As an ’80s kid living overseas and gaining a window into American culture mainly through its movie and TV offerings, “The Karate Kid” gave me a severely distorted view of the importance of karate in the lives of Southern California teens.
Sure, it’s an important life skill and undoubtedly good for your health. But in the “Karate Kid” universe, it’s not just an important thing; it’s the only thing. It’s the locus of life, love, rage, revenge and so, so much drama.
This is a world where a high school karate tournament isn’t just something you compete in; it’s something that defines your entire existence for the rest of your life. So God help you if you get crane kicked in the face during your senior year because you will never live that down.
That charming worldview was what made the original three films — starring Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso and Pat Morita as his mentor Mr. Miyagi — so beloved during their 1984-1986-1989 run (OK, maybe more like “tolerated” for that last one). It’s also something the TV sequel “Cobra Kai” has dutifully ran with since 2018.
With its sixth and final season arriving on Netflix this week, almost exactly 40 years after the Daniel-San saga first began, “Cobra Kai” serves as a testament to the timeless appeal of its characters and scenario, while demonstrating how to successfully mount a decades-later legacy sequel in a way that honors its origins while finding intriguing new storytelling avenues to explore.
It’s easy to forget now, but “Cobra Kai” streamed its first two seasons on the now-defunct YouTube Red service before finding its current home on Netflix, where it morphed from a largely unknown show into a certified hit. And with this week’s launch of Season 6, Part 1 (three five-episode batches will air over the next several months), the series gets to take a well-deserved victory lap as it ties together the many strands of chopsocky soap opera it has spun over its preceding 50 episodes.
Thanks to a strike-induced interregnum, it’s been nearly two years since the previous batch of episodes, so it’s understandable if you’re a bit hazy about the current state of play. As the new season starts, Daniel and his eternal frenemy, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), have reached a detente of sorts after teaming up to defeat their mutual foes, John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith).
Daniel is in a good place with wife Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) and kids Samantha (Mary Mouser) and Anthony (Griffin Santopietro). Johnny is expecting a child with girlfriend Carmen (Vanessa Rubio), while his son Robby (Tanner Buchanan) and stepson Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) have worked through their differences. Meanwhile, Samantha and her one-time rival Tory (Peyton List) have put their disagreements behind them to become friends. All is right in the high-stakes, high-drama world of SoCal karate.
That’s where things stand as the season starts, anyway. Still, given that there are 15 episodes remaining, it’s not an unreasonable expectation to think some more drama will enter the dojo before long. And, indeed, apart from the pressure and tension of Daniel and Johnny’s combined Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang school competing in an international tournament (what, you thought the All-Valley Tournament was a big deal? Please.), there’s the separate issue of perennial boo-hiss baddie John Kreese lurking around the edges and plotting his own particular strain of vengeance.
Man, where’s Mr. Miyagi when you need him? Oh yeah, about that: Daniel ends up making a discovery among his former teacher’s things that may reshape what he (and we) thought about the late, great Morita’s iconic alter ego.
“Cobra Kai” works so well because it doesn’t attempt to toss aside the cheesier aspects of the “Karate Kid” backstory. Instead, it embraces them full-on while allowing the passage of years to add new texture and context. It’s about what we leave behind as we get older and what we continue to carry with us. That’s how we get things like Daniel’s one-time opponents, Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) and Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), popping up to offer new, unexpected perspectives.
Just as importantly, the created-for-the-show characters are compelling and do not merely feel like time-fillers between scenes with the old-timers. Over the last six years, we’ve watched Maridueña and Buchanan grow into leading men and their respective journeys on this series have been some of its most engrossing elements.
With all that said, it’s Daniel and Johnny who the entire saga ultimately revolves around, and creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg have done such a great job building both of them out beyond the framework of those original three movies into complicated adults with complex inner lives.
We can’t state often enough how strong Macchio and Zabka continue to be, imbuing each of their characters with layers to make us care about their journeys here while enriching the films in retrospect. The fact that the alliance between the two men — arrived at after several seasons of cold and hot war — feels so fragile makes us wince and cringe at every tactical or verbal misstep. We just really want these two crazy kids to make it work.
With each episode clocking in at roughly half an hour, “Cobra Kai” has been compulsively binge-able from the beginning, and this final season seems like it’s taken advantage of the delay to tighten up its various narrative strands. Will it all come to a satisfying conclusion? Hard to say, as there are still 10 episodes to go (not to mention a feature film next year), but if this first batch is any indication, audiences will happily yell “Banzai!” when all is said and done.
Netflix’s “Cobra Kai” Season 6, Part 1 premieres July 18, followed by Part 2 on Nov. 28 and Part 3 in 2025. The first five seasons are available to stream.
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