With the release of part two of Cobra Kai season six, only five episodes remain in the show. It’s an incredibly sad feeling if you’ve been watching the show since the beginning. Thankfully, these five penultimate episodes—now on Netflix—are a ton of fun. They’re Cobra Kai doing what Cobra Kai does best, telling a fun, character-driven story filled with action and adoration for The Karate Kid franchise. Here’s our review of things we liked (and didn’t like) in part two. Full spoilers below.
Rayna Vallandingham as Zara in Cobra Kai – NetflixWe loved: The Sekai Taikai
That’s a pretty broad generalization since the entire season is at the Sekai Taikai but, specifically, we’re talking about the event itself. All of the events are so cool, almost as if Squid Game met the Royal Rumble. The action is very well-choreographed too. Together, it does a fantastic job of simultaneously advancing story and character while giving us exciting action delivered in unexpected ways.
We loved: The new characters
Axel and Zara forever, right? The new badasses, as well as the emergence of Kwan as a legitimate problem, really helped expand the scope of the season beyond the traditional rivalries. Lewis Tan as their evil sensai was sensational too.
We didn’t love: Kwan’s death
Ending the season by killing a main character is a bold choice, but why did it have to be Kwan? We love Kwan. He was so dynamic. So diabolical. And, of course, that’s why you kill him because he made us care. Damnit, though. Now we’ll never get a Kwan movie sequel.
We loved: The gang’s all here
Isolating these episodes into a single location with almost every main character really forced the show to spend more time with everyone. We love seeing all the boys in one room. We love seeing Devon roll her eyes as they complain. And, as things move on, the bonding that happens and the elevation of all their karate works in tandem with all of it.
We loved: The Terry Silver reveal
We here at io9 are unabashed Terry Silver stans. So when he showed back up – in a hot tub no less – I literally cheered. Sure, it’s a bit repetitious and a little bit of a cheat but, we don’t care. So is Terry Silver himself! We hope he has a bit more of a role to play in the final episodes too.
We didn’t love: Robbie and Tori
The idea of Tori and Robbie being captains on opposite teams was ripe but the way it played out was symbolic of, maybe, the biggest problem with these episodes. The two are soooooo melodramatic. How many times did Robbie or Tori screw up as a result of a slow-motion glance over at the other one? It got to be a little much.
The Miyagi-Do team at the Seikai Taiki.We loved: Miguel
To be fair, we always love Miguel but these episodes really are some of his best showcases in a while. Xolo Maridueña is arguably the MVP with his fierce physical performance and emotional range, especially knowing he probably should be captain, but he does the captain thing by bolstering Robbie instead.
We loved: The Miyagi dream
This one is sure to be controversial and, we’d imagine, many people would put this on their “Didn’t love list.” But, yes, deepfake aside (which was approved by Pat Morita’s family – more on that next week) – the idea of seeing Daniel with Miyagi again was just so exciting. It really shook Daniel. Plus, recasting Miyagi’s younger, more brutal version was incredibly cool. We still don’t know the extent of this part of Miyagi’s life but this scene was a fantastic tease.
We didn’t love: Pregnancy scare
It was bad enough killing a main character so, thankfully, Cobra Kai didn’t also kill a baby. Still, Johnny and Miguel flying back to Los Angeles from Barcelona to make sure Carmen and the baby were safe was very weird. It happens so suddenly and is resolved so quickly that you can’t help but wonder, what did this add? How expensive were these flights? How bad was the jetlag? Too many questions for not enough payoff.
We loved: The cliffhanger
While killing Kwan was certainly a bummer, the massive fight it happened during was not. We got to see basically every showdown that had been boiling over the course of the episodes and then it ends on a huge question of “What’s next?” Clearly, Cobra Kai tragically lost its captain which people all over the world watched unfold on TV. How will that change things? Who will win the Seikai Taikai? Where? And will it even matter? There’s so much to think about.
We loved: Chozen romances
If Chozen only had the Kumiko rejection (which we’re sure was a misunderstanding) it would have been great. But to see he and Cobra Kai Sensai Kim develop a thing after everything that happened was hilarious, romantic, and very important. Kim uses her anger at him to teach Tori and we get to see Chozen in a whole new light.
We didn’t love: Kidnapping
As much as we loved seeing Terry Silver back, his plan to set up and kidnap Daniel was questionable, to say the least. Sure, it let us explore a bit more of Barcelona – which was always welcome – but what was his end game? Was he going to kill him? Just let him miss the rest of the event? It was a bit over the top, even by Cobra Kai standards.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
English (US) ·