Hard to believe all those years ago when Cobra Kai premiered its unique, narrative-flipping, low-budget pilot season on the now defunct YouTube Red, fans would be getting an upgrade to Netflix and six whole seasons – including a three-part final season event, but this underdog story is life imitating art. Cobra Kai: Season 6 Part 1 has now hit Netflix with a frustratingly mixed bag of goofy, soap opera silliness in this short run of 5 episodes that only starts to feel like Cobra Kai/Karate Kid again right before the final stretch.
Cobra Kai is finished in the Valley after the wacky events of Season 5 that saw Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) finally behind bars to face justice. It is a relative time of peace for the LaRussos as well as Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) growing family. With a child on the way, Johnny is taking advantage of the quiet as the Eagle Fang sensei tries to become an honest working man: for Daniel’s dealership. Uh, oh. Additionally, now that Eagle Fang no longer has a dojo, the two groups must find a way to merge (and get along) to compete in the massive Sekai Taikai — the world championships of karate.
The biggest hurdle Cobra Kai: Season 6 Part 1 faces is trying to hook audiences with the limited episode count before the inevitable jarring four-month break to continue the story. The series sticks audiences with 5 episodes that mostly focus on Johnny being a hapless, sitcom-style expectant father and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) rolling his eyes a lot. Sure, there’s an intriguing b-plot involving a retcon of Mr. Miyagi’s past, but the episodes don’t give much in the way of answers until the final episode of Part 1, with more to come. Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) is also still hanging around as an annoying house guest in another one of many sitcom tropes employed, but there’s some fun to be had in his hard-headed rivalry with Johnny.
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Early episodes also try to move the third-generation of students into a more prominent role with Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), Robbie (Tanner Buchanan), Eli (Jacob Bertrand), Sam (Mary Mouser), Tory (Peyton List), and Demitri (Gianni DeCenzo) planning their departures, whether it be college or elsewhere. Eventually, our original heroes take center stage, but not in time to keep the whole of the episodes moving forward enough to provide satisfying story growth.
You may be asking how a show called Cobra Kai keeps that title due to, you know, them not existing in the current state of karate in the Valley. Well, yes…you guessed it…Cobra Kai never dies. The Season 5 finale showed Kreese escape from prison and now that he’s on the run, the ruthless sensei reveals there might have been something bigger behind Cobra Kai all along. The stuff with Kreese is a bit far-fetched, but a fitting retcon that puts him and Cobra Kai back in place as the “Big Bad” of the franchise leading into the middle of Season 6. Bad girl Tory also gets a surprisingly emotional arc in the last episode, giving Peyton List a chance to show some acting range.
The process of the inevitable merger of Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang Karate is the highlight of these early episodes, alongside an even more exciting build-up to what’s to come in the Sekai Taikai. Unfortunately, this all gets overshadowed by an overstuffed, slow start that only accentuates a poor choice by Netflix to drag out the final season into these 3 parts. The heart of what made Cobra Kai so endearing is still present and the dual lead of Macchio and Zabka nobly carry Cobra Kai: Season 6 Part 1, but taken as a whole, these episodes are an underwhelming setup for what seems like better episodes ahead when Cobra Kai: Season 6 Part 2 debuts on Netflix November 15th.
Score: 2.5 out of 5