Back and Better Than Ever

Cobra Kai by no means dies!

That’s the rallying cry of the long-running Netflix collection. However because the Karate Child continuation enters its sixth and closing season, I, who has supported the collection since its YouTube Pink days,  started to marvel if perhaps it ought to. 

Because the collection has gone on, the storylines have develop into far too acquainted and repetitive. What number of occasions can Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) face-off? What number of occasions can Kreese (Martin Kove) return, smoking his trademark cigar with a menacing grimace? What number of occasions can the younger characters grapple with whether or not they’re Eagle Fang or Miyagi-Do or some variation thereof? What number of prolonged combat sequences are too many?

However then, just like the underdog story the collection is rooted in, Cobra Kai rises from the ashes to come back out on high. By the tip of the 5 episodes that premiere as a part of this primary tranche of the sixth season, the collection delivers one heck of a cliffhanger. 

The season premiere is entitled “Peactime within the Valley.” “That’s the candy, candy sound of no extra karate wars,” Daniel tells his spouse Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) on the high of the episode. Final season’s villain Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) has been carted off to jail, whereas Kreese (Martin Kove) has escaped from jail and is on the run. After all, no extra karate wars would imply no extra present; peacetime within the valley can not final lengthy. 

The crux of this season finds the children getting ready for the Sekai Taikai, the world championship karate competitors that “for over a century” has been occurring each two years. “That is the Olympics plus the gladiator video games plus the Kumite from Bloodsport, all rolled into one,” Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) says. Cobra Kai treats the Sekai Taikai with such gravity that, for a minute, I questioned if it’s an actual competitors. Spoiler alert: it’s not. But it surely’s a fantastic machine to take the karate competitors world and transfer the present previous the All-Valley Karate Match. 

The collection’ constant secret weapon has all the time been its humorousness, and Season 6 has loads. Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) walks across the Larusso home in a gown and consuming all of the cannolis, whereas Amanda says “Man flies in for the weekend to kill Terry Silver and stays for an additional three months. That’s regular proper?” Paul Walter Hauser, whose fame has risen for the reason that present first premiered with roles in Inside Out 2 and Black Hen, hilariously reprises his function as karate wannabe Raymond. The world based on Johnny provides the present its largest oomph. His variations of what makes a teen women’ slumber social gathering, the way to navigate his new profession, or how straightforward the upcoming delivery of his child will probably be (“I’m a professional with girls and boys are straightforward,” he tells Daniel) are highlights. The present demonstrates a continuing, cheeky self-awareness and willingness to be in on the joke.

Cobra Kai additionally stays delightfully steeped in its ‘80s tradition roots, from the superior hair band soundtrack, to the memorable quote shout outs (at one level Daniel declares that he’s “Too outdated for this shit,” a la Danny Glover in Deadly Weapon), to mainly all issues Johnny. He nonetheless views the Soviet Union (which not exists) as their primary worldwide enemy and trains his college students by having them watch martial arts films like Better of the Finest. His politically incorrectness stays intact. “Chicks dig me,” he tells Daniel. “Don’t be a pussy,” continues to be one in every of his favourite retorts. Johnny ought to be canceled in 2024, however Zabka makes him so charmingly unaware of his faults.  Zabka efficiently flipped the narrative on his teen villain to create a personality who’s hilarious however by no means a caricature. 

One factor the collection can’t defeat is the passage of time. It’s been virtually two years for the reason that collection aired its fifth season. But it surely’s solely been a number of months within the Cobra Kai timeline, and perhaps a yr has handed for the reason that present first premiered. That’s a little bit of an issue, since plenty of the younger actors look a lot older than when the present first started. This closing season finds them of their senior yr of highschool making use of to schools and worrying about grades and extracurricular actions. They need to be nervous about their transcripts as a result of it doesn’t look like they’ve been going to highschool all that a lot—and I’m not so certain how a lot Standford cares about karate.  

Sadly, the present stays dedicated to telling extra of Kreese’s backstory, which it started delving into within the present’s third season. Of all of the arcs, Kreese’s appears probably the most redundant. The present has already entered into proof why Kreese is such a nasty man. And because the collection spins its wheels on its villain, this season additionally see Daniel delve extra into Mr. Miyagi’s (the late Pat Morita) previous. Whereas it’s pretty how the present continues to honor Morita, this newest plot twist does appear a bit like Cobra Kai greedy for storylines. 

The actors enjoying the present’s teen characters are all sturdy however Peyton Checklist’s Tory turns into the present’s MVP on this first arc of episodes. Like Zabka, Checklist has spun the bad-girl trope on its head and risen above the cliches. Her storyline has extra dramatic thrust this season, and Checklist is greater than up for the problem. To their credit score, showrunners and writers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg typically upend our expectations and don’t take their characters down a predictable path. 

Will the collection sweep the leg on our expectations on how Cobra Kai will finish? We gained’t get that reply for an extended whereas, as Netflix is stretching out Cobra Kai’s goodbye and displaying no mercy to followers who’re anxious to see how the present wraps up. The subsequent batch of episodes premieres November twenty eighth of this yr, with the ultimate episodes not launching till a presently unscheduled date in 2025. 

Cobra Kai isn’t able to die simply but. 

Cobra Kai Season 6’s first batch of episodes premieres Thursday, July 18th on Netflix. 

Amy Amatangelo, the TV Gal®, is a Boston-based freelance author and a member of the Tv Critics Affiliation. She wasn’t allowed to look at a lot TV as a toddler and now her dad and mom should stay with this as her profession. You may comply with her on Twitter (@AmyTVGal).

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