Netflix premiered whole new episodes of “Cobra Kai” (season 6), part 1. With that, I would like to bring it to your notice that the popular martial arts action comedy television series “Cobra Kai” acts as a direct sequel to the classic 80s action series “The Karate Kid,” starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi. The show, created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossenberg, is a direct sequel to (at least) the first three films in the original tetralogy, picking up the story threads thirty years later of both LaRusso and his rival from the first film, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). It would begin as a re-examination of the Karate Kid narrative from Lawrence’s perspective, a decision to reopen the rival Cobra Kai dojo, and a rekindling of his old rivalry with LaRusso.
The subsequent seasons follow both the duo, their extended family, and the students of their respective dojos as they battle each other and foes from the outside in, which includes returning characters from the franchise, including John Kreese (Martin Kove), Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto), Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffiths), and Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan). “Cobra Kai” (season 6) is billed as the final season of the sequel series and will be released in three chunks. The first chunk of five episodes will be covered here as “Cobra Kai” (season 6) part 1 in this recap, with the next chunk released on November 15, 2024, and the final five episodes released sometime in early 2025.
Cobra Kai (Season 6) Part 1 – Episode 1 “Peacetime in the Valley” Recap:
The previous season’s final battle with Silver’s iteration of Cobra Kai leads to the dojo being permanently disbanded, Terry Silver having been arrested, and also Kreese having escaped prison. But that’s not the matter at hand. As the episode suggests, there is peacetime. And peacetime means consolidation. For Miyagi-Do, it means fulfilling the promise of both Johnny and Daniel’s dojo teaming up and training their students together for the Sekai Taikai, the international karate tournament in which renowned dojos around the world would participate.
But considering Johnny’s unorthodox training style is a hard fit for the Miyagi-do style that is both followed by Daniel and Chozen, this leads to an unsurprising battle of words between Chozen and Johnny, especially in deciding the name of their combined dojos. The two finally challenge each other to a sparring match, with neither of them backing out or being convinced by Daniel to back out. Chozen, in particular, is very focused and wants to fight because his pride is wounded after being wounded by Silver and being seemingly rejected by Kumiko the previous season.
Meanwhile, while Miguel and Robby have buried the hatchet (as both their parents have decided to start a family with each other), the same could not be said for Sam and Tory, their respective girlfriends. With a history almost similarly thorny, if not more, it seems almost impossible to melt their frosty relationship. Miguel and Robby want to try double-dating. But during a trip to the mall, they encounter Kenny, whom Robby feels responsible for having introduced to Cobra Kai and pushing him down a darker path.
He tries to mend his fences but is stopped by Robby’s old friend and Kenny’s brother Shawn, who urge Robby to let it go. Robby, though, is determined, and at the batting cages, he tries again, but when attacked, Miguel rushes to defend him against Shawn while the girls fight against Kenny. Realizing Kenny’s anger and frustration are driving him, Shawn stops the fight. Later on, Shawn convinces Kenny to let go of his anger and give Robby a chance to join his dojo.
Meanwhile, Johnny would be contacted by an unknown number to meet at Coyote Creek, an old training ground of Kreese’s. Fearing the worst, he drives out alone, only to find an old pupil, Stingray, having restarted a branch of Cobra Kai. Stingray tries to convince him to take back the Cobra Kai name since it is his legacy. That gives Johnny the exact opposite perspective, and the next day he concedes, much to the relief of Daniel, and chooses to follow the teachings of Miyagi-Do to strengthen his legacy.
But that doesn’t mean that Chozen and he won’t have their fight, which they do, as a friendly spar. We also see Kenny joining Miyagi-Do, while elsewhere (presumably in Korea), Kreese enters his and Silver’s old pupil Kim Da-Eun’s dojo, announcing that Cobra Kai is back. But according to Da-Eun, that’s not up to her, revealing that her grandfather and Kreese’s old master are still alive.
Cobra Kai (Season 6) Part 1 – Episode 2 “The Prize” Recap:
From a flashback sequence, we learn that Kim’s grandfather, Kim San-Yeung (mentioned once by Terry Silver in Karate Kid III), was an aggressive and extremely strict teacher who wouldn’t even accept his granddaughter into his dojo until she revealed to him that she possessed the countenance to survive in that dojo. When a younger Kreese tries to argue for her, he is hit back and berated until Da-Eun attacks her grandfather from behind to stop the onslaught on Kreese. That attack impresses her grandfather, allowing her to be admitted to the dojo.
