Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review: Intense Tournament Battles, and a Stunning Cliffhanger at The End
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review: Intense Tournament Battles, and a Stunning Cliffhanger at The End - Filmyhype
Director: Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz
Date Created: 2024-11-15 12:49
3.5
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review: After the release of the first batch of episodes in mid-July, Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 is coming to Netflix (which will not be the last season, for which we still do not have a precise date). In these new episodes, our protagonists move to Barcelona for the long-awaited Sekai Taikai, the tournament in which highly skilled athletes worldwide compete. Finally, the heroes of Miyagi-Do will have the opportunity to test themselves by facing the students of Cobra Kai, led by the usual (very evil and almost invincible) John Kreese. We reiterate it once again, as already underlined in our review of the previous batch of episodes: Cobra Kai is not a series designed for lovers of realistic storytelling. In the show created by Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz, starring (among others) Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, you will find over-the-top situations, exaggerations, and, above all, an irresistible streak of carefree bungling (yes, Johnny Lawrence, we are talking about you!). Ultimately, it’s a series about teenagers who fight, often encouraged by adults to do better. Here, karate is no longer just a sport, but becomes the pretext for fights to the death, without rules or restrictions.
There are supervillains like John Kreese and Terry Silver, whose only goal seems to be to destroy the members of Miyagi-Do, unable to tolerate their fighting philosophy based on moderation and friendship (a philosophy that, however, does not prevent them from beating the shit out of each other whenever they can). With this premise, what could we expect from a season centered on an international tournament? We’ll tell you: many fun and narrative twists are even more unexpected and exaggerated than usual with a finale that includes one of the series’ longest and most well-orchestrated fights. The reason for this method is easy to explain. On the one hand, Netflix, like all the various Hollywood realities, found itself faced with the need to dilute its proposal, which decreased in 2024 about “made in America” productions due to the actors’ and screenwriters’ strike. On the other hand, it is a very clever way to capitalize on the recent increase in the price of the subscription because, inevitably, many are the people curious to find out where the story of Daniel LaRusso, Johnny Lawrence, and the eternal challenge between the Miyagi-Do and the Cobra Kai dojo will end up.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review: The Story Plot
If the first part of Cobra Kai Season 6 was all about how the students of Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai were preparing for the final challenge of the Sekai Taikai tournament, bringing to light a whole series of fractures that have never been completely healed between all the various characters in the series, whatever their age, part 6 moves the resolution of these to the tatami of the competition and La Rambla in Barcelona. Problems that are amplified by the competitive tension, by the entrance of the scene of new faces will further jeopardize some delicate dynamics. At stake is the prestige that comes with the title of karate world champion, the possibility of seeing the doors of success open wide, and the rain of money from sponsors. But all that glitters is not gold when the members of the two dojos find themselves having to deal with internal rivalries and unfair practices to get a spot on the team. Poor Kenny’s intestines, sabotaged by the laxatives Devon made him drink, blaming Anthony LaRusso, know something about it. It is with all this series of premises that this second block of episodes of Cobra Kai Season 6 begins, premises that will make the Sekai Taikai even more difficult than it already is, populated as it is by the crème de la crème of world karate.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review and Analysis
The first part of Cobra Kai Season 6, in more than one moment, seemed to show signs of giving in. Even if we are dealing with what, all things considered, is a soap opera no more and no less than Beautiful with martial arts instead of fashion, since season one, the production team of Cobra Kai has spoiled us with a story that, while simultaneously acting as a sequel and spin-off of Karate Kid, has always fished out the various connections with the old films with extreme intelligence. We are certainly not ashamed to say that since Star Wars, with The Force Awakens, paved the way for the legacy fuel genre, or those stories that pick up the threads of some legendary franchise also going as far as fishing out the original cast of that given film, Cobra Kai, with all its exaggerations, has always proven to be in this sense the most intelligent operation around.
Every wink, every reference, and every character from the three films released between 1984 and 1989 always came with a dramatic motivation that went beyond the mere act of surprise. Episodes 1-5 of Cobra Kai Season 6 seemed to have lost their luster, with the sub-branch of Kreese and his knife so dangerously close to jumping the shark, that expression born thanks to Happy Days which, in the film and television fields, indicates when some serial production begins to run out of oxygen by coming up with qualitatively questionable ideas. Even the internal feuds between the students of Miyagi-Do and the former Eagle Fang and Cobra Kai had a déjà vu feel and, to keep the attention alive, there was only the mysterious box found by Daniel LaRusso and co at the house of master Miyagi, the contents of which had suddenly shed a sinister light on the legendary and spotless figure of the character played by Pat Morita.
Fortunately, this trend is completely reversed in part 2 with a series of narrative ideas that, first and foremost, guarantee what a production like Cobra Kai must have as its first key element: the ability to entertain without stopping. The Sekai Taikai becomes the closest thing to a live-action version of the Dragon Ball Tenkaichi Tournament, an arena where an endless list of things happen that we cannot mention so as not to spoil the surprise. A crossroads of events inside and outside the tatami where some knots that had formed in part 1 will be united and where new ones will inextricably form, also thanks to the new characters that are introduced, first and foremost Lewis Tan’s sensei Wolf, Rayna Vallandingham’s Zara Malick, and Patrick Luwis’ Axel Kovacevic. But the historic cast of Karate Kid will also have some pearls to offer, as is to be expected.
