Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 Review: A Grand Finale That Returns To Its Origins
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 comes to an end with an exciting tranche of five episodes that succeed in balancing the action, nostalgia, and emotional development of the characters. After years of rivalry, growth, and epic clashes, Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 closes the curtain with a narration that manages to be at the same time engaging and touching. If on the one hand, we are faced with one of the most exciting tournaments in the series, on the other we are witnessing moments of reflection and closure for the protagonists that we have followed from the beginning. Let’s put aside the annoying way in which Netflix, to make money on subscriptions and a period of “lean” in terms of proposals, decided to divide the sixth season of Cobra Kai. The final one, the most awaited. On the other hand, in our comment on the second part, we had already touched on the issue which was impossible to overlook.
Now is not the time to argue over the distribution and commercial strategies of a multinational company that thinks about turnover. If anything, it is the time to sum up a splendid experience that began in 2018 thanks to the brilliant intuition of Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz to take what, perhaps, was the most underdog of the successful film sagas of the eighties. Bringing to light the love that those who were children or young people in those years nurtured for those films and capturing a whole new audience. Maybe the sons of those who, 40 years ago, went to the cinema with their mom or dad to see the adventures of Daniel LaRusso. But first, let’s do the inevitable “summary of the situation”. Cobra Kai‘s ending excites and amuses, too bad it comes after at least two seasons too long, for a series that had long since exhausted what it had to tell. It’s a shame because the final adventure of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso makes the strings of the hearts of those who grew up giving and removing the wax vibrate, even if the 5 final episodes of Season 6 the sequel series of Karate Kid highlight all its writing limits.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 Review: The Story Plot
Part two of Cobra Kai Season 6 ended in tragedy. What seemed like the place where “heroes and villains” would close their accounts forever, the Sekai Taikai tournament had suddenly turned into a demonstration destined to be remembered, rather than for the triumph of sport and martial arts, for the death of Kwon. The Cobra Kai captain had accidentally fallen over John Kreese’s entanglon while, during the collective brawl that had arisen, he was trying to use it against the male captain of the Iron Dragons Axel Kovačević. Now everyone has to deal with what happened, with a sense of guilt, with failure as sense, with having seen the possibility of getting in light with the race and being able to access college go up in smoke. Or with other personal matters which, as should be, we cannot spoil. But we wouldn’t have done it either. However, it is clear that for all the people involved in the thing, sensei, pupils, and students, the issue has remained pending even if there is little to do. Sekai Taikai is an archived practice. But since there are five more episodes of Cobra Kai Season 6 to see, it is clear to everyone that, in reality, this is not the case. There is a way to restart Sekai Taikai, even in the valley. And the final challenge among the dojos is ready to start again.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 Review and Analysis
We know that that car known as Hollywood likes to play on the safe side by using brands well known to the general public over and over again. It is no coincidence that terms such as “reboot” or “legacyquel” are now commonly used. Now that Cobra Kai has come to an end, flying over the assumption behind the entire series that deals with the quarrels between Los Angeles karate dojos as if they were national security issues, the reasoning we had done a few weeks ago finds further reason to be. The series has perfectly taken up the ranks of an epic which, removing the fourth chapter, the one with Hilary Swank from 1994, had remained in theaters in the remote “1989 with Karate Kid III – The Final Challenge. It seemed like a speech closed forever and, not surprisingly, the 2010 film The Karate Kid – The Legend Continues, starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith and conceived as a remake/reinterpretation of the first chapter of the franchise, despite the excellent feedback from the public, has never had a continuation and has remained a thing in itself. Until Cobra Kai got the feedback he had. Now also the feature film with Chan has become canonical and there is more: at the end of May, both the Hong Kong star and Ralph Macchio will appear together in the new film Karate Kid Legends.
But let’s not digress. We praised Cobra Kai‘s intelligence for being able to awaken a fire that seemed to be extinguished but that instead, under the ashes, was just waiting to be revived. And there is more. The lesson that Cobra Kai can teach to those who, by profession, deal with creating stories for cinema or TV goes beyond the cunning of knowing how to insert that given reference or that given cameo of a character in that specific particularly incisive moment. It is a lesson that has to do with being able to develop profoundly and coherently, albeit in a series with a completely absurd assumption as we have already said, a theme whose seed had already been planted with the 1984 film: that of fatherhood. As putative as it is biological. We met Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence when they were just kids who, in their sensei, Miyagi and Kreese, saw fathers, rather than coaches. Compasses through which to orient their person.
