‘Cobra Kai’ Season 6 Part 3 Review: Netflix Series Sticks Its Legendary Landing

After seven years of crane kicks, comebacks and character growth, “Cobra Kai” bows out this week with its final five episodes on Netflix. It’s been a wild ride, sometimes straining credibility with the sheer volume of interpersonal drama piled atop its martial arts warriors. But at its heart, the series always understood what made “The Karate Kid” mythology endure since 1984. Instead of merely taking audiences on a nostalgia trip full of familiar faces and places, “Cobra Kai” carved out its own identity elevating it beyond yet another ’80s relic wheeled out for sympathy.

In a bid to make the parting that much more sweetly sorrowful, Netflix stretched the farewell season to 15 episodes (instead of the usual 10), rolling them out in chunks since last summer. This final batch ties a black belt around the ever-expanding storylines that have steadily interwoven over the years, centering, of course, on the dynamic between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), the former rivals whose decades-long feud ignited this whole saga in the first place.

When we last left them, it sure seemed like Daniel and Johnny had finally put karate in the rearview mirror — especially after tragedy struck, leading to the cancellation of the much-hyped Sekai Taikai tournament. Life moved on. Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) and Samantha (Mary Mouser) are preparing for college. Johnny is on the verge of proposing to his pregnant girlfriend Carmen (Vanessa Rubio). Peace has descended on the Valley at long last.

But peace and “Cobra Kai” don’t exactly go hand in hand. Enter Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), the ever-scheming villain who sees an opportunity to bring the tournament back. And just like that, it’s time to crank up the training montages and go out swinging one last time (in the same gymnasium from the first “Karate Kid” flick so many decades ago, just to show we really are going full circle here).

Looking back, it’s almost unbelievable that “Cobra Kai” lasted as long as it did, especially given its origins as a longshot passion project on the now-defunct YouTube Red. While it’s blossomed into a full-blown phenomenon in the years since making the jump to Netflix, the key to that success lies in a seamless blend of sincerity and self-awareness.

Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg treated the original films not as just pop culture ephemera but as a sacred text, mining every bit of “Karate Kid” history for new depth and meaning. While we never did get an appearance by Hillary Swank reprising her character from 1994’s “The Next Karate Kid,” whether it was Johnny’s old Cobra Kai buddy Bobby (Ron Thomas) turning up as a priest, or his and Daniel’s ex-flame Ali (Elizabeth Shue) arriving to offer a fresh perspective on the past, the show thrived on reframing what we thought we knew.

That’s why “Cobra Kai” worked. For years, fans joked about whether Daniel had actually cheated in that fateful All-Valley Tournament in ‘84 or whether Johnny was really the good guy all along. Instead of indulging in the same tired jokes, the show treated both men as real people. Flawed, complex and evolving. And in the end, it was always Johnny’s story.

Granted, Daniel was (and is) the franchise’s original hero, with Macchio infusing his performance throughout the series (and especially through some poignant moments in this final stretch) with the same sincerity that made LaRusso so beloved in the ’80s. But even still, Daniel was always locked into his role. The champion. The good guy. He couldn’t really stray too far from that template, lest an all-too familiar “Not my Daniel!” uproar overtake social media.

Johnny, on the other hand, had room to grow. By diving into his struggles with fatherhood, his toxic past with John Kreese (Martin Kove) and his desperate attempts to outrun prior failures, “Cobra Kai” gave Johnny a second chance. The constantly unfolding arc of redemption, self-discovery and, ultimately, self-acceptance gave Zabka something worth digging into, in the process making the series a worthy story in its own right.

It isn’t just Johnny, mind you. By the time the credits roll on the last of its 65 episodes, the show has made sure to give satisfying conclusions to Miguel, Sam, Robby (Tanner Buchanan), Tory (Peyton List) and even its legacy villains, Kreese and Silver. The result? A finale that virtually guarantees “Cobra Kai” will be cherished and revisited for generations, just like the movies that inspired it.

The “Karate Kid” universe will live on in the upcoming feature film “Karate Kid Legends” (with Macchio passing the “wax-on, wax-off” torch to Ben Wang) this May, but “Cobra Kai” has cemented itself as a cornerstone of the mythos. It didn’t just honor the past, it expanded on it, proving that, in the right hands, legacy sequels can be about more than nostalgia. They can be something meaningful. Something lasting. Something worthy of the stories that came before. Now, that’s a true victory.

“Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 3 is now streaming on Netflix.

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