Marvelous Geeks

When Netflix announced that the final season of Cobra Kai would be split into three parts, I was initially excited. With the show’s shorter runtime, five episodes per part would essentially equate to three movies, acting as a trilogy of sorts like the original Karate Kid films. Yet, if Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 is any indication of this, then I’m slightly (read, very) nervous. The final season’s first part provides a riveting setup for what’s ahead, but it does so by backpaddling a bit. In a sense, this is understandable, considering it wants to up the stakes, but at the same time, it’s jarring when, time and again, we have proof that the opposing forces of leaders are the problems here.

One of the best parts of Cobra Kai is that nothing is as it seems. You could never truly believe a character is changing because, come tomorrow, everything will look different. There’s also an undeniable message here that focuses on idolizing and looking at situations (and people) through rose-colored glasses.

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In every way it matters, Cobra Kai Season 5 is the series’ most decisive showdown yet. While last season focused heavily on the treacherous lengths people were willing to go through to defeat each other, this season gave us the kind of balance that worked superbly to cement the show’s theme. Karate is ultimately about achieving balance, yet Cobra Kai as a dojo never understood this, and seasons before needed to harp on the why. Today, the focus lies in getting to the snake’s head, cutting it from its lies and deception once and for all. Of course, that’s not the case by the end, given the jaw-dropping (yet unsurprising) prison break, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

This season felt like the show’s penultimate run, and while we don’t have confirmation about Season 6 yet or whether it’ll be the last, the stories we watched unfold in Cobra Kai’s fifth season feel like they’re headed towards the endgame. If this were the Avengers Saga—this leaves us with the same bitter but oddly satisfying viewing experience that Infinity War did. There are battles still to be won and people whose growth needs to unfold, but now more than ever, we’re on the right path.

Cobra Kai Season 5 gives viewers the perfect balance between vicious and virtuous, playing Miyagi-Do’s motto into the show’s arc to meticulously bring forward moments that juxtapose one another with effortless strikes.

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Cobra Kai Season 4 is less than a week away, and in an unsurprising turn of events, the series goes to extreme lengths in the name of karate. How the Emmys deem this show a comedy is utterly beyond me, considering its darker themes throughout its run. And while you won’t get any spoilers from us, I will note that Season 4 is also not a comedy—though I suppose if we consider Johnny’s continuous inability to adjust to modern technology and proper lingo funny, then yes, there are still plenty comedic elements.

It is, however, the season that potentially hints at an end being near. It’s the question I ended up asking myself while watching: how far is the show willing to go, and what’s in store for these characters after this? How long will their lives be at risk? I used to think a show like One Tree Hill went to extremes, but then the school brawl in Season 2 proved us all wrong.

There is something to be said about how Cobra Kai Season 4 manages to surprise us still even when certain storylines and endings can be sniffed out from miles away. I don’t think anyone thought that we’d see Johnny and Daniel wearing matching best friends forever bracelets and putting everything behind them for good, but the series instead finds an intrinsic balance with their characters even while they continue to adjust to what’s in front of them. There are ways to go on this front, and the best is yet to come if this season showcases anything.

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