Miyagi-Do’s Final Fight

Following a disappointing part one of the show’s final season, Cobra Kai (2018–2025) and Netflix managed to rebuild excitement with promising trailers and the prospect of a full tournament mini-season given the show’s previous success with tournaments (such as season four’s final two episodes). Thankfully, part two is a significant improvement compared to its predecessor. With the highly competitive Sekai Taikai underway, as well as Tory (Peyton List) joining the titular dojo in part one, Miyagi-Do has more problems than ever. This raises the stakes immensely, adding a sense of urgency that part one lacked. In the team rounds, Miyagi-Do immediately faces adversity, suffering many early defeats but still advancing to the semi-finals and giving captains Sam (Mary Mouser) and Robby (Tanner Buchanan) a chance to win. Overall, part two, while still flawed, is significantly better than part one due to more interesting plotlines and less frustrating character direction. The biggest problem of part two was caused by Netflix’s new release strategy, not the show itself. The fight scenes were decent, and so were most of the characters.

The quality of the character writing and arcs in this season is extremely varied; some characters are frustrating to watch at points due to the drama being overplayed. As it was in part one, Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel’s (Ralph Macchio) on-and-off fighting remained a sore point of this season. While part two includes fewer arguments than before, their battle feels just as stale. Johnny and Daniel should be working in unison and focusing on the tournament, but instead, they let their petty rivalry jeopardize the team. Similarly, Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) is extremely annoying in the first three episodes, bragging about his acceptance to MIT and endangering the team by not treating the tournament with importance. On the other hand, the exploration of Mr. Miyagi’s past built intrigue, making the viewer curious about what actually happened and how his mindset in The Karate Kid (1984) was formed.

Miguel (Xolo Marideña) is the clear standout in part two, dealing with his loss of the captain spot, made all the worse by Robby’s lack of focus due to Tory being on Cobra Kai. However, Robby recovers by the end and manages to lead Miyagi-Do to victory in their final team fight and help them advance to the semi-finals. Miguel is certainly the anchor of the team, both on and off the mat. His fights are impressive, managing to single-handedly keep Miyagi-Do from elimination in the early stages. However, he also motivates his senseis and teammates to win, focusing them and giving their dojo a fighting chance. Miguel’s plot line with Johnny and his mother was short yet incredibly emotional—Maridueña and Zabka clearly put their all into these performances. 

Part two had slightly disappointing fight sequences; it lacked the more traditional one-on-one three-point karate fights, and it ended up feeling more like karate games rather than the biggest karate tournament in the world. The fact that the captains are the only ones to fight individually meant the lack of some potentially epic fights—especially with Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) and Miguel. While the fight choreography is as excellent as ever, part two left a lot to be desired and did not manage to meet the sky-high expectations set by the show’s previous fights. Additionally, it felt like a tournament mini-season should have had more quality fights, as the latter half of season five had almost double the amount of good fights. 

This season suffers heavily from Netflix’s greedy decision to split the season into three parts. While part one felt far too drawn out and slow, part two needed significantly more screen time to better flesh out the characters. In the Sekai Taikai, few dojos receive meaningful screen time, making the rivalry and implications of a “world karate tournament” less impactful. Despite both Iron Dragons and Cobra Kai being highlighted dojos this season, many of the characters, such as Yoon (Daniel Kim) and Zara (Rayna Vallandingham), feel surprisingly underdeveloped, leading to the rivalries feeling less important. Even within Miyagi-Do, characters like Chozen (Yuji Okomoto) and Hawk don’t get nearly enough recognition due to their limited screen time. Although the creators claimed each part would be its own complete mini-arc, this part ended on a massive cliffhanger and didn’t even finish the tournament, further highlighting the flaws of the new system. If Netflix were to release this season all at once, possibly splitting the season into three episodes for the valley training, nine for the Sekai Taikai, and three for the conclusion, it would feel significantly better paced and overall lead to a much more enjoyable viewing experience. 

Overall, part two significantly improved on its predecessor and set the stage for part three. While far from the best five episodes Cobra Kai has put out, it was decent across the board, with flaws in a few areas, such as the fights and certain characters. There’s a lot left to wrap up in the final few episodes, and part two runs the risk of feeling too rushed. The multi-month wait for part three will be harsh, and viewers can only hope that this enjoyable show can be wrapped up with a finale it deserves.