Not so much now, as Kim’s grandfather wouldn’t accept Kreese’s proposal to bring forth the teachings of Cobra Kai into the wider world, as her granddaughter’s partnership with Silver last season had ended in failure. He agrees to Kreese’s proposal only if Kreese will enter the deep forest within the hills that the dojo is secluded from. There, he would have to locate the cave and recover the ancient familial knife that San-Yeung had lost while fighting off colonial invaders. Kreese accepts the challenge and ventures deep into the forest, finding the cave.
But on that journey, he would be bitten by a cobra, causing him to see hallucinations of the young version of Silver and Johnny Lawrence taunting him about his failure. He would be able to battle over these hallucinations with his strength of will and determination, breaking Jounny’s neck and purging himself of his weakness. When he finally recovers the knife, he even manages to cut off the head of the snake, finally understanding his old master’s axiom: “Keep your eye on the prize,” but rather, “Obtain the prize by any means necessary.” That allows him to start his training with the other students.
Meanwhile, in the valley, Johnny gets into a spot of trouble at the Diazes as a busted sewage pipe leads the family to contemplate a lack of funds, especially considering Miguel had just sent his letter to Stanford, hoping to be accepted. Johnny has to find a “rocking” and “badass” house, and he finds a surprising teammate in Chozen, who has familiarized himself with the housing market after having binge-watched Selling Sunset. However, they have an altercation with an agent who rejects Johnny because he imagines Johnny to be one of the more unstable clients.
However, Johnny slowly starts to embrace the teachings of Miyagi-Do and doesn’t strike the guy back. His good karma pays off, as one of his old juniors recognizes him, and his fandom for the “great Johnny Lawrence” positions him to offer Johnny one of the houses he has for rent, but on the condition that Johnny has a stable source of income. It’s advice he further gets from Daniel to stop with the gig work and get a 9 to 5. He takes that advice literally and comes the next day to LaRusso Auto to work as a salesman. Much to Daniel’s skepticism, he turns out to be a natural, having sold a car on his first day. That convinces Daniel to hire him for the job.
Meanwhile, Miguel, Demetri, and Hawk are touring College of the Valley when they come across old schoolmates Kyler and Brucks, who had been their seniors. Kyler had been Miguel’s bully, but now watching Kyler’s fortunes change at having had to play a literal broom for the seniors to have a chance at entering a fraternity pisses him off. The anger is legitimate, as he had overheard the seniors discussing how Kyler wouldn’t be allowed into the fraternity even as they continued to exploit him.
Miguel forces the senior to reveal that to Kyler, which leads to a battle of fists between the seniors and the crew, with the crew winning. Later, Kyler, while having snacks at the cafeteria, advises Miguel not to take the safety school because of extenuating circumstances. Kelly had dreams, but he had to unwillingly take the safety school option because of his low grades. If he has an option, Miguel should go for it, which Miguel takes to heart. Meanwhile, Kyler would be approached by another fraternity, offering him a place upon listening to his “badass deeds” that evening.
Cobra Kai (Season 6) Part 1 – Episode 3 “Sleeper” Recap:
In Korea, while watching Kim Da-Eun’s students train, he garners interest in the delinquent student, Kwon, rather than the topper of the class, Yoo Jon-Din. He chooses to push the students on drills due to Kwon’s belligerence, which angers Jon-Din, who taunts and pushes Kwon to the ground. Realizing that Kwon’s anger makes him malleable, that night, Kreese advises Kwon to channel that anger for a purpose. Taking that advice, Kwon attacks Jon-Din and defeats him and his cronies handily, as Jon-Din’s expertise in the art also makes him severely limited to improvisation, while Kwon’s natural talent, along with his burning rage, gives him the upper hand.
Daniel and Chozen discover a chest in Miyagi’s old cottage, containing not just boxing gloves but a birth certificate showing a different birth date, as well as a newspaper clipping that suspects Miyagi of having assaulted and killed someone in 1947. The crew of Chozen and Daniel is joined by Amanda to get answers at the home address given in the birth certificate that leads to a boxing gym.
After a misunderstanding leading to a chase of the grandsons of the late gym owner by Daniel and Chozen, the man confirms the story of Miyagi apparently having fled America after stealing a necklace while also reminding them that his grandpa trusted Miyagi with his life, advising Daniel to remember that everyone has darkness in their life, an advice that is reinforced by Amanda when she reminds him that even they keep secrets as a couple from their children.
This makes Chozen decide to search for flight tickets to Okinawa to perhaps start a new life over, or at least attempt to. The writers have taken an interesting step to de-mystify all these characters by providing more dimensions to them, a step that has led to the inception of this series by developing a three-dimensional version of Johnny Lawrence.
