Cobra Kai's bumpy season 5 led to a bombastic conclusion
Let's break down the good, the bad, and where the inevitable season 6 can go from here
How is Cobra Kai not terrible?
It’s a question everyone has been asking since the first episode debuted and everyone realized that against all odds, the show worked. The show really worked. It’s not just a question of operating smoothly, but actively stepping into traps that the franchise has fallen into earlier and coming out unscathed. It pushes itself further and further, layering the conflict, characters, and insanity to aptly invest the audience into karate wars by aiming higher than cheers and giggles, only to make the fans cheer and giggle louder in the end. While certain seasons are better than others, the series has yet to fully lose its way and push the increasingly ludicrous direction too far. The original Karate Kid trilogy struggled after the first in some of the many areas that this show uses as its bread and butter, managing to bring the characters back with an unseen perspective without getting mired down in fan service. It’s easy to enjoy Cobra Kai whether you grew up with Daniel LaRusso or just see him as the old guy on the poster, and it’s an impressive feat to bring a fairly forgotten property back from the dead with execution that catapulted it into the mainstream.
It’s hard to draw another comparison to a franchise that has legitimized its past mistakes in a manner that retroactively improves them, the only one coming to mind are the Creed movies’ effortless means of making the hokey events of Rocky 4 into an impressively poignant way to honor a past legacy. Just as those two transformed Russian stereotypes into regretful opponents with something to actually fight for, the misguided story of the maligned Karate Kid Part III (by the cast and director themselves) were made an integral part of the skeletons in Daniel’s closet that he must overcome. Showrunners Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg have taken their mythology seriously enough (but paired with a tone light enough to support the insanity that ensues) that they’ve reached teenagers and 50-year-olds living out the nostalgia of the originals, creating fans on both end of the spectrum with the same amount of love.
This resulted in so many viewers clamoring for Mike Barnes, a throwaway henchman from a lackluster sequel, to make a triumphant return. And why wouldn’t they? These are the writers that took a cartoon businessman in charge of a toxic waste company, and turned him into a manipulative threat that explained away his reasons for tormenting a high schooler purely out of vengeance. As Terry Silver rose to power over the last two seasons, he proved to be the greatest villain the show has ever seen, a sinister con man that never fell into the predictable trap that Kreese occasionally can. Though even that’s a tall order, as John Kreese transformed from just a cackling sensei barking orders at teenagers, and into a PTSD-laden soldier from Vietnam trying to direct that anger at kids who need to be toughened up, all while finding a son along the way. But it’s Johnny who has now cemented himself as the series’ greatest character, growing from a relic of the ‘80s with nothing to show for it into an excited father who has repaired his misdeeds.
Speaking of which, let’s discuss the latest venture into the pseudo-judo universe. I shared most of my thoughts a few weeks ago here, but so many conflicting thoughts deserve to be elaborated on. This batch of 10 episodes is just as easy to binge as ever, moving along at a steady clip with the right number of fights and jokes to never feel bored when your favorite characters are onscreen. Many arcs are also finally moved forward after treading water for seasons, such as Miguel and Robby’s rivalry calming over the realization that they will be step brothers and Sam and Tory teaming up to realize the true victor of the tournament. Johnny and Miguel are still the heart of the series, both in the father-son relationship with each other as well as Johnny’s clueless earnestness and Miguel’s sincerity to discover his family. Daniel’s hothead impulsiveness demonstrates his most growth thus far, luckily balanced out by the ferociously reliable Chozen. No matter how imperfect certain aspects of the season are, the quality never dips below entertaining.
Cobra Kai has the tendency of ending on such a high note that the previous faults can get overshadowed. This batch strayed too far away from the original premise of warring senseis training their students, and became more about an unfocused plot to infiltrate dojos. This leaves a lot of characters scattered in unrelated directions that messily scramble to tie back to each other. Likewise, many of these dynamics are redundant of what came before, leaving Sam and Miguel’s relationship troubles and the attempt to save innocent kids from Cobra Kai all tired threads that have come before. Nothing feels particularly fresh, and scenes can lag when you know you’ve seen this all before. To make this work, the writers have proven to become reliant on lazy excuses for fights to randomly break out, Daniel to fall for obvious ploys, and Silver to easily get away with illegal acts without any police interference, all which turn credibility into caricatures. The half-baked writing felt like a product of an aimless structure without the core of the earlier seasons.
Luckily, the payoff of all of the rivalries set up had the benefit of being able to culminate everything they’ve been building towards into one karate showdown. All of the cast members got in on the action to battle over the soul of the Valley, whether it was Tory’s long-awaited turn to team Miyagi-Do or all three of Daniel’s past enemies teaming up to stop the making his eventual defeat incredibly rewarding. Chozen sword fighting Silver using the same techniques, finishing in Chozen getting slashed up in a fancy swimming pool! Johnny getting his ass kicked by five master senseis, only to summon up the motivation to send blood and fingers flying! Daniel using Silver’s methods to defeat him in a pulse-pounding act of defeat against his ultimate nemesis! Anthony LaRusso getting to be useful for once! (but still being an insufferable twerp) The brawl for it all was a pretty much perfect way to give their chaotic ways of revenge, even making the official end of Cobra Kai slightly bittersweet (especially seeing Kenny realizing what he believed in was all a lie).
That powerful resolution may have come with a price, as it was so explosive that it’s hard to imagine how to possibly top it. The Sekai Taikai is a tournament more high-stakes than what we’ve seen before, a challenge to face off against the most elite dojos around the world. However, nearly every rivalry and arc has been wrapped up into a happy ending, and without much progress to be made, the writers will be forced to recycle the tensions that has come before. The recently announced film may have been their best chance at a victory lap without dragging their feet, but at the announcement that it’s an unrelated continuation, the narrative momentum may have slowed. Sure, I may have welcomed as many seasons as possible when the writers continuously proved me wrong at the number of stories that can come from this infectious energy. But, you can only push the fun so far before it becomes meaningless, empty calories boosted by the characters who were been better before.
There was a simplicity to the surprise of season 1, still the reigning champion due to the introductions of casts new and old who shuffle through dynamics at their most interesting. Season 2 is an underrated outing that doubles down on the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do rivalry that blurs the lines between heroes and villains more than ever, whipping them into the frenzy that leads to the best fight of the entire show. Season 3 takes the silver (pun intended) medal home by dealing with the former ramifications in a way that brings everyone to their best and Johnny to his funniest, even incorporating some nostalgic cameos. Season 4 was the most noticeable dip in quality, sacrificing a resolution to the conflict between Daniel and Johnny for a repetitive season-long arc and focusing on all of the wrong elements, saved by improved badassery like Terry Silver’s addition and a training montage paying homage to Rocky 4. Although season 5 improved upon the previous, it didn’t reach the successes of the first 3 but holding onto more merit than most so late in their run. What makes the longevity of Cobra Kai work is that underneath the flying kicks and biting quips is what gives them all meaning; a bruised, beaten, black-eyed heart.
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