Johnny Comes Back Full Circle in ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 6, Part 3 | Netflix Review

The time has come for me to finally review the third and final part of Cobra Kai season six! My apologies for the massive delay. Once again, I don’t have a valid excuse for posting my review so late. Let’s just say, life got in the way. Be warned of spoilers ahead!

Part Two ended with Kwon Jae-Sung accidentally stabbing himself to death with John Kreese’s eunjangdo, during a brutal, off the mat brawl at the Sekai Taikai semi-finals. As a result, the Sekai Taikai has been cancelled (not for long, though), forcing everyone to deal with the aftermath of Kwon’s death and carry on with their lives, as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, in episode 11, Kreese experiences guilt for the first time ever in his life. He realizes the error of his ways, forcing himself to come to terms with the mistakes he made with the people he cares about, including Johnny Lawrence and Tory Nichols. The way of the fist comes in handy for some occasions, but as Kreese said it best, “if you devote your life to that concept, it consumes you.” 

What makes Kreese’s character so interesting is that he was a war veteran. Don’t get me wrong, he was a jerk throughout The Karate Kid movie franchise and most of the Cobra Kai series, but with his backstory, I now understand where he was coming from. I’ve never been in the war, but I know that there’s no rule book for how to deal with the consequences of war. There’s no sure answer for how to deal with the loss of soldiers who were killed in front of your very eyes. To make matters worse, Captain Turner, Kreese and Terry Silver’s commanding officer during the Vietnam War, was not a nice man. He kept the death of Kreese’s lover, Betsy, a secret from him until they were forced to fight to the death over a snake pit when they were captured by the Viet Cong. Would Kreese have turned out differently if he had a better role model? I’d like to believe so.

Kreese kept saying that it was too late for him to become a better person, but he apologized to Nichols and Lawrence for mistreating them, he helped Lawrence bring back Cobra Kai, and he sacrificed himself to protect Lawrence and his family from Silver. In my opinion, he died a good man. I still think Kreese deserved a much happier ending, especially because of all the hardships he went through, but on the plus side, he reunited with Betsy in the afterlife. 

I have mixed emotions about Silver’s death because if he hadn’t died, alongside Kreese, he would’ve harmed Lawrence and his family. But if Kreese hadn’t gotten Silver involved with Cobra Kai again, he wouldn’t have gone down that dark rabbit hole once more. He had money, nice mansions, a girlfriend, and ran a successful company that deals with toxic wastes. Silver even said so himself, Kreese was his weakness, hence why he couldn’t turn down Kreese’s offer to co-run Cobra Kai with him back in season four. Then again, even if Kreese hadn’t met up with Silver again, there’s no sure way of knowing he would’ve turned out fine. Maybe something else would’ve flipped a switch in Silver’s head to make him turn evil again. 

Similarly, Kim Da-Eun could’ve turned out like Kreese and Silver, but thankfully, she got a happy ending. Unfortunately, it took her murdering her grandfather, Kim Sun-Yung, to get there, but her grandfather wasn’t going to give her the family dojang that easily, so she did what she had to do. I’m just glad she got the redemption she needed because she was a horrible human being and I was so mad at her for mistreating Nichols in seasons five and six. But like Kreese, now I see where she was coming from. I guess a common theme in Cobra Kai is if you don’t have the right foundation, you turn out off-balanced, on and off the mat! The downside is, I wish we got to see more of Kim Da-Eun during the last five episodes because she was only in episode 11, before returning briefly for episode 15, where she reunites with Chozen Toguchi at her family’s dojang in Korea. 

Yes, Nichols did knock out Malik’s front teeth and it was awesome!

As for Nichols, I’m happy she and Robby Keene rekindled their relationship, and that she was able to beat the hell out of Zara Malik, Nichols’ enemy from the Iron Dragons. However, her and Keene’s endings felt too picture perfect. She and Keene get back together, she becomes the female champion of the Sekai Taikai, and gets a career opportunity to become an influencer, kind of like what Malik does. Ok, to be more specific, she accepts a career with a company called Icon Branding, where she gets to compete in tournaments, put on demonstrations, and participate in marketing and branding opportunities for social media. Keene also accepts a career with Icon Branding, which also contributes to the “picture perfect” ending because the power couple gets to be together forever. Also, what happened to Nichols’ little brother, Brandon? He wasn’t seen at all during the entirety of season six; he didn’t even attend the Sekai Taikai finals to watch his sister compete.