Johnny, meanwhile, realizes that while Tory and Sam are friendlier, that has hampered their passion for fighting. Seemingly planning to get their groove back, and also upon learning that he would become the father to a baby girl, Johnny brands himself as a girl dad and invites Tory and Sam to a slumber party at Devon’s place, where he utilizes old tricks that he had learned from his ex-girlfriend Ali to incite drama. One of the worst was stealing Miguel and Robby’s phones to incite drama between the women.
Upon realizing the very apparent ploys by Johnny, the girls plan to leave, but while waiting outside, their conversation reveals their pent-up frustration regarding their past, owning up to their transgressions in season 2 and hugging it out, validating Johnny’s erroneous assumption that “girls are easy.” The episode ends with the announcement of the venue of Saikai Tekai (Barcelona) before revealing that only six students from each dojo would be selected to participate and that two captains would serve as the face of that team, leading to the possibility of internal conflicts.
Cobra Kai (Season 6) Part 1 – Episode 4 “Underdogs” Recap:
This episode centers on the students most likely to be selected as the finalists to attend the competition. The show isn’t complex enough to bring in major curveballs. Primary supporting characters like Miguel, Sam, Robby, and Tory would be in the competition. But the focus would be on the latter two spots, and thus truly on the “underdogs.” And as if taking into account the viewers’ niggling doubts, Larusso and Lawrence’s impartial plan ensures bringing in a new sensei, Mike Barnes.
Barnes is reminiscent of his older aggressiveness in the movie, but he is also capable of exhibiting the nuance that the Cobra Kai writers had managed to inculcate in almost all these villains. But here, Barnes somehow relishes being a dick while judging all these students on speed, endurance, strength, and teamwork. That first test narrows the candidates to 12.
The next day, these twelve engage in a battle royale, where they will have to snatch as many flags as possible that are stuck on the gis of the students. Devon’s search for validation is palpable, even more so because she knows her talent but also believes Barnes is intentionally not paying attention to her. Johnny’s attempts to draw Barnes’ attention to one of his prize pupils don’t help matters, but they further incense Barnes, who still allows for one or two throwaway dirty moves (like Kenny hitting Anthony hard enough to draw blood). As expected, the four viewers expect to qualify, but the last three spots remain open, and Barnes decides he will inform them the next day.
Johnny goes to Barnes’ workshop to argue on behalf of Devon, but Barnes reveals that Devon’s name is at the bottom of the list. Their contrasting but equal personalities lead to a fight that ends with Johnny’s win before Johnny reveals that his aggression has led to his backsliding, which Barnes is self-aware enough to understand is happening with him as well. As the two come to an understanding, Johnny requests that Barnes give Devon a fair shake, which Barnes acquires by essentially designing an obstacle course through the forest for Devon, Kenny, Hawk, and Demetri to recover two flags. The one who captures the flag battles with an opponent and wins, if necessary, will be selected.
Kenny would be disqualified because his water would be spiked with Mitch’s laxative, leading to Kenny rushing out of the race and straight to a porta-potty and obtaining an easy win. Meanwhile, Dimitri and Hawk’s friendly rivalry is given a spark of anger, initially because Dimitri is encouraged by his girlfriend to dream higher and shed the “loser behavior.” More importantly, Hawk would reveal to Dimitri that he hadn’t applied for MIT, a dream that they had apparently shared since they were kids, and this struck Dimitri as a betrayal.
The anger boils over, and when Hawk, in obtaining the flag, defeats Dimitri, he offers his hand, but Dimitri kicks him in the chest and takes the flag for himself, winning the challenge and securing a spot on the team. However, none of this would be acceptable to Johnny, who still believes that they haven’t secured the best team for the competition due to Johnny’s manipulation of the competition. Thankfully, he doesn’t know Devon had been responsible for spiking Kenny’s drink and disqualifying him, but it would be prudent for him, as well as Johnny, to keep a lookout if they could afford to.
Cobra Kai (Season 6) Part 1 – Episode 5 “The Best of the Best” Recap:
An episode that, while predictable, does take a somewhat emotionally poignant route to get there. Tory Nichols had been taking jobs to make ends meet, and both her and Robby’s dreams and futures would rest on being the captains of the Takai Saikai, such that even if they won, the captaincy would ensure the exposure would earn them jobs and a future. But Nichols’ dreams are fed a wrench when she finds her mother unconscious in their house and, once rushed to the hospital, learns that she had suffered a pulmonary embolism and passed away. Before the traumatic event, she would be confronted by Kreese in the parking lot, who urges her not to trust the LaRussos on account of their showing favoritism to their children, but she pays Kreese’s advice no heed.
