Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review – Distractions and Goals

As the end of Cobra Kai draws near, all eyes, and many hopes, were on the prestigious Sekai Taikai tournament to see how things would play out both for the students and senseis of Miyagi-Do. With 14 world renown dojos, and the newly reformed Cobra Kai, to deal with, a lot of pressure was upon them. As my Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review will note, while the overall tournament helped make this second part very dramatic, the internal distractions almost brought it down hard.

In my review of Part 1, I noted how I appreciated the numerous bits of setup for the Sekai Taikai, as it meant that Part 2 could focus on that and everything that came with it. For the most part…it did that, and I’ll focus on that first. I’m doing that because the Sekai Taikai fights and all that revolved around it were great.

From the get-go, it was clear that this tournament was bigger than both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai, and they went to great lengths to prove that at points, including having both sides get schooled early on. Having Daniel note to Johnny that it can’t just be about Cobra Kai anymore was right, as there were groups from all over the world that had trained hard to be there, and they arguably had more of a reason to win than both sides of the “eternal conflict” of this series.

To that end, I praise the showrunners for making this feel more like a world tournament and not just another All-Valley. Sure, a bunch of standard 1-on-1 battles would’ve been interesting, but it would’ve lost the feel of being the “best of the best” going at it in different ways. The platform battles, the group struggles, the tag bouts, all of it showed the grandness of the Sekai Taikai and why Miyagi-Do, Cobra Kai, the Iron Dragons, and more had to be more than just great fighters to win. They had to be the best and work as a team more times than not.

The choreography is still as top-notch as ever, and you could argue that because of the “global scope” of things, we’re getting to see even more styles than ever before. When you look at the Iron Dragon ringer known as Axel, you see something much different than Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai kids. Throw in the “influencer” in Zara and the new Cobra Kai fighters, and we’re seeing fights that are fresh and fun right up to the cliffhanger.

And while I won’t spoil how it happens, we do get a “sequel” to the school riot from Season 2, and it exceeds what that melee did.

What I really love about Cobra Kai is that when it grips you, it GRIPS you, and there were multiple times, especially in the back half of this five-episode set, that I was all in on what was happening and wanted to see more. For example, with both Miguel and Robbie, we had epic “locked-in” moments.

These were when both characters had to step up in huge ways for Miyagi-Do to survive, and they did just that. You could feel the energy and “aura” around them as they were going at it, and while the outcomes may have been predictable, it wasn’t any less cool.

Plus, there were multiple moments when you thought you knew what was happening, and then a big twist happened. Like when an “old enemy” showed up unexpectedly, and I couldn’t help but smile. Or, when a key team got eliminated, only for a totally believable action outside of the main “two teams” control occurred, allowing for an unbelievable chance that upped the ante even further.

By the time we got to the second riot and all the beefs and conflicts that were getting “settled” in that intense sequence, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Thus, when that HUGE cliffhanger happened, I couldn’t believe it, and it made me wonder what in the world is going to happen with Part 3. Based on early interviews, it will reverberate, and many things have to change because of it.

And that was another positive thing that Season 6 did with its second part: build up the tension with certain storylines and tease what was coming. In the final episode, we see Tory asking the question that many likely wanted to ask, “Is winning at all costs really worth all the sacrifices?”

While you may not have thought about it, that question defines the whole show. Every season has featured characters making sacrifices big and small to get certain “victories,” and them either backfiring horribly (like when Daniel tried to get rid of Kreese or Johnny failing to be there for Robbie in key moments) or the victory itself is bitter (like the first All-Valley “victory” for Johnny or Daniel almost losing everything because he wanted to take down his foes).

And while Kim (whom I’ll get to) said it was “absolutely” worth the cost…you have to wonder how this shocking cliffhanger will affect everyone’s mindset. There has to be a line somewhere….and it’s definitely been crossed. We even got teases of this “fatal fury” (shoutout to those gamers who got that reference) from both Daniel and Amanda when they both noted or witnessed how karate had just “created more fights” than fixed things.

If the show had focused on these very compelling elements…Part 2 could’ve been far superior than Part 1. Instead, it almost got down below Part 1’s level. In my opinion, of course.

So, what failed this season? In a word: relationship drama of all sorts. Seriously, we’re 5 and 2/3 seasons in. Enough already!!!

Now, it started out fine, with the Tory stuff being handled mostly well. Robbie and Samantha (as well as Devon) being there for Tory at the beginning was a nice touch, and I liked both Samantha and Tory taking the path of “owning the decision” versus making it even more dramatic. Sadly, it didn’t stop there. Instead, they had Robbie go on the path of “distraction” and almost cost Miyagi-Do the tournament many times over. Sure, I appreciate Miguel being the one to bring him back from the brink in the end, but it was eye-rolling many times over to get to that point, especially when Zara was thrown into the mix in a painfully stupid way.

Then…there was Dimitri. Dear gosh, I hate him. I hated him before this, and I didn’t like that he made the final cut of the roster, but his antics and actions in this part were frankly absurd, and I would’ve rather seen Devon stay in the tournament when Kenny came back than him. He almost cost the team the tournament just as much as Robbie, but at least Robbie had a “legitimate” excuse! Him thinking that Kenny was a “double agent” was ridiculous in the worst ways, and then it was squashed just as easily. I also didn’t appreciate how he kept wanting to drop out of the tournament just to “save his brain cells.” His commitment to karate was never as strong as the others, especially ones like Devon, so it was frustrating to see him get so much spotlight over other deserving characters. Especially since his spotlight only brought the show down in my mind.

His beef with Hawk was stupid to begin with, and it was solved so painfully easily that it made me wonder why it was done in the first place.

Oh, but that doesn’t mean the senseis were flawless! They hardly were. Daniel’s continued distraction from Mr. Miyagi’s legacy was eye-rolling at many points. Sure, the kidnapping was nicely handled thanks to our “special returning villain,” but his questioning everything repeatedly was bad.

Johnny wasn’t much help at times, and I hated how he regressed (again) in his ways and tactics when pushed into a corner. Again, it’s been over five seasons of alleged growth; he should be better than this! I loved it when Samantha, Miguel, and others chewed him out for what he did, just so we could get BETTER scenes like those with him, Devon, Samantha, and Miguel on the plane. I just wished we didn’t have such forced moments to get to those points. Many of them could’ve been done without them.

As for Chozen…wow, how the mighty have fallen. His drunken arrival was bad enough, and then for him to hook up with Kim because…reasons? And then for them to make relationship drama out of that? Seriously, can we please grow up people!?

Now, I’ll admit, there were good moments sprinkled within this relationship drama, like Miguel rallying both Daniel and Johnny in the final episode, or Carmen giving her blessing for Johnny and Miguel to go back to the tournament after her health scare, and Amanda being a great peacemaker. Oh, and Devon came clean about what she did to Kenny and made up for it by taking his spot. However, again, some of it was just so forced it hurt…

…oh, and Anthony still sucks. No amount of laxatives will ever make me forget the crap he put us threw in the first few seasons.

I noted in a different review recently that sometimes, the best elements of a show can make you forget all the missteps that happened within it. My Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 Review will end with a positive score, but that was in spite of its many missteps and odd choices.

When this show is dialed in on the right things, it continues to be one of the coolest shows around. We have just FIVE EPISODES LEFT, and so hopefully, all the petty drama and stupidity can be put behind us so we can enjoy an ending that’ll make everything up to this point feel worth it.