Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 Review

Cobra Kai (2018-)
Season 6 Part 1 - 5 episodes (2024)

Watch Cobra Kai on Netflix
Created by: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Starring: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Xolo Maridueña, Mary Mouser, Tanner Buchanan, Jacob Bertrand, Peyton List, Martin Kove, Gianni DeCenzo
Rated: TV-14
Watch the trailer

Plot
Decades after their 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament bout, middle-aged Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence find themselves martial-arts rivals again.

Verdict
This show is a great concept that ran it's course seasons ago. The first season made Johnny the main character, observing the 1984 movie from his perspective while analyzing his numerous faults. The show soon became forced teenage drama with any excuse to fight. I don't know why so many adults in the show are concerned with teenagers and karate. The show attempts to cover the lack of plot and development with numerous cameos from movie characters, but it doesn't work. This has been a show that's done just enough to keep me interested, barely, but this season is the end of that. I'm tired of the forced drama and pointless fights. This part of the season makes no attempt to hide it. We don't get any fun cameos either. I'm not willing to wait around. What started as a fun gimmick, has finally come undone.
Skip it.

Review
The sixth season will be the final season of the series, though it will be split into three sections of five episodes. Splitting the season into three parts seems like a way to lengthen the season and prevent this from being forgotten as quickly, but it also stalls any momentum. We're introduced to a plot and get no payoff. All we get out of this group of episodes is that they'll be a big fight later. If you have any interest in this show, I'd wait until all the episodes are out.

I don't know why Crease (Martin Kove) is still in this. The importance the characters place on karate is worlds apart from the actual importance. Crease travels the world just to take down the Miyagi and Cobra Kai dojo. I have no idea why at this point other than to pad the plot. In an attempt to be interesting, this provides new information on Mr. Miyagi that's completely irrelevant. It's more forced drama. When we're not following the adults, we get a teen soap opera.

Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Yuji Okumoto play Daniel, Johnny, Chozen

This show started as a gimmick, bringing back the original actors from The Karate Kid. It was never a great show, but it was a fun nostalgia trip. It provided insight into Johnny (William Zabka) and his faults, but the commentary soon devolved into continual fighting between high school kids. There's always a new villain that for whatever reason is incredibly invested in high school karate. For five seasons, it was just entertaining enough to keep me watching.

Johnny and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) are still trying to blend their dojos while easing tensions between their students.The kids always find some rift that forces them to confront each other in a fight. It's a rivalry built on the thinnest of reasons. This season barely has a plot. To inject some excitement, this provides a revelation about Mr. Miyagi that upends Daniel. The revelation is self serving. 

Since this is only a third of a season, it's really just an introduction. You could condense the five episodes into one fifteen minute episode.