The plan would be for Sam and Tory, as well as Miguel and Robbie, to battle for their post as team captains. For Miguel, it becomes important because his deferral from Stanford University gives him only a 15% chance of acceptance, and he can’t afford to lose this opportunity. He thus wants the validation of being a captain of a winning team to reflect his credentials. This also brings forth a new mild wedge between him and Robbie that they would both carry to the arena.
Meanwhile, Johnny’s idea to take over training at the dojo for a day results in one of the more idiosyncratic and unconventional training methods: showing them movies and crafting training courses with beer bottles as an important accessory. It doesn’t sit right with Daniel, as the news about Miyagi has further shaken his resolve about leaving Miyagi-Do once this tournament is over. He is undecided as to who would continue his legacy, and Johnny’s unorthodox methods don’t sit right because of his belief that Miyagi wouldn’t agree, except he might not know Miyagi as well as he had thought.
He even managed to saddle Johnny on the test drive shift while he trained Miguel and Sam, helping Sam achieve a major breakthrough regarding her personal goal of getting into the competition and achieving a captaincy closure against Tory during her defeat in the All-Valley tournament last season. However, Johnny finds out about Daniel’s training and realizes that his shutting Johnny out leads to Johnny organizing a mini-insurrection at Larusso Automobiles. It fails hilariously, but it also leads to Amanda revealing about Miyagi’s chest and Daniel going through a lot emotionally as a result of the revelations and requesting Johnny to cut some slack.
Johnny agrees, and the two decide to referee separately the next day. Daniel would referee the duel between Miguel and Robbie, while Johnny would referee the Sam and Tory battle. Tory is conspicuously absent, having not picked up Robbie’s phone or replied to his messages. However, she appears just as the fight between Miguel and Robbie has begun, with Robbie trailing behind. Seeing her fills Robbie with confidence, and he matches Miguel toe-to-toe, moving to move until he manages to win a very equal, well-fought battle, which Miguel would lose perhaps because he had been too lost in his own self-doubt. But they agree to harbor no hard feelings.
Cobra Kai (Season 6) Part 1 – Episode 5 “The Best of the Best” Ending Explained:
Who are the captains of the Miyagi-do team?
However, Tori’s return comes with a lot of emotional baggage. The battle between Sam and Tory isn’t independent of Tori’s own personal baggage, and while it ostensibly sounds like a bad idea, Johnny welcomes the aggression, as he identifies Tori as someone working through her grief by fighting. However, Daniel stops the fight upon learning from Amanda, who had picked up the phone from Reseda Hospital, about the death of Tori’s mother. Tori angrily retorts against the decision, howling that she needs this if only because her mother would have wanted this for her, before accusing the LaRussos of favoring their daughter and leaving the dojo.
This also leads to a confrontation behind closed doors between Daniel and Johnny about not just their wildly different fighting styles but also their different attitudes about fighting, with Daniel remarking that Johnny’s way of letting the kids work their anger through fighting isn’t the Miyagi-do way. Johnny, sick and tired of the Miyagi name, remarks that Miyagi hadn’t been a high and mighty angel either, revealing that he knows about the secret chest and calling Miyagi a thief and a liar, which leads to Daniel punching Johnny in the mouth. Before Daniel can apologize, Johnny stops him and proclaims that he will continue coaching these kids until the tournament, but once that is over, the two of them are done.
The captains announced are Robbie and Sam, and the vacated spot by Tori is given to Hawk, who accompanies the team to Barcelona to finally attend the Tekai Saikai. However, the Miyagi-Do are in for a rude shock as they find a re-organized Cobra Kai, led by Kreese and Kim Da-Eun, with three unfamiliar fighters and, to the shock of Miyagi-Do, a familiar face in the form of Tory.
“Cobra Kai” (season 6) part 1 ends with the promise of a juicy tournament, mostly ensuring an overall victory lap for a show that is generally identified as the benchmark of what legacy sequels could possibly represent. However, there are some threads being introduced here that would still be fascinating to explore. Also, I am genuinely curious if “The Next Karate Kid” (starring Hilary Swank and Pat Morita) would be retrofitted into the canon. Maybe the Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan-led 2010 reboot of “The Karate Kid” could be used as a form of synergy for the new movie out next year, starring both Macchio and Jackie Chan as their respective characters from the movies. Who knows! The skies are the limit!
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