On the complete opposite of the spectrum, luck was not on Axel Kovačević’s side. I stated in my Part Two review that I hoped he and Samantha LaRusso would repair their friendship in part three, but that didn’t happen. Instead, in episode 13, while under Sensei Wolf’s guidance, he breaks Keene’s knee, making Sam despise him even more. He came to his senses during his fight with Miguel Diaz, however, in episode 14, when he refused to injure Diaz’s spine, opting to fight him fairly. When he loses, he quits the Iron Dragons and that’s it. No happy ending, no apologizing to Keene for what he did to him, no home to return to, nada. He wasn’t the only character who was left in the dust, though. Devon Lee didn’t make an appearance until episode 15, Anthony LaRusso only spoke when it was time to bid farewell to Sam as she headed to Okinawa for a year-long exchange program, and Kenny Payne basically became a background character. 

Look at how precious baby Laura is. She’s the daughter of Lawrence and Carmen Diaz, Miguel’s mother.

Then there’s Lawrence, the reason why the Cobra Kai series exists. It was very confusing to watch everyone go from Cobra Kai, to Eagle Fang Karate, to Miyagi-Do Karate, then back to Cobra Kai. However, it was somewhat necessary for the series to end with Johnny reclaiming Cobra Kai. It would’ve been weird if he stayed with Miyagi-Do because if that were the case, the show should’ve been called, Miyagi-Do, instead. The problem was that too many people got involved with Cobra Kai and when too many people got involved, chaos happened. Johnny got Kreese involved, who then got Silver involved, who then got Kim Da-Eun, who then got Master Kim Sun-Yung involved (with Kreese’s help), and as a result, different karate dojos got involved to sort out the mess that was created. I’m not blaming Lawrence at all for what happened to Cobra Kai, but it’s a shame it took one screwup after another for the dojo to forge a new, healthier legacy.

Even Lawrence’s fight with Sensei Wolf felt unnecessary and out of place because it felt like a cheap creative move from the writers to have Lawrence win one more fight to make up for his loss to Daniel LaRusso at the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament. Hence, the part where Daniel tells Lawrence, “you’re all right, Lawrence,” when he wins the Sekai Taikai. The Iron Dragons and Cobra Kai just so happened to end in a tie, forcing the two senseis to fight and break the tie, because that’s how it works in the Sekai Taikai. Luckily, Wolf and Lawrence were young enough to fight each other, but what if the two dojos competing against each other had old senseis, like in their 70s? What were they supposed to do, fight to the death? From a more positive perspective, however, life is messy and all that chaos Lawrence went through was absolutely worth it, so take it or leave it! Same thing with the entirety of season six, take it or leave it!

Here are a few random notes I also want to mention. In episode 11, while putting together the crib for his new baby, Lawrence was wearing an AC/DC Fly on the Wall (1985) shirt and I wanted it badly. In episode 12, Lawrence and Carmen’s wedding at the hospital reminded me of the show, 9-1-1, when Chimney and Maddie Han got married at the hospital in season seven. Also, I kind of shipped Nichols and Sam together when they were training for the Sekai Taikai. In episode 13, after Kovačević breaks Keene’s knee, I hate how the towel under Keene’s head keeps sliding to his right while he’s talking to Lawrence. Like did the editors actually think they could get away with that inconsistency? In episode 14, I like how at the beginning of Nichols’ fight with Malik, she was anxious, while Malik was calm and still. Then, at the beginning of the second round, Malik is the anxious one, while Nichols is calm and still. In episode 15, Lawrence and Daniel’s training montage gave me Rocky II (1979) and Rocky III (1982) vibes.

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Take care and see ya real soon!

Lana