Cobra Kai makes us find them grappling with the consequences of this situation at a time when they have become both biological and putative fathers of other boys and girls who find themselves in a dimension similar to that experienced by them forty years ago. Without, however, time has contributed too much to remedying all unresolved issues with what their old sense has been. For this reason, both as fathers and as sensei, in the six seasons of Cobra Kai, they commit, in good faith, it is clear, one mistake after another because they must complete a growth process whose roots sink over time. Only and exclusively how much all the proverbial knots that have come to a head will be untied will they be able to say that they have really … become big. Becoming a parent is not easy normally. Becoming it without having closed all that series of issues that still torment Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso only complicates it. It is the work on this fundamental and fascinating concept that makes Cobra Kai more than just a soap opera with people who beat themselves, but the perfect closure of a cycle inaugurated forty-one years ago with a film that deserves every single letter of those who make up the “legendary” epithet.
All beautiful and all right, then? Not exactly, because in this review we must inevitably draw the sums of an entire series that has been able to excite and disappoint us, at the same time, like few others. Originally the idea behind Cobra Kai was really powerful: a sequel to Karate Kid told from the point of view of the “bad guy”, but it is already after the first two seasons that the show started a slow and inexorable decline. That is, since the focus moved again on Daniel and MIyagi-do, putting aside Johnny’s ransom and the rebirth of Cobra Kai, with a slow but inexorable decay towards the absurdity that over time has become directly proportional to the attempt to raise the bar on drama and spectacularity. Fortunately, in part 3 of the sixth season, the series puts a piece on this aspect, restoring a certain original status quo and restoring dignity to characters who remained in the shadows for too long, while sacrificing some secondary storylines.
The last two episodes, in this, are truly moving, between nostalgia and extremely spectacular duels. It is a pity to conclude only now, after several subdued seasons: if all this had arrived at a minimum in advance, we would be talking about another series. But it is true that, in the end, Cobra Kai never dies because when he hits hard again, first and mercilessly, it is impossible not to get excited as if it were the first time. The Sekai Taikai tournament (also at the center of the previous tranche of episodes, and of which we spoke to you in our (Cobra Kai Season 6 review part 2) represents the culmination of the season and brings with it some of the most spectacular fighting sequences of the entire series. However, the competition took on a dramatic tone after Kwon’s tragic death, an event that completely changes the course of history. The series manages to manage this well, avoiding falling into the melodrama and using it instead to push the characters to a deep reflection on the value of the fight and the true nature of the competition. The transition from a more carefree narrative to a charge of tension and real consequences is well-managed and demonstrates the maturity reached by the series over the seasons.
As per Cobra Kai‘s tradition, antagonists are never entirely one-dimensional. The series has always been adept at showing the motivations behind the actions of its “villains”, often offering a chance for redemption. If some historic villains are definitively defeated, others manage to get a more nuanced conclusion, showing how even the most hostile characters can find a form of ransom. This aspect is one of the strengths of the show: conflicts are rarely resolved clearly and definitively, leaving room for more complex and realistic evolutions. The series manages to close the circle satisfactorily, bringing the narration back to its roots in the San Fernando Valley. This return to the origins is not only geographical but also thematic: everything that made Cobra Kai great is repeated in this ending, with epic duels, moments of personal growth, and a strong reference to the original films. Although the story closes consistently, the series also leaves room for possible spin-offs or continuations, especially considering the next film Karate Kid: Legends, set three years after the events of the series.
And after six long seasons here we conclude. One inevitable catharsis, a circle that closes. The path faced by the true protagonist of the series is confirmed to be full of maturity and awareness. A character who can give motivation to thousands of people, a mirror of the soul in which to meet again. Seeing Johnny Lawrence cry is a perceptible feeling on our skin, like seeing an entire generation cry. A generation that we all belonged to at least once in our lives, underdogs looking for a purpose on our way. The characters we learned to love (and hate) over the seasons find their way, who was naive and defended thanks to the Cobra Kai Lawrence is now able to defend himself while who was arrogant and presumptuous thanks to the Myagi-Do of LaRusso has now learned to defuse. The latter fifty Cobra Kai, despite obvious writing problems, finds in recent episodes the essence for which it was created, officially closing the circle of Johnny Lawrence to allow Daniel LaRusso to have the small space necessary to return to the protagonist in the next chapter at the cinema. Curious to see the new episodes?
