In the Dark Reviews

The first third of the sixth and final season of "Cobra Kai" started streaming on Netflix on July 18, and the seams are showing in this latest version of the 40-year-old "Karate Kid" franchise.

Considering that this all started with a rousing but unambitious young-adult riff on "Rocky" in 1984, it's amazing "The Karate Kid" sustained five feature films, and an animated series, even before "Cobra Kai" launched, originally on YouTube, in 2018.

While "Cobra Kai" hasn't been flawless, it's a gravity-defying show for how much mythos and character development it's yielded, from its basic premise of teens and tweens turning to martial arts to resolve social differences.

And yes, "Cobra Kai" depicts a "heightened reality" in which kids and adults alike relate to each other at an adolescent emotional volume, allowing their heated tempers to propel them into physical fights far more quickly (and fortunately for them, with far fewer enduring consequences) than would be the case in the real world.

During the series, we've seen this gradually expanding cast mature, to the point that even the internecine feuds I found irritating in this show's earlier seasons, because they were fueled more by miscommunications than by substantive differences, now serve to highlight how far everyone has developed.

Indeed, the irony of the first third of "Cobra Kai" Season 6 is that the buildup to its cliffhanger ending feels like a step back because it begins by establishing how much our players have gotten past so much of the petty strife that had once defined their dealings.

Not only do former rivals Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) and Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) initially seem to have put their grudges behind them to form a fast friendship, but we also see once-bitter enemies Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) and Tory Nichols (Peyton List) own up to the mistakes they made that caused each other so much grief.

Even the hotheaded Johnny Lawrence (William Zabra) takes the lessons of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) to heart, not just to expand his repertoire as a martial artist, but also to grow into his newfound role as a provider for a blended family.

Having known several martial arts practitioners, one lesson they all imparted to me and that "Cobra Kai" Season 6 finally grapples with in earnest, is that martial arts should teach you how to defend yourself in combat, and it should impart a sense of balance in your life.

Much like how Peter Capaldi's speech about the nature of war in "The Zygon Inversion" episode of "Doctor Who" did more than pay mere lip service to the notion that the doctor is a crusader for humane peace, so too does Chozen's advice to Johnny hammer home that a philosophy such as the fictional "Miyagi-Do" should lead one to become a better person.

Even chuckleheads like former bully Kyler Park (Joe Seo) are afforded measures of sympathy, as they redeem themselves, score some satisfying wins and depart after earning resolutions.

All of which makes it so frustrating when a number of these characters lapse back into dumb bad habits for the sake of creating dramatic tension on the eve of Daniel and Johnny's students competing in the international Sekai Taikai tournament.

The most compelling plot thread of this season is seeing former Cobra Kai sensei, and current fugitive from the law, John Kreese (Martin Kove) return to where he was taught martial arts, by Master Kim Sun-Yung (C.S. Lee) in South Korea.

Even after all these years, Kreese remains a fascinating animal, a manipulative and pitiless beast who's sworn to renounce whatever lingering shreds of humanity he has left. His sinister outlook continues to seduce students with too much pent-up pressure and not enough release valves for those feelings.

For all his ruthless brutality, Kreese reveals a softer, almost paternal side toward Master Kim's granddaughter, Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), who's granted enough depth to at least slightly offset her stereotypical dragon-lady persona.

I'm giving an incomplete grade to the final-season revelation that Mr. Miyagi had a shadier past than he'd shared with Daniel, because until I find out what that mystery is building toward, it feels awfully last-minute to wait until now to spring such a surprise on us.

My jury is likewise out on whether it was worth introducing former Cobra Kai pupil Stingray's latest scheme, even though Paul Walter Hauser is an absolute treasure of a performer. He can transform even the most needlessly mundane dross in a script into gold.

I have enjoyed "Cobra Kai" throughout its run, and I eagerly await the remaining two-thirds of its sixth and final season, but this latest batch of episodes has also convinced me that this show will have wrung every last drop of potential out of its premise, the time it concludes. The "Karate Kid" franchise should be allowed to retire at last.

Of course, it won't be, because yet another "Karate Kid" film is due to be released next year, but still.

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
[email protected]