There are only so many ways to tell the same story and only so many guest stars to bring back from the original movies. That’s always been a challenge for “Cobra Kai,” the “Karate Kid” TV spinoff on Netflix that has now reached its sixth and supersized final season. It’s time to hang things up.
I’ve always liked the show for its amusingly calibrated oil-and-vinegar dynamic between Daniel LaRusso, the one-time underdog (Ralph Macchio), and Johnny Lawrence, his obnoxious high school bully (William Zabka), who are now just a couple of middle-aged frenemies running a dojo together and trying to keep the Valley from imploding from one nefarious karate influence or another. This time out, they’re entering the kids in the Sekai Taikai (“the most prestigious karate tournament in modern martial arts history!”), while unbeknownst to them, their old nemesis John Kreese is lurking in the background, ready to wreak havoc once again.
Maybe this would be more compelling if the kids actually stood out as characters. But I always forget who is who between seasons or what they even mean to each other (it’s been two years since we’ve had new episodes). If nothing else, the kid with the blue mohawk (played by Jacob Bertrand) has shown real commitment to the bit.
Unlike past seasons, this one is being released in three parts of five episodes each. Expect the second batch in November and the final five sometime in 2025. If only the storytelling didn’t feel like we’ve already been here before. I can not express how little I care about Kreese (Martin Kove) or the attempts to humanize him via flashbacks. Daniel learns new (scandalous) information about Mr. Miyagi’s background that throws him for a loop. So far, the story doesn’t really go anywhere. And for reasons left unexplained, Daniel’s entertainingly cherry houseguest Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) is still bunking at his place. There’s no real narrative purpose for it, but it does lead to a storyline that sees Chozen and Johnny go house hunting and this is the kind of silliness I can get behind. Chozen has watched enough reality shows about real estate agents that he knows how this works. Eyeing one agent, he notes: “Big watch, dumb haircut — all lies.”
With college in mind, some of the kids visit a university campus and end up at a party with an old karate pal who is pledging a fraternity. An older frat bro humiliates him but instead of just taking it, the pledge pours a drink on the guy’s head. Mr. Sopping Wet throws a punch, which the pledge expertly blocks and his reply is perfect: “Don’t you know I know karate?” It’s a fun inversion of a trope. Not quite revenge of the nerds, but somewhere in that vicinity.
The show is also self-aware enough to zing a certain over-the-topness inherent in the genre. Only six of the kids will compete in the (entirely fictitious) Sekai Taikai, so to prevent any favoritism in the selection process, Daniel invites a guest sensei — one-time villain Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) from “Karate Kid III” — to assess their skills.
“This thing is intense!” he warns, eyeballs and veins popping. “People have died — who’s ready for that?” Wait, one of the kids pipes up, ready for the tournament or to die?
My continual gripe is that I wish co-creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg would let scenes play out more, instead of flipping between different story threads like a bored viewer flipping between TV channels. I think audiences aren’t quite that restless, and anyway there’s a cure for that: Better writing. As always, Johnny is the most compelling person on screen at any given moment because he’s always at war with his inner nature. From the beginning, it was such a smart idea to envision him as the popular high school jerk brought low over the decades by his own failings and inadequacies and it’s made him weirdly likable in his “Cobra Kai” incarnation. He’s a ding-dong whose first instinct is to lash out and he has hilariously questionable judgment; one training exercise he contrives to test the kids’ reflexes involves feeding empty beer bottles into a baseball pitching machine. In another universe, Johnny would be coaching the Bad News Bears.
Even so, there’s only so much heavy lifting Zabka can do. As wonderfully comedic, even endearing, as his performance may be — of a guy whose hair-band-loving, ‘80s-era machismo is forever adjusting to the 21st century — the show has reached its inevitable conclusion, however that unfolds.
‘COBRA KAI’ SEASON 6, PART 1 (OF 3)
2.5 stars (out of 4)
Rating: TV-14
How to watch: Netflix