Like part 2, also part 3 of the final season of Cobra Kai at the beginning it does not convince: the tone is different, darker. In the saga of Karate Kid and the new series, there has never been such a lot of talk about death. The stop – momentary – at the tournament breaks the crescendo that the tournament had started and, at the narrative level, is anti-climactic. There are still too many useless or embarrassing curtains. While some characters, which we had followed over the past few seasons, disappear. The borderline case is that of Anthony, the second son of Daniel LaRusso, the worst character used in the whole series, which practically disappears here. Yet, in the last three episodes, Cobra Kai takes off and goes back to being that story we like. Why do you return to the beginning, to the All Valley Arena, to karate, to one-on-one fights? And above all, we return to the characters, to a writing character-driven. Tory Nichols (Peyton List), continues to be the best character. How can we not love her after all she has gone through?
And with the “cazzimma” what does it put into everything it does? Cobra Kai is a series on friendship and this ending finally warms our hearts by telling us about the evolution of the relationship between Tory and Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser). Enemyfriends, Tory and Sam are like Rocky and Apollo, opponents and rivals, then accomplices and solidarity: their training together is a great moment. But Rocky and Apollo, more than any other, are Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio). You decide who Balboa is and who is Creed (even if the ending gives us a precise idea). But basically, the meaning of the film is all here, in the idea that, over time, the differences can be smoothed out, that they can be changed, that those who seem far from us and scare us do it only because we don’t know it. That training on the beach reminds us that, in addition to the first ones Karate Kid, and Cobra Kai she is the daughter of Rocky, the father of all modern sports epic films. Not surprisingly, in Karate Kid – To Win Tomorrow the first film of the Balboa saga he shared the direction of John G. Avildsen, who had transmitted the DNA of the epic film with Sylvester Stallone to that small film about karate.
Sure, Cobra Kai has more flag changes (i.e. dojo) than Pirate of the Caribbean film, and also in this ending it asks us for one great suspension of unbelief. With an imaginative crackdown, he eliminates the internal rivalries of the good, taking away the doubts about who to cheer, and carrying on who needed this epic ending more. Cobra Kai is probably a guilty pleasure, a series far from certain very high peaks that are touching today’s seriality, light-hearted as its protagonist. It all started with Johnny Lawrence, from their status as an underdog, or loser in search of ransom. And Johnny returns, because he is the one who needs this ending most of all. And we need him to have it. Because everyone happens to lose, on the tatami and outside. And then, if you can catch a fly with sticks you can do anything. But you can also catch a fly your way and be yourself.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 Review: The Last Words
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 ends with a series of episodes that balance action, emotion, and reflection. The focus shifts to the sensei, with Johnny and Daniel facing their past and consolidating their role as mentors. The Sekai Taikai tournament brings some of the most intense scenes in the series, but also a tragedy that changes the tone of the narrative. Villains find their fate, between fall and redemption, while the series closes the circle returning to the roots of the San Fernando Valley. A finale that satisfies, while leaving open possibilities for the future. This final judgment, and consequently also the vote, try to take into account a little all that has been Cobra Kai from the beginning to the end: ingenious sequel, then nostalgia operation, until it turns into something that over the seasons appeared more and more out of time. Except to recover right at the end, give more than a few punches to the heart, and be able to excite. Too bad for all the slides along the way, but in the end it’s okay: sometimes, instead of hitting first, you also need to know how to cash out.
Cast: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Martin Kove, Peyton List
Created By: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars)
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 Review: A Grand Finale That Returns To Its Origins - Filmyhype
Director: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Date Created: 2025-02-13 17:39
4
Pros
- Exciting and satisfying conclusion for the main characters
- Great balance between action, comedy and moments of reflection
- Spectacular duels and well-choreographed fights
- Deep development of the sensei, especially Johnny Lawrence
- Mature issues addressed with sensitivity and consistency
- Excellent tribute to the original saga and its fundamental values
Cons
- Some characters introduced in recent seasons are overshadowed
- The CGI used to recreate Mr. Miyagi is unconvincing
- The three-part format made the season fragmented
- Some sequences are excessively charged with slapstick situations
