Cobra Kai delivers a strong first 5 episodes of its final season

Cobra Kai has moved on from fighting over the Valley. After five seasons of going back and forth between Cobra Kai, Miyagi-Do, and Eagle Fang bringing karate chaos, that chapter was finally concluded at the end of season five with Terry Silver's arrest and Cobra Kai's shutdown. But, the fight over world competition remains the top priority for this newly officially formed merged dojo.

Who is really the best there is? These characters have been having this same battle for seasons now, the main difference being now that they all stand on the same team. No more fighting each other for the trophy, now they fight each other for Captain titles and the six slots of available members allowed to travel for the Sekai Taikai.

The decision to only allow six members is a bit of a surprise, but the established belief of who will fill up the roster is not. While the dojo's roster is large, the amount of characters that the audience really knows is not. At least five characters, Miguel, Robby, Sam, Tory, and Hawk, are expected to make the final cut, being the most successful karate students from the dojos. So, the real question is who will fill out the final spot.

Cobra Kai, however, in its strive not to be too predictable, works to add more stakes to the matter by removing Hawk from the expected fifth spot. During a series of trials, Hawk becomes just as much a potential candidate as three other students. Bringing in Mike Barnes to be an unbiased sensei to the students works, as does the underlying anticipation of questioning which characters will fill out the final two positions.

But, it is the captain's race that adds more emotional depth. Miguel and Robby, along with Sam and Tory, must fight each other for the respective positions of male and female captain. These duos have fought each other various times before, but this time, the hatred is left behind in favor of friendly competition. At least, it is supposed to be.

Miguel and Robby's rivalry is not re-born, but the underlying desire to step up certainly acts as a motivator for both of them. In Miguel's case, proving himself to be the best in the world acts as a hopeful reason for Stanford to accept him. Meanwhile, after coming in second place to both Miguel and Hawk in previous fights, Robby is desperate to prove himself to be a winner.

These are both strong motivators for both characters, especially as Cobra Kai leans into the coming-of-age storyline of college admissions.

As for Sam and Tory, their relationship is on much more uncertain ground, coming into the season as freshly moving beyond enemies but not quite friends either. The growing friendship they do have is tentative and certainly not strong enough yet to withstand a real fight. At least, they seem to think so from their inability to have a strong competitive sparring session against each other. Only after they have an open discussion about the issues of their past do Tory and Sam get their competitive edge back.

But, this is ultimately not the conflict that arises during their stand-off for captain. Instead, the devastating death of Tory's mother prevents them from actually completing their battle. Peyton List's performance as an angry and grieving teenage girl desperate to fight is commendable. Her anguish upon the realization that she has lost her mother is devastating; the building rage and grief as she tries to work through it during her fight with Sam comes through strongly, and the moment she reveals the truth to everyone is a strong gut punch.

Ralph Macchio and William Zabka strongly lead season six's first group of episodes, grounding it in the layered exploration of trying to figure out who Daniel and Johnny are now that they are on the same side, along with the personal situations of Johnny expecting a baby and Daniel learning unexpected details about Mr. Miyagi's past.

Cobra Kai's decision to write in a new backstory for Mr. Miyagi is a complicated one that either hits because it forces Daniel to examine his mentor in the new light of Mr. Miyagi being a man who was capable of making mistakes in his youth or it falls apart by now making Daniel question the truth of who his mentor truly was.

Ralph Macchio delivers on showing Daniel's unraveling at the prospect of Mr. Miyagi's secret history and how Johnny is altering Miyagi-Do's teachings in the present.

Cobra Kai even continues to develop Devon by showing the true lengths she is willing to go to prove herself, and in what ways she may be willing to rig the competition to give herself a better chance at victory.

The first five episodes work as a set-up in preparation for the competition, where the first visit to introducing the Sekai Taikai involves Daniel and Johnny finally coming face to face with John Kreese and his revival of Cobra Kai.

Cobra Kai's sixth season delivers on emotional turmoil for its leading characters and continuing its strength of including humor into its episodes in a way that grounds the show and allows its more lighthearted scenes to come through.

For the most part, the first five episodes are about the build-up to the Sekai Taikai and the preparation that goes into building a team. As the cliffhanger leads the characters into the competition, and who they will be facing, it gives Part 2 the opportunity to really lean into showing the rivalry and emotional turmoil that comes from the stakes of the world competition.