Especially in a further demonstration of how this entire franchise, from 1984 to today, is a magnificent reflection on fatherhood, natural or surrogate so to speak. A story of children who had to find father figures in their sense, with all that entailed, and who then in turn became biological or otherwise fathers of other students. But we’ll have a chance to talk about this again when the grand finale is finally available on Netflix. And after the cliffhanger of this part 6 and all the meat on the fire during the episodes available from November 15th in streaming, we really can’t wait. In these two parts of Season 6 of Cobra Kai, we also observe another curiosity that has not emerged until now: there is no longer a predominant central character. The first seasons could be described as “Miguel’s”, but despite Xolo Maridueña being an irreplaceable and very important element, the series no longer revolves around him. William Zabka, apart from one emotional moment, is often seen making sarcastic jokes or motivational speeches, a strange choice, given that he is far superior to many of the other actors in the cast in terms of performance.
Even the new additions aren’t perfect or particularly useful: Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) leads the fierce fighters and while they prove to be strong opponents on the mat, the new characters have a rather marginal role in the plot. Wolf’s only goal seems to be to piss off Johnny, and while that’s fun, that’s usually a role already filled by Daniel. As for the students, Axel Kovacevic (Patrick Luwis) and Zara Malik (Rayna Vallandingham) add a touch of teenage drama, but don’t go beyond that. These characters could have shown much more if they had received more attention instead of being a backdrop to the other two dojos. Thank goodness there’s Kwon, the bad boy par excellence who partially takes away the role of main antagonist from Kreese, becoming the perfect “bad guy” for Miguel and Robby. The only real narrative peculiarity is Daniel’s ongoing investigation into Master Miyagi‘s mysterious past. Even in this second part, there is no real closure and indeed there is a somewhat too naive use of deepfake AI technology that probably won’t please many of you.
Another narrative detail that appears with a brief mention should be highlighted but that should instead be treated by the creators of the show, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, as something crucial to the plot: how does Kreese, who is supposed to be a fugitive, travel continuously between the United States and South Korea? How does he manage to appear in a world tournament in a country that has an extradition treaty with the United States? Who knows if we will find some answers in the second part or if it will be left as something unresolved. Despite these flaws that have been going on for too long to be erased, because they are part of the narrative skeleton, in Part 2 of Season 6, Cobra Kai has regained its enthusiasm and energy. We won’t go into details because they would be very big spoilers, but what is shown in the tenth episode, as well as the finale of Part 2, is so exciting, raw, and unexpected that it reevaluates any previous action scene.
Furthermore, each Sekai Taikai match has much more intensity and the choreography is much more realistic and with a more in-depth study compared to the forced, slow, and stiffness of the first part. These fights, moreover, allow the young actors to take center stage, giving some of the most engaging and emotional moments of the series. The balance between the conflicts in competition and those outside of the official fights is perfect. You will, however, have to suspend disbelief several times regarding the challenges and the scoreboards because narratively the most convenient and most suspect choices have been made. The aforementioned finale sets up Part 3 which will hopefully be truly epic. After all, until now the idea was that nothing could top the perfect ending of the showdown with Terry Silver in Season 5. However, the new episodes of Season 6 are fun, fast-paced, and end at a point that leaves plenty of room for twists and surprises.
As we speculated in our Part 1 review, it was clear that Cobra Kai was holding something back. The first five episodes of the final season were far too vague and too anchored to a few canons to take too many risks. Part 2, thanks to the Sekai Taikai and some successful subplots, is a marked improvement. While it still has some familiar issues, including repetitive plots and less focus on some of the show’s brightest stars, Cobra Kai returns to the gritty form that made it a huge success in the first place, laying a solid foundation for an epic conclusion to the series. What saves this second batch of episodes, in addition to the charisma of many of the actors (yes, William Zabka, we’re talking about you, and we can’t help but adore you!), are the two excellent final episodes, which push the accelerator and stage one of the craziest situations of the series. Without spoiling anything, we assure you that the finale is full of surprises and is worth watching. Cobra Kai, once again, manages to capture attention, and now we can’t wait to find out what the next episodes have in store for us. Since the sixth is the last season, we expect a big exit.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review: The Last Words
The second half of Cobra Kai Season 6 features some amazing character moments, touching family scenes, intense tournament battles, and a stunning cliffhanger at the end. However, many of these memorable moments don’t have time to fully develop, often interrupted by an overly eventful plot and poor character management. With the arrival of Part 3, some of these issues may be resolved, but hopefully, they will wrap up all the storylines and subplots satisfyingly left open over time. The second part of the sixth season of Cobra Kai offers a mix of exaggeration, fun, and twists typical of the series, with an action-packed finale. While maintaining the winning and light-hearted formula that the audience is used to, the show begins to suffer from a certain narrative predictability, although it still manages to capture attention thanks to the charisma of the characters and over-the-top moments.
Cast: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Mary Mouser, Tanner Buchanan, Jacob Bertran
Director: Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars)
