing on the best methods of teaching karate to realizing that both teachings are just as important as each other. One needs a mix of offense and defense in their repertoire, and for Daniel and Johnny to embrace that is genuinely fantastic. 

        But the fact that Cobra Kai managed to bring back not one but TWO iconic Karate Kid villains was fantastic. Bringing back not only Martin Kove as John Kreese but also Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver was a stroke of genius on the part of the creatives, as it sets up two very unique threats that Daniel, and eventually Johnny, must contend with. Especially seeing as even at their age, both Martin Kove and Thomas Ian Griffith are still phenomenal martial artists. And, to see how Kreese brought Silver into his conflict with Daniel and Johnny, only for Silver to turn on him and setting the two up for their own insanely tense rivalry by the end of the series, was really fascinating. And, to see Kreese have a small redemption arc in the final season, which sees him making amends with both Tory and Johnny, and ends with him putting an end to the very evil he unleashed, was really something I never expected. 

        I really gotta give it up to the returning cast that reprised their roles from the original three Karate Kid movies, and I don't just mean Ralph Macchio as Daniel and William Zabka as Johnny, both of whom are the heart and soul of Cobra Kai. But, the face that we also got the returns of Yuji Okumoto as Chozen, Sean Kanan as Mike, and even the returns of guys like Ron Thomas as Bobby Brown and William Christopher Ford as Dennis de Guzman, was absolutely fantastic. And, I also liked that we got to see the returns of the likes of Elisabeth Shue as Ali, Tamlyn Tomita as Kumiko, and Robyn Lively as Jessica. 

         A fairly interesting recurring character throughout the series is that of Ray/Stingray, played by Paul Walter Hauser. Ray shows up in Season Two as a hardware store employee, who joins Cobra Kai for some reason, and then is manipulated by Terry Silver, and eventually redeems himself by helping stop Silver in Season Five. And, his big reward at the end? When Johnny formally reopens HIS version of Cobra Kai in the series finale, they also make plans for a second location where Stingray is set to teach a weekend class for beginners. Good on him. Starting as something of comedic relief and getting to become a Cobra Kai sensei. 

        But, it's honestly the new generation of teens learning karate from the likes of Johnny and Daniel that make this series so neat. Both Xolo Maridueña as Miguel and Tanner Buchanan as Robby showcase exceptional acting and martial arts skills, and the same also goes for the likes of Mary Mouser as Sam, Jacob Bertrand as Eli/Hawk, Peyton List as Tory, Gianni DeCenzo as Demetri, and Oona O'Brien as Devon. All of them showcase that they're both fantastic young actors and insanely phenomenal martial artists. Heck, if Hasbro and whichever creatives were working on the previously announced reboot of Power Rangers should seriously consider casting some of these young performers as the Rangers. I mean, come on. I could genuinely see Tanner Buchanan as Jason the Red Ranger. 

         On that subject, the martial arts in Cobra Kai is some of the best on screen. Now, I always say that story and acting both come SECOND in a martial arts film, but that wouldn't necessarily work for long-form streaming television. So, the creators of Cobra Kai managed to find the perfect balance between fantastic storytelling and fantastic martial arts. And, the fact that most, of not ALL of the actors playing the teens on this show were already skilled in martial arts probably helped sell their on-screen martial arts scenes, especially when it came to the seasonal mega-brawl. Most every fan of Cobra Kai agrees that the mega-brawl in the high school during Season Two is the best, but I also gotta admit that I enjoyed the one in the LaRusso house in Season Three. 

        There were a couple surprises here and there, and that's aside from some of the returning characters from the original Karate Kid movies. For instance, when we get the introduction of the Sekai Taikai, and we meet Gunther Braun, I was surprised to learn who took on that role. The actor who portrayed Gunther Braun was Danish actor Carsten Norgaard, who many '90s kids might remember as the Iceland coach Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson in D2: The Mighty Ducks. I mean, that's pretty cool right there. Also, Sensei Wolf of Iron Dragons was portrayed by Lewis Tan, who I recognized for his role as Cole Young in 2021's Mortal Kombat. Pretty cool seeing him get to put his martial arts skills on display in this series, and I look forward to seeing him return as Cole in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 2. And speaking of Mortal Kombat, Josh Lawson, who took on the role of Kano in the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie, also makes an appearance in Cobra Kai in the first episode of Season Five. 

         Overall, Cobra Kai is one of those shows that went from being this underground thing on YouTube Red to being arguably one of the most beloved shows on Netflix. I am absolutely glad I gave this series a chance after putting it off for so long, and I am now among those who would recommend this show in a heartbeat. Let's face it Cobra Kai has three things I love: great story and characters, awesome martial arts, and a genuinely kickass soundtrack. And, I think that watching this series got me even MORE hyped for the upcoming movie Karate Kid: Legends, and I think that EVERYONE who loves Cobra Kai needs to see that movie when it hits theaters. 

         Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys in the next review. And remember: Cobra Kai never dies. Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy.