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The first five episodes of Cobra Kai‘s sixth season felt like the show was more or less running in place, getting both Miyagi-do and the reconstituted Cobra Kai led by John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Kim Da-eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim). What little character movement there was had mostly to do with Tory (Peyton List), who was finally buying into the Miyagi-do way and even becoming friends with Sam until her mother died and pretty much sent her into a tailspin. Now that there have been defections ahead of the Sekai Taikai tournament, how will the story go forward?
COBRA KAI SEASON 6 PART 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: We see the logo for the Sekai Taikai as the head of the tournament welcomes the teams to Barcelona.
The Gist: This is right after the team from Miyagi-do sees Tory (Peyton List), wearing the gi of Cobra Kai and the captain’s bandana for the tournament. No one realized after Tory left the dojo after her mother died that she would go back to John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Cobra Kai. Even Tory’s boyfriend Robby (Tanner Buchanan) didn’t know, as he tells Sam (Mary Mouser) and Miguel (Xolo Maridueña).
There’s already enough tension around Miyagi-do as they get to their Barcelona hotel. Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka) are at odds, and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) is nowhere to be found. Even Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) and Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) are at odds. Now they have to deal with Tory’s defection and the presence of Kreese, who they thought was still a prison escapee.
Robby is understandably distracted by the Tory situation, and the rest of the team thinks it’ll take him off his game. Sam is upset when she finds out from Rory that she told Robby about Kreese when he first reached out to her. The only one who seems to have empathy for Tory is Devon (Oona O’Brien).
Robby’s distractedness is evident when he loses a kicking challenge to Kwon (Brandon H. Lee), which means that the entire team has to share a room. At a reception for the tournament sponsors, Johnny and Kreese get into it and Chozen finally shows up, three sheets to the wind after going back to Okinawa and seeing a towel-clad man at the house of his one true love.
The team phase of the tournament starts, and a new enemy dojo arises, one that might be more powerful than Miyagi-do or Cobra Kai.
Photo: CURTIS BONDS BAKER/NETFLIXWhat Shows Will It Remind You Of? Cobra Kai Seasons 1 – 6.
Our Take: We have a genuine concern that the second five episodes of Cobra Kai‘s final season — the final set of episodes will stream early in 2025 — will spend all of its time at Sekai Taikai, with most of the character interactions we like taking a back seat to kicking and other stunts.
The show’s creators, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, do address a question we had throughout Part 1: How is Kreese, who is supposed to be a fugitive, going back and forth between the US and South Korea so much, and how is he able to appear at the tournament, in a country that has an extradition treaty with the US? We figured that after Silver was arrested we’d hear something about Kreese being absolved of the charges against him, but here it was basically treated as an afterthought instead of an important plot point.
Daniel’s investigation into Mr. Miyagi’s past will make for an interesting sideline, but retconning Miyagi into a former bad guy doesn’t feel like a move that should be made this late into the show’s run. This is a story that feels thrown in now, but might have been more natural earlier in the show’s run.
What we did appreciate about the first Sekai Taiki episode is that it doesn’t necessarily set up Miyagi-do vs. Cobra Kai for the umpteenth time. But if this Spanish dojo becomes a real challenge to both teams, will the two mortal enemies join forces or still fight each other? That is yet to be seen, but at least we don’t get the same old tired battles and challenges we’ve been seeing for the last six years.
Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIXSex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Johnny looks and sees that Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan), who leads the Spanish dojo, is the guy who took the last piece of steak at the reception the night before.
Sleeper Star: We are going to root for Oona O’Brien’s character Devon, because she’s the only one in Miyagi-do who doesn’t have extensive history with everyone else. In fact, she was closest to Tory, and it’ll be interesting to see if her loyalties falter.
Most Pilot-y Line: During the introduction to Sekai Taiki, we see Tory wearing her captain’s headband upside down in some cutaways, right-side up in others.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While it feels that Cobra Kai is starting to run out of ways to put Miyagi-do and Cobra Kai in conflict, we’re eager to see what direction the show’s creators point it in as it approaches the homestretch.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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